Major Landmarks in the Evolution of Etv Amharic Dramas The Changing Societiy and Its Stories
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Date
2008-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Television has turned out to be the predominant medium of contemporary storytelling. In
its brief history the making of its dramas across time is being affected and influenced by
various factors. Notably social factors constitute the lion share of the reciprocal
influence. Television drama in Ethiopia, from its inception, has evolved under the
influence of social changes together with important changes brought by introduction of
new technology.
This project was preliminary sets out to inquire the evolution of Ethiopian television
(ETV) dramas in the context of the changing societies and its stories. It then reflected on
the interconnectedness between the shifts in the shapes of television drama and the
patterns of the socio-historical conditions that changed from time to time according to
the social and political administration system.
In order to assure the analysis was properly grounded in the condition of drama
production, an attempt was made to devise a historicist methodology. For that purpose,
strong theoretical and conceptual claim of television drama study is employed. Access
was granted by ETV to watch the dramas which is barred by only the loss of some of the
dramas from the catalogue as well as the audio-visual library.
The discussion of the study mainly rests upon illuminating the evolution of ETV dramas
along side major social changes and the flow of television in Ethiopia since its arrival.
To that end ideological and aesthetic criteria was employed to illustrate particular
dramas. Then the study reveals that ETV dramas in the 1960’s were the first experience
for the country and reflected the wealthy social classes. In the 1970’s, after the
revolution, the dramas began to reflect the social life of the nation under new social
order. In the 1990’s dramas began to take new direction in a more liberal atmosphere as
it cultivated new writers that work on various issues. Then it was indicated that while the
dramas reflected the society of each period, they were forced to represent the dominant
view hold by the coming and gone ruling classes.
Given the findings- conclusion is drawn to illuminate what has been discussed along
with an implication and future prospects. In general it is stated that ETV has been used to
reflect the changing societies in the dramas created in various forms which itself changed
from time too time.
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Keywords
Landmarks