How Pop Culture Is Reaching Its Potential

We speak with the event manager for April’s Middle East Film and Comic Con, Michael Lamprecht, about the business side of the region’s pop culture sector.

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Pop culture has long had a place in the Gulf region, but how much have you seen the movement grow in the past couple of years?

Over the last few years, a wide range of groups, clubs, and events have formed to support the popular culture community, and that’s reflected in the visitor numbers at Middle East Film & Comic Con (MEFCC). This year, we’re expecting nearly 50,000 people to Dubai World Trade Centre, a staggering jump from the 5,000 we welcomed in 2012, so there’s a growing appetite for it.

At its core, popular culture is simply a way of understanding the beat of a nation. Comics were first created in the Middle East in 1923, so this isn’t new for us, but for a long time our media influences have come from the East and the West. The internet has allowed creators from across the region to develop their art form, be it graffiti, comic book, anime, film, cartoon, video, or TV, to tell their own stories; stories which allow their creators to shape their identity, believe in themselves, imagine their own heroes, and express freely.

Those living in the UAE will have also seen the incredible displays of fashion at Sole DXB, the street art in Karama, the Storm Troopers in Dubai Mall, and the DC Exhibition at Yas Mall – no doubt a sign of more interesting things to come for us all.

What changes have you seen in the business community that takes part in MEFCC?