Are Soap Operas Like The Real World?
When asked if soap operas present things as they are in real life, most people disagreed again while a few were undecided. There were no significant differences between the answers of men and women. The literature supports the respondents' opinions. The percentage of soap characters holding professional jobs is highly exaggerated and sixteen percent of soap men have fathered illegitimate children. (Frentz 5,6) Asked if problems on soaps are solved in realistic ways, females in this study were just as likely as males to answer disagree or strongly disagree.
Similar questions were asked about soap characters being typical of people in real life. One was specific to male characters and one was specific to female characters. As mentioned above, the evidence of high illegitimacy, high birth rates, and ridiculously inflated percentages of professionals would indicate that soap opera characters don't typify real people. Are male soap characters like men in real life? Twenty percent of men answered yes, twenty percent were undecided, and the rest answered no. Interestingly, ninety percent of women said no to that same question!
The discrepancy could lie in the fact that soap opera men are much more articulate about their feelings than men in real life. Male respondents might want to imagine themselves as glib as their soap opera counterparts. However, real women, who deal with real men, know that soap men's verbal skills are all in the minds of the writers. Therefore, they overwhelmingly affirm that soap men are not like real men.
Are female soap characters like women in real life? Again, ninety percent of women said no while fifty percent of men said either yes or not sure. The trend seems to be that women reject the idea that soap characters are like real people. A reason for this is given in Contemporary Soap Opera Criticism, "It appears males either got into soap operas when they believed that they were realistic or they rationalized the viewing experience by perceiving soap operas as realistic." (Frentz 25)
Louise Spence, author of Watching Daytime Soap operas: The Power of Pleasure, points out an interesting paradox on the debate over whether soap characters are like real life people. She first points out that there are "no superheroes (equipped with powers superior to, or unimaginable in, common folks), few fairies or sorceresses, or truly repugnant freaks." (Spence 114) She is only partly correct; it's true that soap characters only get to play Superman or Wonder Woman in dream and fantasy sequences. However, it should be noted that there are super-spy type characters, the soap genre's equivalent to James Bond. Notable examples are the many characters who turned out to be secret agents for the WSB (World Security Bureau) of GENERAL HOSPITAL and the ISA (International Security Alliance) on DAYS OF OUR LIVES.
She does mention an exception to her above statement in reference to GENERAL HOSPITAL'S science fiction stories in the 1980's. (Spence 215) There are many more exceptions, past and present, that deserve attention including science fiction on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, human cloning on GUIDING LIGHT, the myriad of creatures (including vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and witches) that roamed around town on DARK SHADOWS and an entire mythical city that came to life on ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Vampires stalked the innocent on PORT CHARLES while witches and demons still wreak havoc on PASSIONS, which is also graced with intermittent angelic visitations. Other shows have also had angels appear to assist in miraculous storylines. Many soaps have had dead characters reappear on heaven-sent and even hell-sent missions.
While the majority of characters may appear somewhat ordinary, there is a minority of non-ordinary characters that must be considered and discussed in order to fairly evaluate the situations. In talking about soap characters in general, Spence says, "They are exceptional not only because they are on display, (via mise-on-scène), but also because they have only significant qualities and are surrounded by consequential circumstances. Banalities are missing. On soap operas, characters seldom watch television, unless they are about to see their long-lost husband on the screen and never take out the garbage unless they are about to be kidnapped doing so. Their lives are extremely concentrated, so they can be both simultaneously ordinary and outrageous. (Spence 114)
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