Page 54 - Issue 39

ELITE Vol.1, Issue 39, January 2022
Vol.1, Issue 39, January

Why Do Egyptians Like Turkish Dramas So

Much?

Maram Mofreh Mohamed - Level 3 - Economics

maram.mefreh2019@feps.edu.eg

Let's take a short trip down memory lane, it's the year 2009, of 120 minutes per episode. With the world gravitating to
the Turkish series "Noor" is the most watched television shows with fewer episodes, which we can clearly see
show during its airtime for the first time dubbed in Arabic on through the success of shorter shows on platforms such as
TV channels, especially among women regardless of their Netflix and Shahid. So why do we see still see any fans for
ages. I have vivid memories of how the older girls at my Turkish shows at all?
school used to discuss the events of each episode after it It's no secret that one of the original reasons for the success
aired as well as how they shared their future expectations of of ''Noor" was the handsomeness of its main hero, this
what will happen to the show's main characters "Noor and reason which still continues to attract people to watch the
Mohanad". In a short period of time, they were everywhere! shows. Women watch for the handsome actors and men
Especially the show's hero "Mohanad" who charmed several watch for the pretty actresses, which makes many people
generations of women with his handsomeness, becoming handle the very long length of each episode just fine. In
their dream man, gaining fame that further surpassed the addition, another reason for the success of "Noor'' was the
fame of the show itself not only in Egypt but also for several lack of Egyptian series that were airing during that time.
countries in the middle east. The fame of Turkish TV shows Remember, at that time almost all of the Egyptian shows that
began with "Noor", but it didn't end with it. In the following were being produced aired in just one month of the year,
years after the airtime of this show, a tsunami of Turkish Ramadan, leaving the other eleven months with no new
shows dubbed in Arabic have flooded several Egyptian TV ones, which opened the door for people to watch
channels after the huge success of ''Noor'', which is international shows, not only Turkish shows but also others
something we can understand. And now, despite the such as Indian shows as well as Korean shows. Even though
decrease in the number of followers of Turkish drama in more Egyptian shows are being produced all year long in the
Egypt, there is still a good segment that eagerly follows previous years, it is still nowhere near enough. Another
them, specifically younger people. The question is: what is reason is that directors choose to shoot the shows in
the reason for the continued fascination? Why is there so beautiful locations that are pleasing to the eye, enhancing the
many Egyptian fans of Turkish actors, actresses and TV pretty and overlooking the ugly. Which is something that we
shows? don't often see in Egyptian shows, Cairo is ten times prettier
Turkish TV shows are rather lengthy, with the average than Istanbul, yet its beauty is often overlooked by Egyptian
episode lasting for over 2 hours! So, if a show has 60 directors for lack of skill on their part. Finally, the
episodes for example, that's more than 120 hours. Also, they soundtracks of each show are another reason that have
have a tendency to be overdramatic and repetitive. How can contributed to increase people's emotional attachment to
they not be or else they won't be able to fill the running time them.

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