Valley of Tears ([Sh’at Neila] Kan 11, 2020) - an Israeli Tv drama, based on the Yom Kippur War experience, was broadcast on the Israeli public channel, starting October 2020. The series consisted of 10 episodes released once per week.
Since its initial airing, the series has served as a platform hosting a fervent political, social and cultural discourse concerning the character of Israeli society. Thus, Valley of Tears has foregrounded the discussion of past traumas, but perhaps more importantly, issues that continue to plague Israeli society to this day. These issues have to do with the centrality of the Yom Kippur War as an ‘event’ in Israeli history in the manner discussed by Derrida: “An event always inflicts a wound in the everyday course of history, in the ordinary repetition and anticipation of all experience”.
One might consider the significance of the Yom Kippur War as an ‘event’ that pierced the serenity of the holiest of days in October 1973, and its continued influence on Israeli consciousness ever since to account for the small number of feature films made depicting that war. Television dramas have likewise refrained from representing the visions of war in such a way that would directly touch upon the still gaping wound: from the battles fought, the bloodshed, to the cries of the wounded and the fear of death. Valley of Tears returns to all of these and transforms the singular historical event into a televisual one.
The series might also be thought of as a unique ‘historical televisual event’ in Israeli terms, as it was helmed entirely by the public broadcasting That is, the ‘event’ broadcast on Kan 11 was comprised not only of the series’ episodes, but of all the additional discursive products: promotional trailers, panels conducted after each episode, a podcast aired on the channel’s digital platform dedicated to the series, Facebook, Twitter and the printed press. Through these media, the series had been discussed weekly after the broadcast of each episode, evoking lively debates that incorporated memories and nostalgia along with criticism for what was perceived as taking part in the entertainment industry, as well as accusations regarding the lack of female representation and even historical inaccuracies such as language discrepancies, false use of military jargon, and mistakes made in costume, art direction and musical choices.
The variegated and contested areas of discussion emphasize the relevance of past events for the Israeli present, as well as expose the public channel’s attempt to reappropriate its status as the national broadcasting channel, a status of which it was deprived with the turn to a multi-channel broadcasting 30 years ago. Valley of Tears, as Kan’s televisual flagship project, marks an attempt to regain its position in preserving the central ethos and memories of ‘Israeliness’: the ethos of parents’ sacrifice of their sons, and of soldiers sacrifice of their own lives and bodies for the nation. These values are not criticized throughout the series, but presented as heroic tales worthy of admiration.
Thus, Valley of Tears has turned the ‘historical event’ to a ‘televisual event’ and therefore justifies, to our mind, a panel that will engage with the issues and topics raised by the series:
Dan Arav - “Sh’at Neila: Between Reenacting and Branding”, will discuss the televised branding of trauma through Valley of Tears and the various reverberations of this notion in Israel everyday life and popular culture.
Orna Lavy-Flint - “Soldiers vs. the State: A History of Abandonment (in three television series)” – will focus on the destabilized connection between the state and its citizens as it reflects through television representation of the IDF and its soldiers.
Dana Masad – “Panthers and Dissidents: Structuring the Representation of the ‘Black Panthers’ as ‘Underground’ Representation in Valley of Tears” - will refer to the political address hinted in the Mizrahi representation.