Arab holiday TV specials bring lessons from the West<\/p>\n
Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press, Cairo<\/p>\n
After more than 20 years in the United States, Auntie Nour
\nreturns to her family home in Cairo with a mission: to use her
\nexperiences abroad to help her family see others differently.<\/p>\n
Nour -- the name means light in Arabic -- is a character in a
\nprime-time soap opera, an expert on education who wants to teach
\nsome American pragmatism to her on-screen nieces and nephews, and
\ntheir parents as well.<\/p>\n
Auntie Nour is one of about 20 Egyptian prime-time television
\nsoaps that have aired around the Arab world this year during
\nRamadhan, with some running into the Idul Fitri holiday that ends
\nthe Muslim holy month.<\/p>\n
The soaps often have a moral, and this year's lesson is
\ntolerance of people from outside the Arab and Muslim world and of
\ntheir different -- often liberal -- ideas. The lesson is
\nappreciated by some, but not by all.<\/p>\n
"There is always a tendency to use television as an
\neducational tool," said Tarek el-Shinnawi, a film critic. "This
\nyear, the subject of the 'other' and getting to know the 'other'
\nis very popular in TV drama."<\/p>\n
Auntie Nour is not alone in presenting this theme. In A Matter
\nof Principle, the French-educated lawyer Roaya helps her sister
\nmarry the man she loves after convincing their father that love
\nis more important than cementing family finances with a rich
\nhusband.<\/p>\n
Roaya, a modern, single women in her 30s, also decides to run
\nfor office in an upcoming election -- delivering the message that
\nwomen can do so.<\/p>\n
In past years, the most popular soaps covered Middle East
\npolitics, the economic hardships understood by many Egyptians or
\nthe controversy of the moment. News reports say the current crop
\n-- with preachy Western-educated do-gooders, some glitz and
\nscantily dressed women -- have not captured as many faithful
\nviewers.<\/p>\n
In newspaper interviews, the script writer for Auntie Nour,
\nMahmoud Abou Zeid, described his main character as an Egyptian at
\nheart, a practicing Muslim, but one who manages to mix East with
\nWest.<\/p>\n
The show's advocacy of Western ideas raised rumors that it was
\nfunded by the United States as propaganda -- an accusation denied
\nby production officials who said it was financed by Egyptian
\nstate TV.<\/p>\n
This year's TV dramas come as Egypt and other Arab countries
\nare under pressure from the United States and the West to
\nliberalize and to root out terrorism. Industry insiders say
\nwriters and producers rigidly follow the government line to
\nensure they will get air time and avoid censorship, not only in
\nEgypt but in the wider Arab world where Egypt supplies most
\nprime-time television soaps.<\/p>\n
The TV establishment here had come in for harsh criticism in
\nrecent years, with Israeli and American groups calling some shows
\nanti-Semitic and Egyptians condemning another show for supposedly
\npromoting polygamy. The industry has taken another tack with
\nfewer religious historical dramas, preaching that focuses on
\nIslamic ritual rather than politics and dramas that emphasize
\nopenness to new ideas.<\/p>\n
Auntie Nour, for example, champions the right of young people
\nto choose their own lives, practice Islam with moderation and
\nstill enjoy their parents' love and respect.<\/p>\n
Her family scoffs at the plans of her nephew Diaa -- who, like
\nmany young Egyptians, has been out of work since college
\ngraduation -- to start a company to beautify cemeteries with
\ntrees and plants. But Nour encourages him and asks why
\ncemeteries, where Muslims visit relatives' graves during
\nRamadhan, should be barren and drab.<\/p>\n
"Tombs are the place for burial, where we go pray for our dead
\nand read them the Koran. It should be clean and well preserved,
\nto fit such a special place," she tells the family.<\/p>\n
Not everyone is responding well to such messages. One 17-year-
\nold viewer, Aya Mahmoud, was annoyed by Nour.<\/p>\n
"She is screaming at us all the time and is preaching all the
\ntime unnecessarily," Aya said. "No one is right all the time,
\neven if they are from America."<\/p>\n
Still, others say better this message than more grinding of
\nthe teeth over Arab grievances.<\/p>\n
"We have enough politics in this part of the world," said Mona
\nAhmed, a divorced mother of one. "(Nour) is educated and is
\nhelping straighten out the kids. We all go to and love America.
\nThey do things well, they have the best technology, education ...
\nso that is why she is preaching."<\/p>",
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