{"id":1298,"date":"2017-10-14T08:26:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T08:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/new_thereporter\/2017\/10\/14\/dubbed-drama-and-sophistication\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T08:26:09","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T08:26:09","slug":"dubbed-drama-and-sophistication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/1298\/","title":{"rendered":"Of dubbed drama and \u2018sophistication\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDid you watch last night?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWatch what?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean watch what? Don\u2019t tell me you didn\u2019t you see how that Atez guy fooled Bahir!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What the he\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh! You are talking about that Turkish TV serial drama\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Everybody seems to be talking about those dubbed Turkish TV dramas! Though it seems the passion has ebbed somehow over time still many households television is on that channel by default. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe made me so angry I almost broke the TV set. Can you believe it; the guy already has a son!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One thing is sure; this TV channel, almost entirely airing dubbed dramas, made quite an impression the moment it hit households. It isn\u2019t always that we see foreign films with Amharic dialogue. A new experience, indeed! <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But that isn\u2019t the whole story. While the channel got audiences of practically millions, the applause wasn\u2019t anywhere near to universal. It didn\u2019t take long for opponents, many of whom were in the entertainment industry, to come out with blazing guns. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s poison to corrupt the minds of our youth!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a deliberate threat to our culture and traditions.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And when one of the calls to arms came it did so with a bang. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be banned!\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What!  Did they use the word \u2018ban?\u2019 Yes, they did.  <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While the arguments, though many of them slim in reasoning, were interesting to listen to, the call for \u2018banning\u2019 the station left many with hanging jaws; a very disturbing call to arms, indeed. I mean, if there were any legal grounds the smartest thing to do is appeal to the courts to take action. Nothing could be simpler. Did I hear some top-placed officials saying there weren\u2019t legal grounds for banning? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some indeed have genuine concern and they meant what they said. Their concern for the welfare of the youth prompted them to make their voices heard.   For others it was a commercial scare. It was about audiences turning their backs by their droves. Unluckily, (who is anyone to say \u2018unluckily!) that seems to be what happened. Either way emotion seems to have clouded any viable reasoning behind the arguments, if there were any, and the Efsuns and the Hazals of dubbed drama still seem to have quite a following. In fact, there is talk of another such channel with dubbed Hollywood films. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are also those of us who seem to shudder at the mention of Amharic dialogue films, dubbed or otherwise. We seem to have a very strange way of telling the crowd we were \u2018too civilized\u2019 for such things!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Several weeks back a few of us were talking about the issue of dubbed films. One guy nuked the channel with all the adjectives he could muster. \u201cI tell you there is an international conspiracy to corrupt the young!\u201d Now, anyone with such \u2018patriotic passion\u2019 must have legitimate reasons to support his\/her argument.  He was asked to come up with specific examples.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpecific examples of what?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTell us the serial dramas and the particular scenes you find so offensive.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

His face turned practically lifeless like some of the brass we saw on live TV some days back. He tried to change the subject, no one took the bait. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t watch those films.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ha! Here comes another one of them!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhich films don\u2019t you watch?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t watch any. In fact, I don\u2019t watch Amharic films or TV drama.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What! Isn\u2019t this the same guy who just seconds ago raised the red flag claiming of some clandestine conspiracy to corrupt the mind of the youth! Believe me, there is another one of \u2018them\u2019 at every corner. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t read Amharic books.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t listen to local radio.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t buy local products.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t read local papers.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The list goes on.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen what do you read?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo tell you the truth I don\u2019t read much. I prefer surfing the web.\u201d And \u2018surfing the web\u2019 these days means one and only one thing – Facebook!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a funny thing; saying that you don\u2019t read local books and don\u2019t see local movies is, for some, a mark of sophistication. Ha! And some of us wonder what is meant by this world being weird!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Several months back there was quite a steer in town when it was revealed some privately run schools, posted the sign, \u201cThrowing stones and speaking Amharic is forbidden.\u201d  (Someone should come up with a book titled, \u2018The Creepy Side of Addis.\u2019)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was recently part of a small group talking about books. I have to admit it would have been a more rewarding afternoon if we discussed about, say, the latest single that filled the airwaves.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course we were the kind of guys who though Danielle Steel should have been given the Nobel Prize for literature! (The classic books? What classic books!) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Talk turned to Amharic books. Those of us who claim to have read our share of Amharic books mentioned a few titles. Then one among us, who, just for the record, almost always settles our refreshment bills, was disgusted;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you read Amharic books?\u201d I told you they were at every corner!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmharic books make you dumber!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, wait minute. Unless we\u2019ve missed something while we were asleep (a time lapse that stretch three thousands year back) we haven\u2019t heard of any research finding claiming as such.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly the guy wasn\u2019t a lone ranger when it came to belittling anything local. There are many in that league.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Coming back to dubbed TV drama, I\u2019m one of the regular guys tuning to the channel we were talking about most nights. Sorry to say it, but most other channels have a lot of homework to do to force us go for our remotes. As to the pro\/for arguments, I think we should keep them up minus the uncalled for emotions which usually mar the real issues. Until then, we\u2019ll see where the Atez and Bahir sometimes a little boring story takes us.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Contributed<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDid you watch last night?<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean watch what? Don\u2019t tell me you didn\u2019t you see how that Atez guy fooled Bahir!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1946,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-touch-and-go","7":"category-uncategorized"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}