I‘ve been very concerned lately about the massive talk on most of the social networking websites about a well known character named “Bouzebal”. A strange and ugly face yet funny who is engaged in social and political satire, who is not afraid of exposing anything and everything. Some say it’s of the Moroccan origins , others say it’s Egyptian and some say it has no origins.That’s why I’ve decided to do some research on the origins and the objectives of this web phenomenon which deserves to be studied and analyzed.
In fact, who didn’t notice those funny faces of Bouzebal? This abnormal character is omnipresent. He can be wearing a suit, he can be bold, he can be wearing glasses, sometimes he is young or old, but most of the time he is laughing at YOU.
Before going any further let’s first go a little bit back to the origins of the phenomenon in question. “Bouzebal theory” came from what’s called trolling. To troll as it is defined in MacMillan English Dictionary it is “to try to catch fish using a fishing line tied to the back of a boat” and trolling when related to the internet is defined as “Someone who deliberately sends a rude or annoying message to a discussion group on the internet.”
Generally speaking, this phenomenon is called a “Meme” which is according to Wikipedia "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. And in this genre of art, the Moroccan people are excellent!
Whence, the Moroccan bloggers adopted this phenomenon and have chosen the term “Bouzebal”. As its name suggests, the Bouzebal character holds in itself the characteristics of most of the Moroccan young people who feel lost, desperate, and alienated in their own country and who look forward to be heard and cared for.
Bouzebal is everywhere and his funny faces are known to every internet users. This successful fictional character succeeded in revealing the reality which everybody is scared of. It has succeeded in many ways to talk about our social taboos and exposing those vices that our community is suffering from. Of course, we won’t deny those views who assume that Bouzebal came to destroy our morals and beliefs, since; he exposes the taboos and the unspoken topics.
Bouzebal means “Change”. It is the key word here. It is absolutely necessary. Change comes from within. So let’s first try to change and improve ourselves so that we can move ahead and move with our country to the best. Bouzebal is just the dark side of the mirror. As Samuel Butler says “ let’s be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.”
By: Mr.Mohamed ASSKALLI
