Fragments, Aspiring Cartoon Series

Enab Baladi Issue # 117– Sun, May. 18, 2014

Recently a range of media activities that are pro-Syrian revolution or intending to correct and criticize its mistakes were spread out. One of them is a cartoon series entitled “fragments” launched by a group of young people in the Eastern Ghouta.

The aim of this series, according to its supervisors, is to “imitate the reality of the Syrian revolution with a comedy flavour and to highlight the pros and cons of the revolution”. Additionally, this series embodies “the concerns and the suffering of the rebels while facing Assad’s regime”.

The episodes are short sketches, and each one of them does not exceed 5 minutes. Each sketch deals with the problems of the Syrian people through dialogue between the two protagonists of the series; “Abu Omar” who is a fighter in the free army and he is a balanced and conscious personal, and his friend “Abu Qasim” who is one of the ordinary people who is regarded as “gossiper and pessimistic”.

This dialogue brings a lot of examples to make the reality closer to the observer in which the two protagonists provide their various visions that will end up “weighting the right opinion from a revolutionary and legitimate perspective”.

The name “fragments” stems from the reality that people of Ghouta are living in everyday due to the rockets and missiles that target their areas to be “each fragment expresses a specific topic, addresses specific people who are necessarily involved in the present situation”.

Since it was established in the beginning of 2014, the team was able to produce 12 episodes that tackles political themes such as truce with the Assad’s regime and the attitudes towards Geneva Conference, as well as social issues like marriage during this crisis, spread of rumours and lack of confidentiality.

When we asked the team about their competence, they assured us that the group is consisting of professionals and other young people but “their love for the series have put them together to produce this work, hoping that they will have a good luck in their other works”.

The members of the team point out that they are facing difficulties and the most important one is the living situation in the Eastern Ghouta under the applied siege, adding to that, the internet and power outage for long periods. Furthermore, this team does not receive any kind of support from any party but they work with “their personal modest abilities” seeking in the coming stage to find support that will ensure the continuity of the series.

Translated by: Ruba Al Jarf