On July 27, 2021 the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC published “All in the family: How an animated series reflects social change in Saudi Arabia”–Dr. Foley’s article on the popular Saudi animated Netflix series entitled “Masameer County.” He notes in the paper’s conclusion: “If we limit our focus to those at the forefront of the kingdom, we may overlook Masameer County and other creative works, which reflect how millions of Saudis view everyday life in their society. Each episode of Malik Nejer’s series begins with a message essentially stating this point: ‘The Characters and events are fictional but are based on reality.’ In this sense, Nejer and his colleagues aspire to be truth-tellers, who do not fully “own” the meaning of their art. They are social mirrors, whose job, to paraphrase the late American comedian Joan Rivers, is to ‘say the things that everyone else has thought but has not really verbalized.’”
