Turkish soap operas in the Arab world: social liberation or cultural alienation?
Issue 10, Spring 2010
Noor and Muhannad from the Arabized Turkish soap opera Noor
Dubbed Turkish soap operas conquering the Arab world:
social liberation or cultural alienation?
In 1980 oil magnate J.R. Ewing was shot and injured in the hit series Dallas, which featured an unconventional family’s struggles over power, wealth and sex. The shot was heard around the world, with millions of fans desperately wondering “Who shot J.R.?”. It was the first time that a TV series had captivated simultaneously so many people around the world. Five years later, the Arabs were shooting at the stars with the launch of the first Arab satellite system, Arabsat-1. Except for experts and visionaries, no one was predicting that it was “the beginning of the end” for the state domination of television in the Arab world.
Almost a quarter of a century later, on August 30, 2008, 85 million Arab viewers were glued to their TV sets for the finale of the Syrian-dubbed Turkish soap opera, Gümüş1 (Noor2 in Arabic), a Kanal D production that received little attention in its homeland in 2005. After falling in the past for Victoria Principal, Ridge Forrester, and Latin American telenovela characters Kassandra and Rosalinda , Arab audiences are now turning to Turkey, a close yet estranged neighbor with whom they share a tumultuous history.
The mastermind behind this phenomenon has been the MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center) media empire, a combination of Saudi capital and Middle Eastern know-how, and a success story that started in the 1990s with the birth of a private Arab media field. As Naomi Sakr explains, many factors fuel the field’s potential including the fact that “Media flows are (…) facilitated where the language is shared3”. The Arab market is indeed unique: a large and essentially young audience with some 20 countries sharing a common language. Researchers have thus observed a relative “depoliticization” of media over the years with the progressive development of mass entertainment programming.
Despite the spectacular success of Arabic musalsalat (soap operas), Arab audiences have always shown great interest in foreign productions. Within this context Turkish soap operas, Noor being the most significant case, have generated a media revolution. My aim is first to describe this triumph and then to introduce the various repercussions that resulted from it. On one hand, it would be interesting to analyze this new form of drama on the Arab entertainment scene, explaining its emergence as a “genre” as well as a successful model of “hybridization”. On the other hand, in a region of long Ottoman domination, what linguistic and cultural issues do these series and their dubbing in dialect raise? What have they exposed about Arab societies in terms of values?
I will tackle these aspects through a close analysis of the Arab press from March to July 2009, the period that witnessed the peak of the series’ success. The analysis will include general literature about soap operas formats as well as musalsalat in the Arab world.
Moreover, I shall draw conclusions about Arab drama and entertainment as a whole, as well as its inherent contradictions, mostly in terms of values. Finally, I will discuss the next trends within this field as well as Arab satellite media in general, including the possible return of local dialects after the domination of standardized Arabic.
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1 Silver in Turkish
2 Light in Arabic
3 Sakr, Naomi. Arab Television Today. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007.
—. Satellite Realms: Transantional Television Globalization and the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris, 2001.
4 Çemberimde Gül Oya, a 2004 Kanal D production
5 Ihlamurlar Altında, a 2005 Kanal D production
6 Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates). «Noor’ lights up beacons of change.» 28 July 2008.
7 Beirut hosts The 2nd New Arab Woman Forum (NAWF). 11 September 2008. http://www.ameinfo.com/168434.html
8 According to its official website, the study gives a panorama of annual TV consumption in over 80 countries and territories worldwide http://www.iconoval.fr/publicmedia/original/171/78/fr/2009_%2003_%2024_%20CDP%20l%27ann%C3%A9e%20TV%20dans%20le%20monde%20VF.pdf
9 Dagge, John. "The Noor phenomenon." The Middle East, 2008.
10 Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates). «Noor’ lights up beacons of change.» 28 July 2008.http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=citytimes&xfile=data/citytimes/2008/july/citytimes_july273.xml
11 Radsch, Courtney C. Arab TV series among top 10 global programs. 30 March 2009. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/03/30/69563.html
12 Rossholm, Anna Sofia. Reproducing languages, translating bodies : approaches to speech, translation and cultural identity. Stockholm: Häftad. Almqvist & Wiksell international, 2006.
13 Stam, Robert. Subversive Pleasures: Bakhtin, Cultural Criticism, and Film. John Hopkins University, 1989.
16 Al Ahrar (Egypt). «Fatayata so'oudiyat yataa'lamna al turkiya min ajl Muhannad.» 01 July 2008.
17 Al Manar (United Arab Emirates). «A'wdat al haymana al tukiya ba'd al Mixiq'iya.» 06 April 2008: 65.
18 Mansour, Mohamed. «Ba'da mawjat al musalsalat al Mexikiya wal Iraniya wa akhiran al Turkiya.» Al Quds Al Arabi, 17 April 2008: 13.
19 Arabic TV serials too costly, MBC Chairman warns. 21 May 2008. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/05/21/50195.html.
20 Al Ghad (Jordan). «Al Nouri: Najah' al musalsalat al turkiya youmathel tah'adi lel drama al a'arabiya.» 17 June 2008.
21 Robert Clyde Allen, Annette Hill. The television studies reader . London: Routledge, 2004.Sakr, Naomi. Arab Television Today. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007.
22 Middle East has its own Brad Pitt. 11 Mars 2009. http://www.welt.de/english-news/article3357687/Middle-East-has-its-own-Brad-Pitt.html
23 Turkish soap star sparks divorces in Arab world. June 29, 2008. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/06/29/52291.html
24 Turkish soap opera upends traditional Arab gender roles. NBC News, July 31, 2008.
25 Al Rayah (Qatar). Salman al A'wda Yansah' al MBC bi tahzib al musalsal al Turki Noor. June 30, 2008.
26 (Dagge, 2008)
27 For more details about this event and its symbolic significance, please read : Hammond, Andrew. «Reading Lohaidan in Riyadh: Media and the struggle for judicial power in Saudi Arabia.» Arab Media and Society, Issue 7, Winter 2009 http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=702#_edn3
28 Sambidge, Andy. MBC expands soap opera shows despite Mufti fury. 21 October 2008. http://www.arabianbusiness.com/535285-mbc-expands-Soap operas-despite-mufti-outrage.
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I think this is a very interesting article as it discusses a new and updated trend that been taking over the Arab media. The invasion of Turkish soap operas has definitely placed a threat on our local media and productions. I like how the article shows the gradual changes that have taken place in history regarding soap operas starting from their first emergence on radio. I think the emphasis placed on marketing decisions placed by MBC regarding airing times and prime time of Turkish soap operas, particularly Noor, reflects their success in the media.
The article also links the success of Turkish soap operas to being a mixture between modern American culture and our traditions as Arabs, particularly that of the family head and leader (i.e. Fekry Bay in Noor). However, I feel the main reason behind the success of Turkish soap operas comes back to being dubbed in a colloquial language in contrast to the semi-formal/ classical dubbing used previously in Mexican soap operas. I think the article did a great job in explaining and highlighting this point.
The article also highlights an essential point of how the Turkish people utilized their media well to market their country and tourism. Filming in landscapes that show the beauty of nature and possible sightseeing in Turkey (in contrast to indoor studio filming used mostly by other countries) has indeed helped boost Turkey’s economy. Although the article does not discuss it, it was previously published in Al Ahram newspaper that Saudi couples have paid fortunes in order to have their wedding done in the residence where Noor was filmed.
The article also does a good job in laying out the negative opinions that surrounded the Turkish soap opera. Several values were contradicting to the Arab values and traditions such as alcohol use, sex, and abortion that were openly discussed in these shows.
All in all I think this article does a good job in laying the pros and cons of the Turkish invasion of soap operas over Arab media. I think it has covered different aspects of the story and shed light to several interesting facts.
Madonna Magdy
I believe that too much attention to one particular type of serial, the romantic drama, which includes the first and most famous ones that caused such a stirr. But this is only one type of Turkish serial that appears on Arab TV, albeit a very popular one. There are others, though, that have a lot of followers, those about rural areas, problems like illicit polygamy, honor crimes, oppression of people by feudal lords or "aghas" as well as political issues such as the conflict in Eastern Turkey and the "deep state" political issue. The one dealing with honor crimes in particular, drew a spirited discussion on the Internet forum dedicated to it as well as renewed discussion in the press in Jordan for one. They demonstrate to Arab audiences that while a certain part of Istanbul may have a glittery, European aura an behavior, the rest of the country is much closer to the Arab world in their mores and behavior. Another type that was also popular was the historical genre, dealing with the Turkish war of independence. The remarks on the forums related to these series related to the struggle against foreign occupation and compared the heroes to those of Arab serials such as Bab al Hara. It was not lost on some viewers that the French occupiers were wearning the same uniforms in "Bab al Hara" as they were in the Turkish serial "Love and War." Then there is "Valley of the Wolves" a phenomenon all on its own. Arab audiences viewed the scenes that so incensed the Israelis and know that a spin-off movie will be out in the Fall, dealing with Palestine. They also viewed the Turkish serial about the occupation of Palestine entitled "Ayrilik."
We need to get beyond what the press, especially in the West, has focused on with regard to the impact of these Turkish productions.
jcg
It is because of Nour (Gumus)the Turkish soap opera dubbed in Arabic that was the inspiration for the independent feature film "Almost a Turkish Soap Opera". The film
captures the turmoils of two young modern Turkish men trying to make a home in the West but finding their lives have turned into a Turkish soap opera.
The film reflects on how Turkish soap operas have become very popular in the Middle East and now in Europe.
The trailer can be seen on youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/3arnb9?feature=mhum
The official movie website is http://www.almostaturkishsoapopera.com
Rinoa
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