Salonaz Sami ponders

The palatial mansion of Mohamed Aboud Afandi overlooking the Bosphoros is the setting of the Sha Ughlo family in the series; Noor and Mohannad

We’d been chatting on the phone a little while, and things were going smoothly. But once she’d realised it was 9:50pm, I could hear how my mother was growing fidgety. And I knew the reason why: 10 minutes later her favourite soap opera, Noor, was due to begin. Annoying though this was, given that I was watching my own mother choose Noor over talking to me, I could barely complain given that it had been me who had introduced her to the Turkish TV serial. But in her addiction, my mother is by no means alone. Gèmès or Noor as we know it in the Arab world has become a social and behavioural phenomenon, worthy of study.

Granted, men presume we watch it for the sake of the blue- eyed-blond and Best Model of the World 2002, who plays the lead male in the series. But the truth is far from that, explained Farida Ahmed, a housewife who is also hooked to Noor. “Mohannad, the main character, has indeed glued women to their TV sets, but it is not only because he is cute,” she told Al-Ahram Weekly. “It’s mostly because he offers things many of us lack nowadays in our lives — including romance, compassion, loyalty, and a partner who is supportive to his independent wife. He has become the role model against which many women have started to compare and judge their significant others,” she added.

READ ON