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By Znaïdi Khadija
Morocco World News
Rabat, June 2, 2012
He is star, he is well-known and he doesn’t exist! I mean, he exists but only on our Facebook pages and profiles! I mean “Bouzabal” (which can be translated as worthless).
Actually, Bouzabal is a cartoon character which has invaded Facebook pages of millions of Moroccan young people. He is pointless, dummy and selfish but, at the same time, not afraid to show it! And I think that’s what makes him that popular among youngsters who constitute the majority of our society.
The creator of this character, Mohamed Nassib, has said that the Bouzabal figure represents several sides of a part of young people in Morocco who show many difficulties in fitting into the society due to poverty and marginalization.
In fact, when you take the time to think about the comments and reactions of Bouzabal in different situations, you can sense a part of the reality of the Moroccan mind and the way it works; especially when it’s challenged by many hard conditions like lack of resources and opportunities.
Nevertheless, this too realistic character tackles a lot of delicate issues ranging from Politics, Social problems, Economy, unemployment etc. in his own way. Bouzabal doesn’t care about the rules or about the way others will look at him. What he only cares about is expressing his feelings regardless of the consequences of his actions.
I want to emphasize that the choice of the character’s name is not random. The creator wants to shed light on the aberration of the society and says that Bouzabal will never be accepted as a member of the society unless he changes his bad manners and selfish positions. This way, he can draw the people’s attention to the real message beneath the weirdness of Bouzabal, which is trying to be as positive as possible towards the harsh times that most of the young people face in Morocco.
At the end, we can notice that the popularity of Bouzabal is also due to the fact that young people are neglected by traditional media and most of them don’t feel represented by the programs they produce. But this is another story!
