If I were to examine myself specifically being exposed to American sitcoms and how it changed my perspective of the world, of my beliefs and ethics, I would probably say that the influence was more of a positive than a negative one. Perhaps the fact that I got exposed to such sitcoms at an older age than the generations which came after me, not to mention that this exposure was followed by constant control and observance coming from my parents. Having that I was only watching what is appropriate for my age and as I grew older I had the growth and understanding to not let any of those broadcasted influences effect me in any way. To be honest American sitcoms improved my English language in all aspects, it provided me with a broader vocabulary, and enhanced my accent. It also introduced me to a total different culture and perspective, which is clearly different than the culture that I have lived in.
Sometimes we tend to blame the American sitcoms or the western sitcoms in general for the change in behavior that we see very evident in the young generations and the generations to come. Examples are surrounding us everywhere, on campus for example we see girls dressed in the same provocative way that we see on television, we see Arabs building those distinction between people of different colors where we see those with dark skin colors dressed like African Americans, behaving and talking like them. Vocabulary contains all sorts of terms to be ashamed of and embarrassed to hear coming from a Muslim or an Arab. Maybe, I was not influenced negatively by those sitcoms but a large number of people around me have and now you don’t even need to watch those sitcoms because the people who have been influenced by it are putting more pressure on the generations to come to conform to their groups. We have become a westernized society where we cannot even speak an entire Arabic sentence without English sneaking into it. True we taught our selves to speak with a universal language; however, we have left our own holy language along the way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The point you made about language is a very good one. I admit we've left out mother tongues behind, and we just speak English all the time. In terms of cultural and national identities, this has very negative effects.
We should think of ways to restore the common use of our first languages.
Sara i completly agree with you that we lost our sense of language, but at the end of the day is everyone really blamming a television set and a couple of series on whats happening in the arab world, there are girls and guys that dont even watch tv and go through what they go through, its the process of life i think everyone is just makiing it a big deal when they point fingers at american soceity!! its sad acutally its something i luagh about...
Sara i completly agree with you that we lost our sense of language, but at the end of the day is everyone really blamming a television set and a couple of series on whats happening in the arab world, there are girls and guys that dont even watch tv and go through what they go through, its the process of life i think everyone is just makiing it a big deal when they point fingers at american soceity!! its sad acutally its something i luagh about...
Post a Comment