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In a response to the previous analyzed message another poster
writes:
some more misconceptions to clear up
omg dont get me started! i hate how they twist things around in this
novela lool. ok first of all no arab man calls a woman a hen. goodness!
no guy would be that stupid in real life.
yeah the love between latiffa and mohammad is really sweet, but believe
me the misconceptions u see about muslims and how the men aren't good
to the women and there is no love and stuff isnt true. i know that
we always see stuff on the news about how arab men beat their wives,
but its condemned in islam as something terrible. there are many men
who are mean to their wives and many coulples who have bad relationships
reguardless of culture or religion. just wanted to clear some stuff
up, sorry for going on and on lol.
In this message the poster
expresses affective interaction with the theme presented by the
telenovela. Even though it is in a negative expression “I
hate” it nevertheless provokes a reaction in the writer in
an affective level. This writer also critically processes the telenovela
scene. The poster disagrees with the choice of the term used by
the telenovela’s writer to convey the miscommunication. “ok
first of all no arab man calls a woman a hen. goodness! no guy would
be that stupid in real life.” The writer then jumps from the
scene of linguistic miscommunication, to the stereotypes that exist
in real life regarding Muslim man: “but believe me the misconceptions
u see about muslims and how the men aren't good to the women and
there is no love and stuff isnt true.” This poster wants to
counteract some preconceived notions of the man-woman relationship
in the Arab/Muslim world. The message writer also clarifies that
beatings are condemned by Islam and explains that bad relationships
are not privilege of one culture, but it happens “regardless
of culture or religion”.
In this exchange it is also possible to identify the interpersonal
communication that is brought by the discussion of the telenovela
scene. In a dialogical communication way, the discussion of the
telenovela’s scene “raised consciousness” about
problems of stereotyping, confronting preconceived notions of relationships
in the Muslim world, and power structure between man and woman regardless
of culture or religion. This interpersonal communication among the
forum participants about the issues raised by the telenovela scene
is also a demonstration of parasocial behavioral interaction, with
the audience talking among themselves about the character, and in
this case, also the issue that the character represented. These
conversations among audience members can create a social learning
environment (Papa et. al. 2000). In reflecting and talking about
the educational content of the telenovela, these messages are also
expressing cognitive parasocial interaction. The many layers of
the parasocial interaction construct can therefore be identified.
The continuation of this thread presents more messages that express
affective interaction with the same theme. As an example the next
message shows that the poster feels for Latiffa, who is afraid her
husband Mohamed will get a second wife. This writer also talks about
the portrayal of the other Muslim characters in the novela:
Re: some more misconceptions to clear up
Tio Ali, who must have a doctorate in philosophy, presents the rational
view and bends over backward to tolerate and support his family
within religious teachings. He is admirable and presents many other
aspects as well in a logical light. Even Abu appears to me not to
be a fanatic within his own environment, just very literal and strict.
However, the woman in a prison everywhere she looks aspect and more
than one wife seem to me to be very offensive. No amount of gold
or protection can make up for individual freedom and living in a
state of fear. Poor prima who is in constant fear that her husband
will take another wife. Overall, I think the novela presents the
characters in a friendly yet realistic light. What I particularly
like with the Moroccan characters is the sense of playfulness, innocence,
and comedy. By contrast, the Brazilian characters, Yvetee excepted,
tend to be on the dramatic side.
This writer expresses affective interaction when conveying: “Poor
prima who is in constant fear that her husband will take another
wife.” Here the poster feels for Latiffa’s struggle
to contend with the possibility of a second wife in her marriage.
The poster also articulates the representation of Tio Ali as an
understanding figure, in contrast with Tio Abdu, that even though
seems to be more strict does not reach the point to be considered
a fanatic. The message expresses cognitive interaction when the
poster talks about the characters and their representations. The
poster also touches on the telenovela’s author strategy of
representing two opposite spectrums Tio Ali, the one that is responsible
throughout the novela to teach, interpret, and recite the Koran
and Tio Abdul, the one that has a more strict interpretation of
Islam, without transforming the characters into a positive/negative
polarization. This poster also expresses an understanding of the
representation of the characters as friendly and realistic. This
insight about the telenovela characters as affable and at the same
time real, might be interpreted as a vicarious learning experience,
where the modeled behaviors portrayed by Tio Ali and Tio Abdul are
used to possibly debunk stereotypical images of religious Muslim
men.
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