Aussie soap 'Neighbours' - pushing Serb propaganda?

A favourite topic of mine is the power of parochialism and how the concept of 'local', no matter how flimsy that connection is, can immediately sway the opinion and views of a particular public. On the same token, the 'local' angle can turn what otherwise would be far from the attention of a certain society to centre stage, usually accompanied with an exaggeration of the prowess and influence of the circumstances. All societies do this so as to enstill some sort of influence, grandeur and, above all, honour upon themselves in the competition between the nations. The 'local' is doing well, so that means 'we' are good.

An example of this has been in an article recently published in Serbia introducing the public there to 'their girl', Valentina Novaković, who is the newest 'star' of the long-running Australian soap 'Neighbours' (for those who understand Serbian, it has been translated using the more colloquial Turkish-origin word 'Komšije' rather than the more proper 'Susedi'). Under the title 'The sisters Bojana and Valentina Novaković are ever bigger stars in Australia', the Serbian equivalent to 'Heat' magazine reports that the 19 year old Valentina, who has recently started appearing on Neighbours as the character of Natasha Williams, has decided after 'successfully completing her first year at university studying architecture' to follow in the footsteps of her older sister Bojana (described as a 'popular Hollywood actress') and head into the world of acting.

In an interview she gave to Australia's multilingual broadcaster (most likely on their Serbian language radio programme), she said that she would eventually like to make it big in the USA. So her projectory is not much different as many of her predecessors who started on Aussie soaps such as Kylie Minogue, Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe.

What is interesting is that a little film has been showing on Qantas international flights, part of their 'As Australian As' series, where the younger Novaković describes her Serb upbringing in Australia. The clip can be seen in the link above to the article itself.

Now this wouldn't be the Balkans without a conspiracy. Some among the ex-Yugoslav community in Australia see this new Serb on Neighbours is all the work of the show's head script writer - Laura Radulovich, who is of Serb background. Some believers that Valentina got the job solely due to 'veze' (Balkan connections) point out that under Radulovich's watch Neighbours has seen characters with Balkan names come on to the show, such as Liliana, which could only mean that this is part of a subliminal 'pro-Serb propaganda' campaign.

However, Valentina is not the first Serb to appear on the show. Do you remember Holly Vukadinović? I didn't think so - you might better know her as Holly Valance. She was on Neighbours before releasing her one-hit wonder 'Kiss Kiss' which was a cover version of the hugely successful 1997 Turkish pop hit by Tarkan 'Şımarık'. Since then she has sunk into obscurity, just getting occasional guest spots on TV shows. We'll see if this is the fate also awaiting Valentina. Let's hope she doesn't display Valance's level of enlightenment with quotes such as when asked her opinion on Australia becoming a republic. Valance said that she wasn't for it because then Australia wouldn't be able to compete in the Commonwealth Games anymore. Yes dear, try telling that to republics like South Africa and India then, Holly.