” Bulgarian reporter Kristina Vladimirova has prepared a 15-minute documentary to determine why Turkish TV series have attracted such extraordinary interest in her country. She said the Bulgarian viewers with whom she spoke felt close to the family models in the Turkish series
Several Turkish television series, which began airing on Bulgarian television last summer, have become the subject of a documentary in the country.
More than 10 Turkish TV series, including “Gümüş” (Silver), “Binbir Gece” (1001 Nights), “Yabancı Damat” (The Foreign Groom), “Yaprak Dökümü” (The Fall of Leaves), “Asi” and “Annem” (My Mother) have drawn great interest from Bulgarians. The shows’ high viewer rates have become the subject of a documentary in the country.
In her 15-minute documentary, Kristina Vladimirova, a reporter from the private BTV channel that airs “Gümüş,” “Yabancı Damat” and “Yaprak Dökümü,” talked to scientists and audiences in an attempt to determine why the series have attracted such extraordinary interest.
“When compared to Latin American series, Turkish ones get 50 percent more ratings,” said BTV Program Coordinator Ventzislava Konova.
Given the present dominance of the TV medium, Plamen Bochkov, an anthropologist at New Bulgarian University, said, “If Shakespeare were alive today, he would write scripts for TV series.”
Social psychologist Plamen Dimitrov compared the female characters of Turkish series to heroes in tales such as “Snow White” and “Cinderella,” arguing that the contemporary media has filled the place previously filled by older children’s stories. “There is no emptiness in culture, old children stories have become the themes of TV series,” he said.
Vladimirova said women were always in the background in Latin American TV series because of the strong effect of the Catholic Church. Turkey, however, was a place where modern and traditional worlds met and families were central, she said. “There is a respect for old people in modern Turkish families.”
Vladimirova said the Bulgarian viewers with whom she spoke felt close to the family models in the Turkish series. “The respect for the elderly affected Bulgarians.”
Image of Turks changed
Turkologist Jana Jelyazkova said Bulgarians had different opinions about Turkish people before watching Turkish TV series but that “they have now seen the truth.”
The documentary argues that Turkish TV series have affected Bulgarians’ domestic relations and even name traditions. There are reports that newborn babies were given the names of characters from the series and that Bulgarians’ travel destinations had even changed as well.
“The number of Bulgarian tourists traveling to Turkey has increased by 40 percent. They want to visit the places where TV series are made,” Jelyazkova said.
Source : Hürriyet Daily News
