This dissertation examines how imported TV series, including Spanish-language telenovelas and Turkish soap operas, have been culturally adapted by the second Moroccan channel, 2M, and the Middle East Broadcasting Center, MBC. The cultural adaptation of imported TV shows has relied on techniques of censorship in which sequences are re-edited and dubbed into Arabic dialects. This has marked a shift from earlier dubbing practices into traditional standard Arabic. The tightening of censorship restrictions has occurred because of the increasing accessibility of imported television shows given that they can now be more widely understood in local dialects. The alteration of essential dramatic events in these original television programs has, in several cases, distorted the narrative intent. An analysis of this type of censorship provides insights into how interrelated forms of political authoritarianism in the Arab world govern broadcast media.

My dissertation also examines the social effects of Spanish-language telenovelas and Turkish soap operas on Arab viewers. The appearance of Spanish-language telenovelas on Moroccan television has heralded a more consumerist worldview particularly among young viewers aged 18-34. Many of these fans have expressed their admiration for depictions of luxury as represented by fashion, mansions, and expensive automobiles. The success of Turkish soap operas on MBC have found its most receptive audience among female viewers, who have started demanding a less authoritarian quality of interaction from their spouses. Depictions of the caring way Turkish male protagonists interact with female characters, who are presumably Muslim as well, has been a significant context for social change. Also, young female fans have used social media platforms, such as Facebook, to voice their moral and sexual preferences in men, taking Turkish fictional characters as their model.

Arab female fans in the online fan communities increasingly discuss cultural taboos pertaining to male sexual appeal and their own physical and sexual preferences in men, expressing their aspirations for change in gender stereotypes and sexuality.