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 /
·
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 /