When people think of soap operas they usually think of corny daytime television that has bad acting and even worse "story-lines". While some of this may be true, soap operas have been increasingly devoting story-lines to real life situations; people find it easier to relate to better now that their favorite characters may have similar problems they have in life, where as before the characters would discover their evil twin which most people, I believe, may have a hard time relating to.
Soap operas audiences range from young teenage girls to women in their sixties, and all the social issues that have been included in the shows can apply to all these age groups. Some real life social issues that are discussed on the shows are substance abuse, dating abuse, alcoholism, AIDS, bipolar disorder, heart disease, and many more. Mostly what the shows seem to do is show audiences that these issues can be treated and it's okay to have these problems as long as they're treated.
Having personally seen several episodes of General Hospital devoted to issues like these ones, the show usually shows the characters in distress at first, then they show how they are able to receive proper care and take responsibility by taking care of themselves. There have been several testimonials from people who have seen shows on certain issues and have recognized signs of these issues in either themselves or people they know and were able to get help.
This is a Public Service Announcement at the end of a General
Hospital episode in which the character shown was being
physically abused by her boyfriend. Here the actor gives out
hotlines where people in similar situations can go for help.
Although many people seem to put soap operas down and make fun of their "corniness", they seem to be doing a good thing- putting their focus on real life situations and not just evil twins.
No comments:
Post a Comment