Star Searching in Arabia

Matt Welch | January 18, 2006

How is Reality TV affecting the Arab World? Some preliminary observations.

Charles Paul Freund's classic "In Praise of Vulgarity: How commercial culture liberates Islam -- and the West," can be found here. (Link via Public Diplomacy Review.)

Comments

fyodor|1.18.06 @ 11:24AM|#

Anyone wanna read all that and summarize it for me? Unfortunately, I get paid to do other stuff.

|1.18.06 @ 1:19PM|#

I'll give it a shot, but if my boss asks just tell him I was working, ok?

Arab reality tv is resisted by the Islamists, who view it as evil, american, and pro-cultural globalization.

The viewers are largely the young. But, it is a complex situation, in which there are often business interests fighting for the reality tv shows, in the hope of encouraging foreign business and investment.

The Arab "American Idol"-type show allowed voting, which divided along national lines, with viewers voting for the contestant from their country, even when they did not believe they were the most talented. The 3 semi-finalists were a Jordanian woman, a Lebanese man and a Syrian man, and this led to rumors of Syrian political pressure being used to eliminate the Lebanese candidate.

The "Big Brother"-type show was cancelled after one week, over furor that one of the male contestants kissed one of the female contestants. But it would have had a better chance of survival if it was coming from Lebanon, since "much of the Arab world considers [them] depraved anyway".

The Lebanese show Star Academy was a big hit which launched discussion and debate about issues like modernity and tradition, and women's rights within Arab society. - "Opponents to Star Academy and to Kuwait women�s political rights were the same".

And, of course, there's no real way to tell if reality tv is affecting arab culture, or simply reflecting it.

tomWright|1.18.06 @ 1:40PM|#

So....ya think Desperate Housewivess will distract them long enough they'll forget to deliver that nuke on time?

damaged justice|1.18.06 @ 1:43PM|#

Reality TV is destroying America. The hawks should be grateful we're exporting it to Islam.