Soap Opera

SOAP OPERA

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I. INTRODUCTION

1. Origin/History

The soap opera form first developed on American radio in the 1920s, and expanded into television starting in the 1940s, and is normally shown during the daytime, hence the alternative name, daytime serial. The first concerted effort to air continuing drama occurred in 1946 with the serial Faraway Hill.

The term "soap opera" originated from the fact that when these serial dramas were aired on daytime radio, the commercials aired during the shows were largely aimed at housewives. Many of the products sold during these commercials were laundry and cleaning items. Broadcasters hoped to interest manufacturers of household cleaners, food products, and toiletries in the possibility of using daytime radio to reach their prime consumer market: women between the ages of eighteen and forty-nine.

2. Definition

The "soap" in soap opera alluded to their sponsorship by manufacturers of household cleaning products; while "opera" suggested an ironic incongruity between the domestic narrative concerns of the daytime serial and the most elevated of dramatic forms. Thus, we have the definition: a "soap opera" is a melodramatic story that airs commercials for soap products.

We have some other ways to define:

-Television soap operas are long-running serials concerned with everyday life.

-A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on TV or radio.

II. HOW TO RECOGNIZE A SOAP OPERA?

1. Characteristics of soap operas

Typical Subjects

Soap operas take everyday, ordinary people in a particular place and the events of their lives and then exaggerate them to a degree where they are still believable, of course, more dramatic. Soap operas focus on problems encountered in work and marriage. However, repeated subjects make soap operas predictable.

In soap operas, relationships are more important than plots ( "who related to whom is more important than what happens when").

Realism / Surrealism

A soap opera can be seen as "the reflection of reality". However, soap operas never represent real life because many characters are idealized and the construction of reality is far more complex than what happens in a soap opera. Many viewers consider a soap opera " the film of life" while others still wonder "whose life is it anyway?".

Producers always try to make soap operas look more real. That's why scenery and characters are designed very much like those in daily lives.

Stereotypes

Producers often use the stereotypes of: "the perfect mother", "the domineering father", "the spinster", "the villain", "the gossip", "the Cinderella", "the rich & handsome man", and lately, "the career woman"...

It is important to recognize that soap operas serve to affirm the primacy of the family not by presenting a perfect family, but by portraying a family in constant turmoil.

Openness

All soap operas are potentially endless. Two basic narrative types are:

1."closed" soap operas: the narrative does eventually close. All problems must be solved at the end of the serial. This kind is more common in Latin America and Asian countries.

2."open" soap operas: there is no end point. Plots run continuously, and lead into further developments after each episode. Producers never have the intention of "wrapping things up", so they bring things to a dramatic cliffhanger at the end of each season. This explains why soap operas never begin and never end. Some have said that the "longer they run the more impossible it seems to imagine them ending.". However, whenever the audience appear to be bored, a season finale will be produced to end the serial forever.

2. Soap operas compared with other genres

Common formats of TV series are: soap opera, sitcom, dramedy.

Sitcom

* A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television.

* Sitcoms center around a common environment, such as a family home or workplace.

* Humorous storylines come from misunderstanding or embarrassing situations.

* Most contemporary situation comedies are filmed with a multicamera setup front of a live studio audience. That is the reason why sitcoms are often aired with a laugh track.

* Famous sitcoms: The Simpsons (1989-present), Mr. Bean (1990-1995), Friends (1994-2004)...

Dramedy

* Dramedy is a contraction of drama and comedy. It used to be known as "comedy-drama".

* As a combination of two genres, dramedies are favored by all kinds of viewers.

* Dramedies do not have typical subjects or characters.

* Dramedies are aired without a laugh track.

* Each episode can last either half or one hour, even though one-hour-long dramedies have usually proven more successful.

* Famous dramedies: Charmed, Buffy-the Vampire Slayer, Ally McBeal...

III. VIEWERS OF SOAP OPERAS

Soap viewers (often assumed to be only women, and in particular working-class housewives) are characterized unfairly as naive escapists.

Women are more often interested in the family issues and love affairs than men are.

It has even been suggested that soaps are made to be heard rather than seen.

There have been many theories put forward as to why men don't like soap operas.