The Horror of Armenian TV Shows

Many diasporans have a wrong vision about Armenia, including my own family. When I first moved to Armenia, my parents were always worried about me. Whenever they had the chance, they would call and would give me some instructions, such as be home before 9pm, don’t take cabs, and be careful so no one steals your money.

So what makes diasporans who have never been in Armenia worry that much? I later came to realize the root of it all: Armenian TV series.

As I wanted to improve my Eastern Armenian dialect, I decided to watch some TV shows. I asked my friends for some recommendations and their answer was “read books but please do not watch any Armenian TV series”. After being told the same thing over and over again, I decided to watch an episode just out of curiosity. I watched the first one I came upon. I experienced culture shock. I checked another one, and it was the same. I said to myself: “Either I don’t live in Armenia or this is not Armenia.”

Apparently, Armenian screenwriters have a wide imagination. They have probably misunderstood what drama actually means. What I have seen during my discovery process was painful. In these TV shows, Armenia is the country where all mafias exist. The families are all unhappy, adultery is always there without any exceptions. The rich have unlimited amount of wealth. There are too many conflicts when it comes to love. Crime scenes are inescapable. But one of the most painful phenomena is: men are always powerful businessmen, while women have no profession. They are always victims of sexual and domestic violence. Last but not least, these TV shows don’t make any sense.

Let’s bring an example to get a better insight. The TV show “ Purchased Happiness”(Գնված երջանկություն) is about a beautiful, smart and poor girl who falls in love with a rich guy in a week. The guy proposes to her at the end of that week and she accepts (already skeptical). To celebrate the happy occasion, they make love. And the next morning, boom! It turns out that the entire thing was a bet between the rich guy and his friends. Honestly, what kind of logic is that? How could a smart and a well-educated girl who was accepted into Oxford be deceived like that?

The nonsensical story doesn't end there, it has many more plot twists and storylines that make matters even worse.

Regarding other TV series, they aren’t any different from this one. They might have different storylines but the events are very similar. For instance, the first episode of every Armenian TV show includes either beating, kidnapping, raping or adultery. Come on! Imagine what would happen if we watched every drama series; we’d be traumatized! To makes matters worse, all these scenes create an environment where these kind of phenomena are acceptable. The cinematography isn’t the greatest either: Yerevan looks like an undeveloped and sad city.

Unfortunately, these TV shows present Armenia in the diaspora. They distort the image of Armenia. No wonder many diasporans including my parents are worried. They have a false understanding of Armenia. Moreover, these TV shows have a bad influence on people who spend most of their time watching TV. This allows them to have a wrong perception of their country. Children and teenagers later imitate what they see.

As a disporan who’s been living in Armenia for almost four years, Armenia is not even close to what is shown. It is one of the safest countries in the world. Not everyone is a dirty businessman, there are a lot of hardworking people. Concerning women, Armenia has a lot of successful women. I admire the number of women who are well-educated and have jobs and support their husbands and family financially.

In conclusion, if we want to show our social problems, we should show the reality. Everyone must understand what our issues are in order to solve or at least stabilize them. I’d like to add one last thing directed to our drama screenwriters, directors and producers: your work is appalling, or like locals say it, ujasniy, and those TV shows are not demanded by people.