Soap Operas

SOAP OPERA: FOR SOAP OR WOMEN?

(I’m going to go with women)

SOAP OPERA CONSTITUTION Long running serials (recurring)

Originally sponsored by Soap companies

Concerned with every day life

Follows the lives of the same set of characters

Focuses on serial plots rather than episodic plots.

Open ended narrative- stories spanned multiple episode, sometimes even seasons.

New episode every day, five days a week (Holidays were re-runs)

Low quality filming because of time

HOW ARE SOAP OPERAS FEMINIST? Appealed largely to the female form watching- knew their audience

Focus on motherhood

“Soaps define having a baby as the single most important thing in life” (Rogers 478)

Showed a patriarch-strong life style in early soaps- women did house hold duties.

In later soaps, women's roles changed as the times changed. Women began to have jobs outside of the home, empowering the female viewer ( Still female archetypes)

In the 70’s, Soap Operas and their female viewers received scrutiny from hard core feminists who believed

that soaps belittled females.

DENIAL

“Celebrating them (Soap Operas) just because they are female genres especially when they might be potentially

harmful” (Rogers 479)

- Must be mindful to not simply label them as feminist because they appeal to the female form.

ACCEPTANCE In the 90’s, with the development of media studies, watching Soaps became a liberating

act for women.

Overcoming social opposition of female stigmas- accepting femininity

Celebrating femininity with their gender identification in:

Romance, intuitiveness, talkativeness, and other aspects of emotionality

SAME SOAP STYLE Soap Operas began to decline because of high costs of filming.

Modern day primetime shows have kept much of same soap style but with only 1 episode airing per week instead of five (much cheaper)

SOAP VS. PRIME TIME