Some recs-Al Rawabi School for girls
Jul. 18th, 2024 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abyss_valkyrieHello, all! I've been wanting to make a post on Al Rawabi School for girls for some time now. It's an Arab(Jordanian) Netflix show that popped up on my feed and I was very curious as I've never actually watched an Arabic show which was good in spite of living in Saudi Arabia pretty much my whole life,lol. It's a teen show that I think those who have Arab roots or live in the Middle-East or are just familiar with the cultures can deeply relate to and understand. On the other hand, those who are not can definitely get a lot of insight into the world & lifestyle.
I'd suggest these shows to be watched in the original Arabic audio just to get the full experience.
There are currently two seasons of the show but it is an anthology so you can watch the seasons separately and one without the other, though the characters from season 1 make a cameo appearance for a few minutes in season 2.
No. of episodes per season: 6
Season 1:
Synopsis: When Mariam is bullied in her all-girls high school, she gathers a group of outcasts; together they plot the perfect revenge to get back at their tormentors and send the students and administration into a spiral. Set amidst school and home life.
For starters, the main character Mariam is fantastic and I really rooted for her from the get go. The bullies (Layan, Rania & Ruqayya) each have their own personalities & their way of doing things. While it's easy to hate them for their behaviour towards Mariam, as the show progresses, you get a look into all the characters & they're all dynamic, realistic.
Layan, pretty much the head of the bullying trio comes from a strict family where her brother & her dad get a lot of say in what she's allowed to do and not. In contrast to that, Mariam's parents are a lot more on the typical side, I'd say.
Mariam's friends have their instances where I couldn't help wondering if they were really friends because in some ways they just weren't there for her when she needed them.
The parents, boyfriends, classmates, teachers, the principal(a key player in everything) were also given adequate screentime.
Season 1 is definitely my favoured season out of the two.
Here's a trailer:
TW: offscreen Character death.
Season 2
Synopsis:It's a new school year, and Sarah dreams of going viral, but her posts aren't getting much traction until she posts a video that gets some attention. Sarah gets invited to Tasneem's house for a sleepover, but Hiba isn't happy about it. Meanwhile, Nadeen befriends the mysterious Shams.
This season is focused more on social media & cyber bullying as opposed to the much more physical one of season 1. And the threat, while it comes from outside, ends up escalating in many other ways because of someone close to Sarah( our main character)
Sarah is a very ordinary teenager who wants to get in with the popular kids, maybe get some tiktok fame & just generally fit in with the crowd.
The best character in this season was her best friend Nadeen. Fashionable, DGAF attitude, smart & totally ready to call on your for BS when you're being stupid.
The popular girls here were not like your typical high school bully, their characters displayed it in an everyday manner I'd say-the kind of small comments & generally judgmental things people say in everyday life without realizing or in some cases, caring about how their words hurt people just because 'this is reality & life is unfair'.
Sarah, to me as a person was not relatable and often annoyed me but when I think about how many young people are always trying to fit in & are ready to do anything to have friends, a place to belong to, be one of the cool one, famous etc. I can sympathise with her character a lot & she grew on me by the end.
The head of the popular trio, Tasneem in this one is generally very sweet & she lives with basically an almond mom who is also very much concerned with her daughter being perfect because even the smallest flaws could ruin her future.
Here is the trailer for season 2
TW:off screen suicide.
So here's my way of trying to introduce you all to the world of arab shows/movies just a teeny bit. There's a lot of culture shock that people may face while watching the show. If any of you watch it or have watched it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
Edit: I also am not good with bullying scenes, especially on screen. I usually have to skip those, like say in 'The Glory' or most Korean shows depicting bullying. Some like '13 reasons why' comes to mind too.
In Al Rawabi though, they don't have it in a graphic manner & a lot of it is more dialogue related, so I just wanted to give a little comparison & idea of what kind of a show this is.
I'd suggest these shows to be watched in the original Arabic audio just to get the full experience.
There are currently two seasons of the show but it is an anthology so you can watch the seasons separately and one without the other, though the characters from season 1 make a cameo appearance for a few minutes in season 2.
No. of episodes per season: 6
Synopsis: When Mariam is bullied in her all-girls high school, she gathers a group of outcasts; together they plot the perfect revenge to get back at their tormentors and send the students and administration into a spiral. Set amidst school and home life.
For starters, the main character Mariam is fantastic and I really rooted for her from the get go. The bullies (Layan, Rania & Ruqayya) each have their own personalities & their way of doing things. While it's easy to hate them for their behaviour towards Mariam, as the show progresses, you get a look into all the characters & they're all dynamic, realistic.
Layan, pretty much the head of the bullying trio comes from a strict family where her brother & her dad get a lot of say in what she's allowed to do and not. In contrast to that, Mariam's parents are a lot more on the typical side, I'd say.
Mariam's friends have their instances where I couldn't help wondering if they were really friends because in some ways they just weren't there for her when she needed them.
The parents, boyfriends, classmates, teachers, the principal(a key player in everything) were also given adequate screentime.
Season 1 is definitely my favoured season out of the two.
Here's a trailer:
TW: offscreen Character death.
Synopsis:It's a new school year, and Sarah dreams of going viral, but her posts aren't getting much traction until she posts a video that gets some attention. Sarah gets invited to Tasneem's house for a sleepover, but Hiba isn't happy about it. Meanwhile, Nadeen befriends the mysterious Shams.
This season is focused more on social media & cyber bullying as opposed to the much more physical one of season 1. And the threat, while it comes from outside, ends up escalating in many other ways because of someone close to Sarah( our main character)
Sarah is a very ordinary teenager who wants to get in with the popular kids, maybe get some tiktok fame & just generally fit in with the crowd.
The best character in this season was her best friend Nadeen. Fashionable, DGAF attitude, smart & totally ready to call on your for BS when you're being stupid.
The popular girls here were not like your typical high school bully, their characters displayed it in an everyday manner I'd say-the kind of small comments & generally judgmental things people say in everyday life without realizing or in some cases, caring about how their words hurt people just because 'this is reality & life is unfair'.
Sarah, to me as a person was not relatable and often annoyed me but when I think about how many young people are always trying to fit in & are ready to do anything to have friends, a place to belong to, be one of the cool one, famous etc. I can sympathise with her character a lot & she grew on me by the end.
The head of the popular trio, Tasneem in this one is generally very sweet & she lives with basically an almond mom who is also very much concerned with her daughter being perfect because even the smallest flaws could ruin her future.
Here is the trailer for season 2
TW:off screen suicide.
So here's my way of trying to introduce you all to the world of arab shows/movies just a teeny bit. There's a lot of culture shock that people may face while watching the show. If any of you watch it or have watched it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
Edit: I also am not good with bullying scenes, especially on screen. I usually have to skip those, like say in 'The Glory' or most Korean shows depicting bullying. Some like '13 reasons why' comes to mind too.
In Al Rawabi though, they don't have it in a graphic manner & a lot of it is more dialogue related, so I just wanted to give a little comparison & idea of what kind of a show this is.