The prophecies of Narek Margaryan
Discover the prophetic powers of comedian, writer and our Creative Armenia - AGBU Fellow.
May 16, 2019 | by Creative Armenia
For many years, Narek Margaryan has been pushing the boundaries of political comedy in Armenia. But in a land where the boundary between comedy and reality is often blurred, Margaryan’s imagination has achieved prophetic proportions. Take his screenplay for the 2017 film Arajin Demq, co-written with his ArmComedy partner Sergey Sargsyan, which tickled Armenian audiences with outlandish imaginings. Or so they seemed at the time.
Who’s that journalist?
The main character of the film is a cynical journalist who transforms into a leader and eventually becomes the President of the Republic of Armenia. Remind you of anyone? Velvet revolutionary Nikol Pashinyan was a journalist and the editor of Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times) before he became Prime Minister.
Reinventing the wheel
As soon as the character sits on the presidential chair, there’s an important order of business. Alongside the president delegates flood the streets with their bikes as an act of encouragement for a healthy lifestyle. Nikol Pashinyan is also a big believer in bicycles. He often rides them through the city, stating that it gives him a feeling of freedom and reinforces a healthy body in which the healthy soul dwells.
Neighborly relations
Once the character of the film takes the presidency, the first high-ranking official he meets is the Prime Minister of Georgia, played by popular Georgian singer Soso Pavliashvili. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s first official visit was also to Georgia. However, unlike the movie, the actual Georgian Prime Minister was a straight-up politician without any show business background.
Red lines and traffic fines
Traffic fines and red lines seem to be an eternal headache in reality, fiction, and, possibly, in parallel universes. As you know, our new government temporarily eliminated the red lines and the cameras, believing that educating drivers on the art of driving would become a reasonable solution. Didn’t quite work out that way. In the movie, as in reality, a popular ban on cameras was quickly reversed.
The arrest
Finally, we all remember the arrest of Nikol Pashinyan during the most intense days of the revolution — the crowd, the rage, and the disappearance of the leader in mere seconds. The news of the arrest went viral and engaged even more people to protest. Narek’s protagonist, a journalist, also gets arrested during a protest, after which…
Well, you know the story.
This was a short review of the prophetic powers and creative talent of comedian, screenwriter, and now Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellow Narek Margaryan.