Investigating Kuwaiti television serial dramas of Ramadan : social issues and narrative forms across three transformative production eras
Produced for the holy month of Ramadan to accommodate society’s religious rituals, Kuwaiti television serial dramas are designed to address culturally specific social issues and pervade television during Ramadan. This research identifies the development of Kuwaiti television serials and establishes a framework for distinguishing television productions in the Middle East. While researchers have prioritized the political economy and journalistic reception studies of Arab television, the state of Kuwaiti television serials that has influenced the formation of other regional Ramadanian serial programmes has thus far been neglected. Kuwaiti serials present a limited amount of episodes condensed over thirty days of airing during Ramadan that require intense audience engagement, consistent recollection of information, and narrative closure. Through close textual analyses of representative case studies and interviews with programme writers, this research highlights the rationale prompting specific depictions of social issues and the utilization of narrative elements in Kuwaiti serials across three different production periods to contextualize them within the broader field of television programming. Because this format has undergone modifications for over four decades due to the changes occurring in the television landscape, the investigation focuses on three main periods in the development of Kuwaiti television: the pre-satellite era (1961-1990), consisting of state-owned networks and local accessibility, the satellite era (1990-2000), which expanded accessibility due to satellite technologies and introduced private-owned networks, and the network proliferation era (2000 onward), which witnessed the rapid increase in networks and demand for productions. The exploration reveals how and why specific thematic meanings and narrative forms developed during each era and demonstrates how social changes and production contexts inform serial programming in Kuwait. In the process, a historical overview of the development of Kuwaiti television serial dramas and the impact of the production context and societal changes on the narrative forms and content is provided.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations