Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life

摘要

Marwan Kraidy's Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life (2009) offers one of the most vividly compelling accounts of the intersections of politics and popular culture within Arab societies in the first decade of this century. Kraidy's analysis of those intersections provides an indispensable introduction to the ongoing sociopolitical turmoil in Arab countries, foreshadowing and explaining the current tumultuous events of the "Arab Spring." Reviewing this book serves the important purpose of illuminating the intricacies of global communication trends-in particular, how new mediated cultural forms like reality TV may trigger deep questions about cultural identity and modernity (in the guise of public controversies). The book's central goal is to provide a grounded understanding of how and why Arab reality TV has become a source of "contention" and of bitter political and social disputes in the region. To achieve this goal, the author delivers a cogent analysis of several national cases in which Arab reality TV engendered controversy.