Afghan Star
Kenneth Skeldon
Issue date: 3/1/10 Section: Entertainment
The final film at Kettering's recent Global Issues Film Festival was Afghan Star. The film gives a behind the scenes look at the show "Afghan Star," which is broadcast on Tolo TV in Afghanistan. The pop show "Afghan Star" is comparable to our "American Idol" in the basic concept of the show. Different people within Afghanistan compete for the number one spot as sing on the show. The audience decides who is the best singer by send a text messages to the show in response to their favorite singer. The documentary "Afghan Star" is based on the lives of four Afghan stars that are trying to make to the top.
As the four and other competitors are trying to make to the top, we must first look back at the time before the "Afghan Star" to understand the importance of this TV talent show. The history of Afghanistan has not always been one of war; a city in Afghanistan was named a cultural capital of the world in 1974 (Afghan-On, Part III 1974). In the 1970's it appears that Afghanistan respected culture as much as the Americans do today. If culture in Afghanistan was once so important, something had to have changed. In 1978 the Afghan government was over thrown by a communist group and went into a dark history for the next 30 years (Afghan-On, Part III 1974). Certain privileges were considered sinful as declared by the Taliban and the other Jihads groups-privileges like TV channels, radios, clean water, and other luxuries that we take for granted. This period of cultural repression has lasted for the past twenty-five to thirty years in Afghanistan.
Only since the United States entered Afghanistan to attack the Taliban in retaliation to the 2001 attacks has the cultural climate once again become more open. As the government did not ban different luxuries of culture, the Afghan TV stations began to broadcast over the airwaves and people started to use televisions in their houses again. Even with modern technology starting to emerge into the everyday life of the Afghan the people still did not have a way to express themselves.
As the four and other competitors are trying to make to the top, we must first look back at the time before the "Afghan Star" to understand the importance of this TV talent show. The history of Afghanistan has not always been one of war; a city in Afghanistan was named a cultural capital of the world in 1974 (Afghan-On, Part III 1974). In the 1970's it appears that Afghanistan respected culture as much as the Americans do today. If culture in Afghanistan was once so important, something had to have changed. In 1978 the Afghan government was over thrown by a communist group and went into a dark history for the next 30 years (Afghan-On, Part III 1974). Certain privileges were considered sinful as declared by the Taliban and the other Jihads groups-privileges like TV channels, radios, clean water, and other luxuries that we take for granted. This period of cultural repression has lasted for the past twenty-five to thirty years in Afghanistan.
Only since the United States entered Afghanistan to attack the Taliban in retaliation to the 2001 attacks has the cultural climate once again become more open. As the government did not ban different luxuries of culture, the Afghan TV stations began to broadcast over the airwaves and people started to use televisions in their houses again. Even with modern technology starting to emerge into the everyday life of the Afghan the people still did not have a way to express themselves.
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