18 October 2007

BEIRUT: After striking an addictive wistful chord with its Arab audience, the effects of the widely watched Syrian soap opera "Bab al-Hara" are still felt today. The Lebanese are missing the show and are searching for ways to fill the one-hour void created after the show ended with the holy month of Ramadan.

"I started going back to the gym now that the show is over," said 26-year-old Ayman Samra, who, like many Lebanese, said he was nostalgic for the soap opera set in 1930s Syria and had to find a way to fill his time.

Throughout Ramadan, "Bab al-Hara," or "The Neighborhood Gate," overshadowed other Ramadan series, as people across the region religiously followed the month-long show of heroic men and dutiful but bickering women battling over every-day social problems in a traditional Damascus neighborhood.

"The show gave us a glimpse of what life was like back then in Balad al-Sham [Greater Syria]," said Samra, who rushed to watch the show on various Arab satellite channels with his family every night after breaking his fast.

The Syrian-produced show, shot in Aleppo, follows the lives of several families in a Damascus neighborhood during the period between the two world wars, when the French ruled Syria and the locals struggled under the foreign mandate and fought for independence.

"There was honor and values," said Samra, echoing other Lebanese, who said that they liked how the women "obeyed" their husbands and the men of the house.

The show's men, dressed in traditional thoub or baggy pants, sporting curving mustaches and the red caps called tarboush, watched over the events of the neighborhood and the women in their lives. The women, in turn, covered up fully when outside their homes and submitted to the wills of their husbands or fathers as they cooked, cleaned and gossiped, causing havoc throughout the show.

"It brought out the traditional Arab values that are still in our culture, no matter how much we evolved," said Nabil Dajani, professor of communication, social and behavioral science at the American University of Beirut.

"The show hit a nostalgic chord with the Lebanese because Lebanon is an Arab country with historical ties to Syria and its traditions," said Dajani.

"The show also deals with the problems of an average person, such as mother-in-law dilemmas and marriage problems," he added, giving one of the main reasons for the show's predominance over other hyped Ramadan fare, such as Egyptian series spinning out more eccentric plots.

An evil mother-in-law, Faryal, was one of the main troublemakers in the show. Her scheming, which included going to a witch to cast a spell over her son-in-law, kept the audience in suspense over her nefarious plots.

The show was also an education in the past, where a word like harem, often spoken in "Bab al-Hara," was used with its original meaning: "a person who is sacred," said Dajani, whereas now the word carries negative connotations.

However, one of the show's main messages was the struggle against colonialism, added Dajani, who said he also had been an avid viewer. "The show clearly sends a message in support of resistance," he added, "but it stayed away from standard, politically charged plots that dominate the Middle East."

Instead of focusing on the Middle East's usual obsession with politics and religion, the show focused instead on the melodramatic and sometimes even petty arguments that caused two neighborhoods to alternately fight each other and unite against a common enemy.

In addition, the show has also sparked a debate on gender roles in the Arab world, with some finding the roles portrayed "too idealistic."

"The women's position was a very difficult during that time," said Roula Masri, gender program officer in the Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action.

The women's lives in the show seemed to revolve around pleasing the men in their lives, getting married and having children, with many staying confined to their homes,  forbidden from going out without their men.

Aside from easily divorcing his wife, one of the show's main characters, Abu Issam, hit one of his daughters for talking behind closed doors to the local baker's son, viewing it as a dishonorable act that would bring shame on the whole family.

"If women were as happy as it was portrayed to be under their men's control, then there would not have been change, and we would not be where we are now today," said Masri.

Not all those interviewed considered the era bad for women, with some women calling it a time when men were gallant and "protected" the woman and did not let her struggle alone.

"The women didn't have to worry about finding jobs or struggling to pay the bills. They could depend on the men to support them and provide them with everything," said Mirna Hassan, who said she was now watching reruns of the show's first run, and added: "I wouldn't mind living in that time, as my rights would be protected, but I wouldn't want such overbearing men running my life."