The History of the Soap Opera Soap operas have been one of the most popular forms of television in the world, being the foremost genre in Britain for thirty-five years, ever since the first episode of Coronation Street was screened in 1960. The continuous plots and new characters that viewers could relate to sparked I new passion for the common soap opera. Ever since, new soap operas have been released, still using the old ingredients and standard story lines, still managing the captivate audiences on a constant basis. The original soap opera weren’t television programs as they are now. The original soap opera began in the US in the 1920’s - 1930’s, when the main form of entertainment was the radio. This was because televisions were not commonplace in those times. Regional radio stations began broadcasting. To attract listeners that were loyal to one station, the stations would have continuous plot lines on every day the listeners could tune into. Initially attracting female listeners who had a regular schedule, e.g. housewives. Soon the phenomenon make its way across the water to the shores of Britain, and soap operas became the new obsession in Britain too. The name ‘Soap opera’ comes from the advertisers of the original soap operas. This was because radio stations relied mainly on income from there sponsors, and as female audiences were the target audience, the advertisers marketed toward them, advertising household products such as soap, detergent and other cleaning products. The ‘opera’ was because the plots were often dramatic and surreal as were the theatrical operas of the time, hence the name ‘Soap Opera’. To keep loyal listeners, radio stations would each have their own different type of opera, however they all followed the same basic plots involving romance, drama and topics the audience could relate to, such as politics. Soap operas were soon everywhere as they were very popular and very cheap to produce, an ideal combination for the soap and radio companies, however after the war listeners were flocking toward the
Have you ever been watching a TV show and find yourself relating it to your life in some way? You might relate it to some problem that is going on in your life or some issue going on around your society. All of the sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically one day when I was watching the TV series Grey’s Anatomy. Almost seven series in, I started to realize similarities between Grey’s Anatomy and topics we have been learning about in class. I noticed ideas and concepts that related to sociology. From norms and agents to theories and structures, the series Grey’s Anatomy is a great analysis of sociology.
24. The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afore Ordinary people do not live in lavish residences for free, are not given occupations in the media without any effort, and are not taken to glamorous locations free of charge. “The Real World is a documentary about real people in an artificially designed environment” (Thompson par. 5. The adage of the adage.
Slowly she asked "Is anyone there?" as she walked down the dark deserted road. When she heard a loud sound she turned abruptly trying again "Hello?" Met with only silence she picked up here pace almost running down the dirt road. Her nerves had just began to calm when she heard "WRRRREEENNNNNRRRRRRR" as a chainsaw started behind her. Running she started looking behind her hoping that whoever it was, wouldn’t catch her. With her lack of concentration she tripped over her high heels and face plants into the dirt, giving the murderer a chance to catch up. Slowly he lowered the chainsaw and began cutting --CUT -- This is a common plot used in horror movies today. Movies have changed over the years. They were different five years ago, fifty years ago, and even a almost a century ago. Technologies have unthinkable things possible. They have allowed us to re-sink "the unsinkable ship." They have allowed us to see dinosaurs in all their brutal glory. We have seen imaginary creatures, only ever mentioned in stories brought to life. Movies have moved so far from the 1920's and 1930's. They have developed ideals, rules and even standards; but where did they begin? Did movies just fall out of the sky? Did they just come into being? No they began slowly, silently moving towards a new era, the era we today call "Pre-code Hollywood"
This essay will examine my thoughts and those of David Sterrit on the critically acclaimed television show The Honeymooners. First, I will talk about the Honeymooners and it’s setting in postwar America. Secondly, the social and cultural issues the series portrayed. Next, would be the psychological perspective and the aesthetics of the show. Finally, the essay would conclude with my thoughts on how the Honeymooners were impacted by these aspects, but also how the show managed to leave a legacy in television today.
The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded.
In this project, we were told to analyze two pieces of pop culture and report back the ratio of men versus women, racial minorities versus whites, homosexual couples versus heterosexual couples, adults over 40 versus adults 18-40, and the number of whole women versus the number of parts of women’s bodies. The pieces of media that I chose to analyze were The Goldbergs and Modern Family. I believe that the target audience for The Goldbergs is people who grew up in the 1980s because this show is supposed to be set during that time and references many things that those people could relate to. In addition to this, they tend to feature older people as the main characters in order to draw in their obvious target audience. It seems as though the target audience for Modern Family is young adults to adults. They feature more minorities and things that the young generation tend to relate to more. Both of the target audiences are made quite clear if you really pay attention to the programs.
From the mid-twentieth century to the present time, telenovelas have been a huge source of entertainment in Latino households. From comedies to melodramas, the purpose of telenovelas is to offer an escape from the monotony of daily life. Most of the themes that are present are topics relevant to the Latino community. In the words of Cynthia Duncan, “... soap operas tend to promote and uphold traditional values and are generally conservative in nature.” (Duncan 84) Telenovelas focus on family life and how the character’s decisions affect the whole. Those so-called traditional and conservative values tend to imprison women in cliché telenovela characters. Women are always presented as selfless, at times evil, or as women whose sole purpose is
My Pop Culture: ‘‘The Cosby Show’’ One pop culture show that had a great influence on me was ‘The Cosby Show’. ‘The Cosby Show’ aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. Although it was based on comedy, the sitcom focused on real life family events. The Huxtable Family symbolized a typical African-American family who was financially stable and socially acceptable; which during that time was not the reality in the everyday life of an African American family. Nevertheless, I was inspired by ‘The Cosby Show’ every day.
Tania Modleski’s “The Search for Tomorrow in Today’s Soap Operas” proposes that the unique appeal and function of soap opera lies in (a) the viewer’s ability to inhabit the text’s prescribed spectatorial position of ‘the good mother’, and (b) use the archetypal ‘villainess’ to displace one’s own repressed anger and powerlessness. It can be argued, using Modleski’s analytical perspectives on the interpellated spectatorial positions of soap operas, that a new genre of television programs (namely the reality dating shows) function in a similar way.
Changing has seemed to be the way MTV has survived over the years. MTV has grown very much since it was created. It is no longer only the “Music Television” channel. When ratings started going down, MTV had to branch out. MTV has done multiple studies on what their viewers want. The information found has been taken and used to form the MTV we have today. It is full of other projects that have made MTV very successful.
uite a number of individuals have asserted that The Sopranos is the best television series ever produced, and one is led to question the statement in view of the controversies the show has created. By what decisive factor is such a conclusion made? Is it because of the commercial success? Could it be the cultural value of the show? Is it due to creative cinematic value or because the number of subscription of the audience? What is so good about The Sopranos?
Globo Network is the “number one in audience practically everyday, everytime, with every audience”, and as astonishing as it may seem, its soap opera, “Selva da Pedra” from 1970, reached an index of 100%, which meant all televisions were tuned in to Globo (“Brazilian Television”, “Beyond Citizen Kane”). However, soa...
Even though a vast majority of us wish that it was possible to turn back the hands of time and change or rewrite history. However, the truth of the matter is that we simply cannot. Everything happens for a reason, and we should learn to accept it. Accept it for what it is, rather than what we would like it to be.
Originally published in Cinema Journal 40, No. 3, Spring 2001, Jason Mittell’s “A Cultural Approach to Television Genre Theory” conceives of television genre as a cultural category rather than merely a textual component. In the decade since the original publishing of the article, television has evolved out of the multi-channel era and into the post-network era. In this new television landscape, genres are no longer a fixed entity1, and there is great academic potential in the in the study of television genres. The text, Thinking Outside the Box: A Contemporary Television Genre Reader, aims to explore and analyze genre in the current television landscape, and the Mittell article, republished in the book, serves as an entry point to such scholarship.
The two decade period beginning in the late 1940s and concluding in the late 1960s represented the height in popularity for the Hollywood musical. With every major production proving to be box office gold, the level of critical approval was high establishing the Hollywood musical as a genre. Born with the coming of sound, the Hollywood movie musical derived from two sources: opera and operetta, brought over by European emigres, and the American tradition of vaudeville, the inspiration behind so many “backstage” musicals, the plots of which revolved around putting on a show. The interesting alliance between dream and reality in the musical gave directors, designers, and cinematographers the most creative scope within the commercial of Hollywood. Being able to experiment with elements like color, split-screen techniques, and surreal settings made the musical an important force in imaginative filmmaking, without it being attacked by cautious studio moguls. Fortunately, musicals could also easily bypass the censorious Hays Code, which was instigated in the 1930s as a moral guideline for film studios. Although guidelines like “ dances which suggest or represent sexual actions”, “dances intended to excite the emotional reaction of the audience”, and “costumes permitted to undue exposure” were condemned, musicals were full of “shocking” dances and scantily dressed women. Scantily dressed women and sexual innuendo almost went unnoticed by the censors as long as they remained within the seemingly harmless confines of the musical as if nothing immodest could happen in the context of the make believe world the family entertainment inhabited.