Moroccan Ramadan Comedy: An Insult to Mothers

By Fatima Ezzahra Metkal

Casablanca – Ramadan is an occasion for the family to gather and share joyful moments every night. In this holy month and after breaking their fast, Moroccans have an appointment with their televisions. With Ramadan comes a special season of must-see Moroccan TV channels that offer a variety of comedy works.

What captures, however, our attention in “Marhba b S’habi” (Welcome my friends), broadcast on the Moroccan TV channel “Al Aoula,” is the language used between the characters of the story, especially between members of a nuclear family. The figures of speech used by a boy to address his friend include: “the son of a bi*** (female of dog), “the son of a greedy” (someone who likes food very much), and he compares his beloved mother to a Doberman. When his father addresses him, he uses: “the son of Haram,” (son of an unmarried, illegitimate couple).

Is this what makes people laugh? Or are our Moroccan comedians running out of words to use? Where is the noble message that comedians should transmit to our children? Can’t we join the purposeful to the humorous?

Moroccan comedians are using shocking, provoking and offending language to describe the most precious person; our mothers. Making fun of parents, particularly the mother figure, is what Moroccan comedians chose as a way of entertaining fasters.

Insulting language was the reward generous women received this holy month. This is not teaching children how to talk to their parents and is socially destructive.

There is a lack of balance between what is educational and what is entertaining. The content of what is watched and the quality of words matter to Moroccans. For this reason, the content and quality of words should be checked and re-checked.

Actors are examples that children follow. It goes without saying that TV influences the development of our children’s language. Moroccan comedians should offer their viewers, and above all, young children, a quality that aims at stimulating their cognitive development while entertaining them at the same time. It is neither in Islam nor in Moroccan culture to speak to parents or to children in an offensive way.

These comedy works may reflect the everyday conversations of some Moroccan families, but the point is not to highlight those expressions to make the people believe that this way of conversing is the norm. Moroccan viewers’ expectations rise up and so should the quality of Moroccan TV productions.

Moroccan TV productions should seek quality over quantity, live up to the expectations of taxpayers and stop offering its viewers insulting and mind-numbing programs.

Edited by Miriam El Ofir

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy