More on Noor

I should mention that I almost caused a scene in a Palestinian refugee camp today for looking like Muhanid. One guy made the connection, and then about 30 people just started yelling out my (not) name. Scary stuff. Here are some recent stories on the series from the past week.

From Rueters:

A Turkish soap opera that flopped when first broadcast in its native Turkey three years ago has taken the Arab world by storm, provoking a flood of Gulf Arab tourists to Turkey that even includes royalty.

"Noor" became an immediate hit when Saudi-owned MBC (*my emphasis) satellite television began airing it earlier this year, partly because of its unconventional usage of colloquial Arabic dubbing -- and because its blond-haired, blue-eyed leading man had women swooning.

...

Many Saudi women explained their devotion to the show as a form of escapism from stifling, love-less marriages.

"Our men are rugged and unyielding," quipped a 26-year-old house-frau who preferred to remain unnamed. "I wake up and see a cold and detached man lying next to me, I look out the window and see dust. It is all so dull. On Noor, I see beautiful faces, the beautiful feelings they share and beautiful scenery."

From KABOBfest:

WILL: I think this is a plot to destroy the Arab family... Mohannad's attentiveness to his wife is likely to be evoked in many spousal tifts.

FAYYAD: I've been here two days and it's already driving me nuts. It's cheesy, empty, and has less content than the bold and the beautiful, not to mention of similar storyline. And the place here shuts down when it's on, even my dad, the most skeptic and suspecious person of imported foriegn culture watches it.

Will's predictions already materialized, several divorces in Jenin are blamed on it already.

DIANA: Oh come on. You mean that you don't find Muhannad the dreamiest spouse on earth? You don't find Nur the kindest person ever created? Oh Fayyad - the west has changed you. I am nearly on Ramadan countdown at; this point - Nur will be over only to be replaced by something just as stupid.

MOHAMMAD: God I hate this stupid show. And I hate how easily impressionable our
people are. Its beyond the point of pathetic...Fayyad isn't exaggerating. People are getting divorced over this load of shit.

DIANA: I have witnessed the Nur addiction firsthand: my niqab-wearing cousin and her pre-teen hijab wearing kids watch it 3 times a day. They have even subscribed to a new channel that shows uncut versions of Nur all day. Her freaky Sheikh husband is also addicted but claims to watch it for 'educational' purposes. The cuz has told me hair raising stories about her neighbour (who was beaten by her hubbie for mentioning how charming Muhannad is). I am sure this was just his excuse but Nur is now being blamed. Alas.

On one hand, the more men beat their wives, or neglect them, the more attractive escapist fantasies will be. This goes for all cultures. On the other, life is never so simple as a TV show.

However, is fandom for this show expressing aspirations we cannot ignore -- the screams of Arab women for more?

From AP:

“Noor” delivers an idealized portrayal of modern married life as equal partnership, clashing with the norms of traditional Middle Eastern societies where elders often have the final word on whom a woman should marry.

Some Muslim clergy in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia have taken notice, saying the show is un-Islamic and urging the faithful to change channels. But the show may be planting seeds of change nonetheless.

“I told my husband, learn from him (Mohannad) how he treats her, how he loves her, how he cares about her,” said Heba Hamdan, 24, a homemaker visiting the West Bank from Amman, Jordan. Married straight out of college, she said the show inspired her to go out and look for a job.

“Noor” seems particularly effective in changing attitudes because it offers new content in a familiar setting: Turkey is a Muslim country, inviting stronger viewer identification than Western TV imports. The characters in “Noor” observe the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and Mohannad and Noor were married in a match arranged by his grandfather.

But it also upholds secular liberties: Protagonists have a drink with dinner and sex outside marriage. Mohannad, while faithful to Noor, had a child with a former girlfriend, and a cousin underwent an abortion.

The nightly soap opera “shows that there are Muslims who live differently,” said Islah Jad, a professor of women’s studies at the West Bank’s Bir Zeit University.

The show’s Turkish producer, Kemal Uzun, added: “We are a little more open, not as conservative as some of these countries, and I think this might have some appeal for the audience.”

Even though some of the racier scenes are sanitized for Arab consumption, clerics have been sermonizing against “Noor.”

“This series collides with our Islamic religion, values and traditions,” said Hamed Bitawi, a lawmaker of the Islamic militant Hamas and clergyman in the West Bank city of Nablus.

But the purists seem powerless to halt the “Noor” craze.

In Saudi Arabia, the only country with ratings, 3 million to 4 million people watch daily, out of a population of almost 28 million, according to MBC, the Saudi-owned satellite channel that airs the show dubbed into Arabic for Middle East audiences.

In the West Bank and Gaza, streets are deserted during show time, and socializing is timed around it. In Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and in Hebron, the West Bank’s most conservative city, maternity wards report a rise in babies named Noor and Mohannad. A West Bank poster vendor has ditched Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein for Noor and Mohannad.