Inception Part II: A Global Studies Adventure

It is hard to believe that this is our final day in Morocco, but after a full week I feel that I have learned so much about this country’s culture. Although our group has learned a lot about Morocco generally, I have been able to research my own topic. My research is centered around the film industry and how it has affected Morocco’s economy on a global, regional, and country scale. Coming to Morocco, I was not expecting to hear a lot about movies while touring and I imagined that I would be researching most of my topic back in the U.S.; however, I found almost the opposite to be true. In the first hour of our tour in Tangier, we saw the church in Inception and heard our guide talk about the area where some of Game of Thrones had been filmed. Once we entered the main square in Tangier, there was the first movie theater that I had seen in Morocco right in the middle. One half of the movies advertised were all national films, but on the other side there were American movies (The LEGO Movie 2 and The Mule) recorded in French. We then went to St. Andrew’s Episcopal church, which the priest said was in the movie Great Escape. Aside from the Tangier movie theater, the only one that I saw was in the new part of Fez. For this entire week, with the exception of this afternoon, we have spent our time in the old parts of each city, where I saw little reference to cinema. Despite the lack of theaters, film is still a part of Moroccan culture. For example, when we were in the caves in Tangier, our tour guide said that they play movies there and host other events like concerts by the ocean. Finally, at the U.S. embassy we had the opportunity to ask questions to some of the workers at USAID  They (unsurprisingly) did not have too much information about the film industry, but I did find out that Morocco is more relaxed with what they film compared to other MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries. I cannot wait to continue my research on this topic and it has been a great trip! 
-Morgan