English

By: Rima Fleihan
"a member in SWO Team"
8/1/2008

The Syrian outstanding TV serial "tale of love", in a beautiful and attractive manner, deals sensitive social issues. It presents strong and influential images of life diversity.

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The director, the writers and a group of wonderful actors provide wonderful tableaus of life problems. The serial is full of colors and suggestions, and put forward many problems such as honor crimes, polygamy, poverty, love, marriage, cheating, relationships gender-based discrimination, and others…

The serial provided realistic images, and put forward different problems and views in an easy manner. Despite the variation in quality, it remains a distinct serial. I recall, for example, one of the important tableaus which dealt with the thorny subject "crimes of honor". It raised the problem of a girl who had been raped and showed how the role of laws and the Lawyers should be when a brave lawyer defended the girl. This episode clarifies the social problems and criticizes the legal provisions which exempt rapist from punishment if he married the victim. Also, it explains the responsibility of parents and how to protect girls, and the role of shelters in protection of the girls who are under the risk of slaughtering, and the gaps in the work mechanisms used in this context by shelters and law.

We saw the ugliness of the honor crime, where the father and the oldest brother made the young brother to kill his sister at the last scene. The blood of the girl had covered the sun painted on the dark wall behind her.

Syrian television had deleted this scene, while it had been fully showed on other Arab stations, which is so regrettable. I do not know if this procedure had been taken to be in consistency with the officials statements or with the strange idea: " we have no honor crimes " and "Syrian women lives are very good as the women's lives in Switzerland , if were not better!).

Finally, TV has become an important source culture, with the absence of a culture of the book and in the presence of modern techniques. Therefore it bears responsibility for the ideas of the growing generation which will make the future. Thanks for the Family of "Tale of Love" who have presented good ideas through the screen that could be a dangerous weapon or a useful drug.

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Exclusive: SWO (Syrian Women Observatory)
Translated by Angela Shoufi