Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Bulgaria Through a Friend's Eyes
A fellow volunteer, the one from Горно Дряново (Gorno Dryanovo) who recently had a "wedding," put together a remarkable video capturing her time in Bulgaria. We were first shown the video at our close of service conference. Several of us were moved to tears. Surprisingly, few of the Bulgarians who watched the video with us were as moved as we were. Talking to some of them afterward, it was apparent why. They are from larger cities and the video does not represent their "Bulgaria." No, it's not everyone's Bulgaria. But it is someone's, and it's awfully special.
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Heh. This video is a quite abject manipulation. If your Peace Corps fellow really saw my country only in this aspect, she for sure was socially blind or evil-minded.
ReplyDeleteI have worked in Gotse Delchev Region for 10 years, and I have visited many times all the villages around. And I am accustomed to the way the Pomaks look, speak, act, sing and dance. But they never seemed to me so enirely different from all other Bulgarians, as they were shown in the video. Because they are not.
This video is offensive - for me, as well for the villagers of Gorno Dryanovo.
Thank you for your comment. I’m sorry you feel the way you do about the video. It was certainly not my friend’s intention to paint the village - which she adores - or Bulgaria in an unfavorable light, and that’s not how I see the video at all. But, as Shakespeare wrote, "[T]here is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
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