Watching Big Brother

February 15, 2011 - 11:15 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, tv 

Reality show fever is as big in Israel as it is in the US. Local versions of hit shows like A Star is Born (American Idol) and Dancing with the Stars, and especially (Ach Gadol) Big Brother, are among the top rated attractions on TV, telling you something about the need for escapism in our society.

Another biggie is the Israeli version of Beauty and the Geek (Hayefeh v’hanoun) which pairs comely young women with nerdy young men. Yesterday in our local mall, the producers staged an audition day where local residents aspiring to become cast members for next year’s third season could fill out an application, give a video audition and have a few minutes to impress the panel from the program.

A crowd of pre-teens and youth showed up to jostle for position outside the empty storefront that use to house Tower Records before it closed last monght. They were hoping for a glimpse of the would-be stars who arrived to audition, however they far outnumbered the actual contestants who had either the courage or the foolhardiness to enter the store and fill out the application.

Those that did were mostly female, with some sex appeal, and earnest expectations of being chosen for the show. While the handful of guys who showed up seemed like they were doing it as a good, very un-nerdlike.

Neither the male nor female applicants seemed like they had much to say, and are probably a good indicator of the audience who watches the show. As an interviewee last week on TV said who was being asked why Israelis weren’t amassing in the streets to protest rising prices in gas, water, bread and other basic neccessities, “We’re so stupid. We’re all inside watching Big Brother.”

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Brother less big now

October 6, 2008 - 8:23 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, General, History and Culture, Politics 

Big Brother from 1984 and not from IsraelIsraeli culture is one of the nation’s most important exports in terms of public relations, and the Foreign Ministry has been active in sponsoring international tours for Israel’s most exciting performers or some time.

ISRAEL21c has been reporting on the phenomenon for several years now:

“We have found that bringing Israeli musicians to the United States is an exciting and effective way of engaging students, said Aviva Raz Schechter, Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC.

“It provides us with the opportunity to highlight Israel’s cultural achievements and to show that Israel is more than just a conflict. Many American students are tired of debating about the Arab-Israeli conflict; music serves as a great way of connecting Jewish and non-Jewish young people with the country. We are particularly excited to be hosting Idan Raichel, who is not only a wonderful performer but also an example of the diverse society of which Israel is so proud,” Schechter told ISRAEL21c.

Rapper Shaanan Streett of Hadag Nachash has even publicly expressed dismay at the warmth with which his act has been received by local bureaucrats, despite the ensemble’s well-known proclivity for lyrics which are often critical of the homeland. This, despite the Foreign Ministry’s insistence that sponsored artists sign agreements nicknamed “Big Brother Contracts,” dictating that if they talk trash about Israel while on tour, they obligate themselves to pay the government back.

Regardless, Hadag Nachash and many other edgy acts have participated in performance and speaking tours to North America and Europe with governmental backing, spreading good Israeli cheer to the Diaspora, where identification with sabra culture can go a long way. And now, tours like these are getting easier to set up, with the Foreign Ministry having announced recently that the Big Brother Contracts are, like the real 1984, history. It’s good timing, coming just months after the government was criticized for unveiling new plans to keep an extremely close watch on its populace.

Quoting from a story in the Hebrew Yediot Acharonot tabloid, the McClatchy newspaper group’s Checkpoint Jerusalem blog recently celebrated the move, which was apparently orchestrated by authors A.B. Yehoshua and Meir Shiloh and championed by Arye Mekel, deputy director of the ministry’s Cultural and Scientific Affairs Department.

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