Star Searching in Arabia

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]

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

[Qbryzan]

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]

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

[damaged justice]

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