TV Soap Opera Research Articles

Medium Envy: A Response to Marcie Frank’s “At the Intersections of Mode, Genre, and Media: A Dossier of Essays on Melodrama”

main thing is to tell a story. / It is almost / very important.-Frank O'Hara, Fantasy (1964)'A leading designer of video games might seem an unlikely exponent of the purity of genres and media (attitudes more commonly associated, as Marcie Frank notes in her introduction to this issue, with high modernism), but Jeffrey Kaplan, former design-team chief of the extremely successful video World of Warcraft, sounded very much like an advocate of just such separatisms as he reproved his fellow makers for he called their at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Rather than concentrating on he sees as the specific and singular capacities of the video game, Kaplan argued, his colleagues were allowing their work to be driven by their alleged envy of writers and writing, consequently drowning the player[s] of their games in reams of dialogue and narrative. Kaplan stated bluntly, [W]e need to stop writing a fucking book . . . [when we design a] because nobody wants to read and concluded, We need to deliver our in a way that is video game.2It is striking that despite Kaplan's disdain for print narrative as a model for video-game design, is still his way of specifying it is that he and his fellow designers have to offer those who play their games. This is consonant with Walter Benjamin's pronouncement in The Storyteller that what distinguishes the novel from the ... is its [i.e., the novel's] essential dependence on the book, on the medium of bound print. The dissemination of the novel becomes possible only with the invention of printing, Benjamin goes on. For Benjamin, no such relation of medium dependence binds story to (printed) book. In the mediascape that emerged in the twentieth century, novels-remediated as films, television series, graphic narratives, etc.-frequently became something other than their native genre. Story generally names a number of the kinds of things that novels became. As Kaplan presents it, story is entirely compatible with he calls uniquely video game modes of production-what he argues his fellow designers will have succeeded in doing when they have stop[ped] writing a fucking book.Story is also a term that has circulated widely in the twentieth century for screenplay, soap opera, and other extended nonnovel narrative forms. It is the long-arc serial narrative-as it has informed a number of genres across several media, ranging from the seventeenthand eighteenth-century comedy of intrigue to nineteenth-century melodrama to twentieth-century sitcom and soap opera-that I intend to focus on in these pages. In looking at a somewhat different (although at some points overlapping) set of media archives from those that Frank considers in her introductory essay, I want to consider some of the ways in which certain genres and media forms have drawn extensively on the traditions of melodrama production, performance, and reception: both those that we ordinarily think of as obviously and essentially melodramatic (radio and TV soap operas, for chief examples) and those that we tend to think of as distinctly other to and different from melodrama (radio and TV sitcoms and newspaper comic strips).One route that I want to follow takes up the distinction that Frank discusses in her introduction-the distinction made by Gilbert Seldes in 1924 between early cinema, which he saw as emerging from melodrama and newspaper comic strips, and the cinema that succeeded it. As Seldes sees it, film took a catastrophically wrong turn in shifting away from the most popular entertainment forms of the time toward putatively prestigious forms of drama and serious theater for its models. In saying this, Seldes sounds somewhat like Kaplan at the Game Developers Conference in 2009, warning his fellow designers away from a tendency to imitate print too closely, urging his colleagues to accept that we are not Shakespeare [or] Tolstoy. …

Representation of Sexual Violence in Turkish Cinema and Television Series

Violence against women in Turkey is an endemic social problem that has been taken more seriously by public opinion in recent years. As a result, new legal arrangements have been made both to deter and prevent violence against women, which in turn have generated new appropriate administrative interventions. But the issue is not simply a matter of state concern: the media, which is an instrument of public opinion, has also focused in various ways on violence against women in recent years. This study investigates the social effects of the media's representation of violence against women, firstly dealing with its treatment in films and TV soap operas and secondly, providing examples that show how the media has often legitimized such violence. In conclusion, I offer suggestions as to how the media can reflect violence against women in a more responsible way.

Paulina Bren . The Greengrocer and His TV: The Culture of Communism after the 1968 Prague Spring . Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. 2010. Pp. xiii, 250. Cloth $65.00, paper $24.95.

Paulina Bren's book is a groundbreaking cultural analysis of everyday life under communism in Czechoslovakia after 1968. It is a compact, cohesive, and entertaining account of domestic TV soap operas' role as mediator between a firm but concerned regime and an obedient but wary population. Based on communist party and TV archives, communist newspapers, and secondary literature, Bren's study offers a new narrative of “normalized” (post-1968) Czechoslovakia after Prague Spring's “socialism with a human face” was irreversibly crushed by the Warsaw Pact invasion. She challenges the political tale of dissent and repression that is commonplace in the historiography despite its evident discrepancy with everyday life in all its banality. She rejects the victimization complex prompted by the armed intervention and instead casts post-1968 history along new lines. Bren introduces ordinary people as fully legitimate social actors, redefines Czech politics as an interaction between regime elites and the people (TV viewers),...

Touring TV Soap Operas: Genre in Film Tourism Research

There is a growing body of literature that addresses the relationships between film and television programmes and tourism. However, we argue in this paper that much of this research has not considered the critical issue of genre and how this may be a key factor in shaping tourist demand, expectation, experience and behaviour. In particular, we suggest that the distinctive characteristics of TV soap operas have been neglected, with much of the literature focused on English language, ‘blockbuster’ Hollywood produced film releases. In this paper, we address TV soap operas as genre in relation to audience consumption and their possible links with tourism. We discuss the defining features of soap operas including their serialisation, the level of audience exposure and emotional engagement along with their connections with personal and domestic everyday life. We note their being a platform for interpersonal, intercultural and inter-textual discourse. We argue in the context of film tourism, that viewing soap operas may promote identification, empathy, emotional connection and parasocial interactions, and that these may motivate some audience members to visit soap opera locations, and also contextualise their anticipation concerning what they might expect to experience.

Korean TV Soap Operas in Taiwan: An Investigation of Consumers’ Clothing Purchase Behavior

In a recent trend, Korean TV soap operas have become extremely popular in Taiwan. This article examines the relationship between Taiwanese female undergraduates’ favorite Korean TV soap operas and their clothing purchase behavior. A survey was conducted via written questionnaires, from which 937 were obtained for analysis. The data were analyzed using factor analysis, ANOVA, and t-test. The results revealed that different degrees of viewing frequency, involvement, and recall of favorite Korean TV soap operas make a significant difference in clothing purchase behavior with regard to such factors as attention, viewing motivations, purchasing motivations, and different stages of clothing consumption.

The Plight of Ethics

Since Kant, ethics has been synonymous with moral law, grounded in Reason. As Kant’s heirs, we are still grappling with a tension he sought to resolve through his appeal to a rational God, namely, between ethics and politics. “Politics says, ‘Be ye wise as serpents,’” remarks Kant: “Morality adds (as a limiting condition) ‘and guileless as doves’” (1795, 338). For Kant, both the serpent of politics and the dove of ethics are bound by the same moral duty that has its source in the freedom of our sovereign rational will. The perfection of this good will is possible not as individuals but only from the perspective of what Kant calls “Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View,” which it turns out is a view from the cosmos, more specifically, from the perspective of the “dwellers from other planets” whom Kant imagines viewing us from their own place in the universe (1784, n. 2). As we know, Kant insists that the concept of duty cannot be in conflict with doing our duty—or that ought implies can: “It is patently absurd, having granted this concept of duty its authority, to want to say that one nevertheless cannot do it. For in that case this concept would of itself drop out of morals. . . . [H]ence, there can be no conflict of politics as doctrine of right put into practice, with morals, as theoretical doctrine of right” (1795, 338). But what if the reverse were true? What if ought implies cannot? What if our obligations always outstrip our intentions? What if the sovereign will is fundamentally beholden both to other people and to the Other The Plight of Ethics

Innovation from Emerging Markets: The Case of Latin America

Today, ‘innovation’ is a priority all over the world, particularly in emerging markets. The President of India declared this decade the ‘Innovation Decade’. In emerging markets the word means much more than catching up by imitating innovative policies and firms from more developed economies. Some called it Reverse Innovation, meaning that it originates in places other than the ones traditionally linked to research and technology. Others use the word ‘frugal innovation’ with the idea that you need to innovate in a context of scarcity of resources and has to have an impact in the society. The goal is to reduce price and functionality and increase quality for a large audience. If we look at Latin America, the region is well known for its music, Nobel laureate writers, excellent TV soapoperas (‘telenovelas’). In several revealing cases, Latin American businesses are redefining global business by developing new business models. There are many examples of promising policy reforms, such as Vive Digital in Colombia among governments in the region. Latin America can offer lessons about innovating with scarce resources in volatile and unpredictable environments — indeed, innovators in countries leading in research and development (R&D) increasingly face similarly challenging conditions.

From culture to cybercultur@ and knowledge process

Mexican researcher Jorge A. Gonzalez Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) is well-known by Brazilians since he has taught courses, made conferences and published articles in many of the country´s journals. His studies on popular culture and TV soap operas, from which the concept of cultural fronts emerged, made him connectded to a group of Latin-American authors that includes Jesus Martin-Barbero, Nestor Garcia Canclini among others. His books Mas(+) Cultura(s): ensayos sobre realidades plurales, published in 1994, and La cofradia de las emociones (in)terminables: miradas sobre telenovelas em Mexico, published in 1998, are representative of his current research. His research keeps emphasizing the cultural dimension, but are growing towards the development of the notion of cybercultur@ - seen as an object of study and as a possible source of social development and empowerment – And thinking over knowledge process, based on genetic epistemology. In the following interview, Mr. Gonzalez discusses some aspects of his research.

Micro-narratives in Contemporary Chinese Art: A Case Study of Cao Fei's Pearl River Delta Anti-heroes

This paper investigates the representation of micro-narratives in contemporary Chinese art by examining the multi-layered narratives in Cao Fei's Pearl River Delta Anti-heroes performed at the opening of the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial in 2005. I consider Cao's work as a hyper-realistic portrayal of the micro-narratives of the Pearl River Delta region in a mediated form highly influenced by the media, entertainment industry and popular culture of the region and Hong Kong. Theatricality, kitsch and the distinctive local essence of South China are revealed in the form of a TV soap opera and the use of colloquial Cantonese throughout the performance, along with occasional Putonghua or Mandarin. Language as a signifier of cultural politics has been deployed as an indispensable tool to empower the region within the broader body politic of the People's Republic of China.

In this issue

PROTEOMICSVolume 11, Issue 23 In this issue In this issue First published: 21 November 2011 https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.201190129AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Summer/winter heads/homes My, such complex lives we lead when first we practice to finance another home. First, what do we call it when we have identical sequence proteins that reside in two or more separate chambers? – i.e. identical twins in nearly identical apartments, say one with and one without air conditioning) or (multiple identical individuals in different homes? Until recently this has been referred to as “protein dual localization”. What are “similarly localized proteins”? How about the same protein with different tags? Currently known as an “echoform”. (Read the discussion of both!) Why has the concept even come up? Because it does in life, particularly in mitochondrial assembly (Ben Menachem et al.). Molecular signaling mechanisms seem to require a new vocabulary to describe the subtle complexities of modern relationships. TV soap opera fratricides notwithstanding. pp. 4468–4476 A pony not to pick Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the closest cancers to a sure bet: it will be 80% fatal in 1–2 years after diagnosis. Recent work has indicated a role for brain cancer stem cells (CSC) in GBM but precisely which, of several, are most effective remains open. One clear pathway is Notch signaling which contributes its regulation of self-renewal and cell fate determination for normal stem cells. Dai et al. had previously studied this problem and found a quantitative MS proteomic approach with stable-label or label-free detection methods worked well but for faster, more sensitive and more selective results, Multiple Reaction Monitoring was the method of choice. pp. 4529–4540 Built to take the heat and the acid: Picrophilhus torridus Thürmer et al. report here on the proteome of an extremophile. Picrophilhus torridus was isolated from the most acidophilic environment discovered to date – temperatures up to 65°C, pH 0–1, and a genome of only 1.55 Mb. Soluble extracts taken at 50 and 70°C were analyzed by 2-DE at pH 4–7 and pH 3–10 and 12% SDS-PAGE. From the genomic sequence, the researchers were able to create virtual proteome maps of P. torridus at pH 4–7 and 3–10 that could be compared with the actual Coomassie-stained gels. There were more similarities than differences when compared with other species. Possible chains of post-translational modifications matched well. As had been seen elsewhere, adaptation to stress meant keeping the core structures stabilized with respect to the challenge. This is an efficient organism, as only single proteins needed to be up- or down-shifted when conditions changed. pp. 4559–4568 Volume11, Issue23December 2011 RelatedInformation

Research on Characteristics of the Japanese Consumption of Korean Pop Culture -Centering on their Consumption of Korean TV Soap Operas-

본 연구에서는 한류의 현황과 위치를 파악하고, 향후 성장가능성과 발전 방향을 모색하고자 일본 현지 소비자들을 대상으로 그들의 소비 행태를 파악하였다. 구체적인 분석을 위하여, 우선 일본인들의 전반적인 대중문화상품소비실태를 분석하였으며, 한국 일본 미국 드라마의 이미지 비교를 통해 각국 드라마 상품의 특성을 밝히고, 일본인의 국제문화교류에 대한 인식을 검토하였다. 그 결과 한국 드라마는 자국 상품에 이어 제2의 대안으로 떠오르고 있어, 일본 소비자들에게 상당히 일반화되었음을 알 수 있었다. 특히 한국 드라마의 선전은 단순히 ‘겨울연가’의 영향에 의한 것이 아니라, 최근 새로운 한국 드라마에 흥미를 갖고 몰입하는 인구가 늘어났기 때문으로 풀이되어, 향후 한국드라마의 성장 가능성을 더욱 밝게 하였다. 한국 드라마는 미국이나 일본과는 차별화되는 정서적인 이미지가 강하게 나타나, 본래 이러한 취향을 가진 일본 중년 소비자층에게 어필하였던 것으로 분석되었다. 한국 드라마를 선호하는 집단은 비선호집단보다 한국이나 동양문화에 대해 공통점을 많이 인지하고 한류의 지속가능성에 대한 믿음이 높게 나타났다. 본 연구를 통하여 일본 내 한류는 단순한 붐이 아니며, 한류 소비자들은 이제 혁신자나 초기 수용자 수준을 지나 초기다수자나 후기다수자의 단계로 넘어가고 있음을 확인하였다. 또한 신규 소비자 증가 및 이들의 강력한 브랜드 로열티는 한류의 지속적인 발전의 기반이 될 것으로 예측되었다.

Riverscross A Drama-in-Health Project with Young People, run by Spanner in the Works

This is an article about Riverscross, a drama project to devise and produce a TV soap opera, at the Snowsfields Adolescent Unit, Guy's Hospital, in London. This is a residential and outpatient unit for young people with mental health problems. It is part of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) of the NHS. The drama workers delivering the project are Spanner in the Works, who have been providing drama sessions at the Unit since 2000. Riverscross is the name of the project, and the name of the devised TV drama. Riverscross International is a fictional international railway station in Deptford, South London, and the drama deals with the lives of workers and travellers who use the station. The article outlines the processes by which Spanner in the Works identified a need for the project, and sought funding to allow for professional standards of performance and production. It also outlines how the professional model of TV drama production is adapted and modified to meet the particular needs and challenges of a very varied client group, both in terms of individual clinical needs and also an irregularly shifting cohort.

A desconstrução do suspense na telenovela pela valorização do saber antes

Starting from the verification that great part of Brazilian TV soap operas attendees sits down before the TV devices already knowing what will happen during the chapters, this article analyzes the possible synergy among the several media ways. To explain the communication phenomenon revealed in the acceptance of the break of the suspense, which is characteristic of this TV product, the study highlights the valorization of the power of having the information and the new viewer’s profile, as a product of an urban reality, where the anxieties and doubts in the real don’t allow to dedicate to uncertainties of the fiction.

Freudian Mythologies: Greek Tragedy and Modern Identities. By Rachel Bowlby

Bowlby's ambitious monograph paints upon a panoramic canvas of Ancient Greek tragedy and its influence upon the shape and profile of Freud's oeuvre. Though primarily a study of Freud, Freudian Mythologies also offers a reading of Aeschylus, Aristotle, Euripides, Plato, and Sophocles for the twenty-first century and, in so doing, crosses eons and cultural divides with ease. Inevitably, in a wide-ranging book of this nature, a certain amount of simplification is required in order to carry the span of Bowlby's argument. For instance, in her interest in the extent to which English-speaking culture has suppressed the myth of the Danaids (fifty women all but one of whom murder their husbands on their wedding night and are thence condemned to Hades where, in perpetuity, they uselessly attempt to fill water carriers containing holes), Bowlby moves on to compare their story to popular music lyrics such as “Fifty Ways to Lose Your Lover,” and further, to suggest that popular interest in the myth could be restored because “their story resembles the bizarre generic mélange of the TV soap opera”(Bowlby 80). At times these connections are engaging, at times overstretched, but what is true is that the energy of Bowlby's book certainly reaches out to a readership beyond the pure scholar of psychoanalysis and will engage all academic readers interested in the centrality of myth and storytelling to contemporary culture.

Allusions in the Press: An Applied Linguistic Study (review)

Reviewed by: Allusions in the press: An applied linguistic study by Paul Lennon Zdenek Salzmann Allusions in the press: An applied linguistic study. By Paul Lennon. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. Pp. xiv, 297. ISBN 3110179504. $137.20 (Hb). This study is concerned with ‘echoic’ allusions in the British press to a wide variety of sources, ranging [End Page 955] from Shakespeare to Agatha Christie, from hymns to TV soap operas, and from proverbs to titles of songs, books, and other printed materials. In contrast to several previous studies of allusions in the press, Lennon includes in his corpus samples from every British daily from September 1995 through August 1996. For the purposes of his study he defines allusion as ‘an instance of text-based indirection … which [the reader] understands as intended implicature on the writer’s part, and which is signalled by foregrounded elements of the text’ (14–15). Before discussing the method and results of his analysis, L takes up various theories of ‘indirect language comprehension’. Authors and works most prominently mentioned in the survey are M. A. K. Halliday’s Language as social semiotic (1978) and H. Paul Grice’s article ‘Logic and conversation’ (Syntax and semantics, vol. 3: Speech acts, ed. by Peter Cole and Jerry L. Morgan, 41–58, New York: Academic Press, 1975). According to L, among the syntactic structures of the alluding units, noun phrases and short sentences or clauses predominate. As to functions, L lists fifteen and assigns them to five functional domains. Some examples of the functions of allusions: to attract readers’ attention; to borrow stylistic effects; to convince readers by appealing to cultural values shared with them; to challenge readers cognitively and encourage them to continue reading; and to display the writer’s knowledge, values, or wit. The text is richly illustrated by examples of allusions and supplemented by three dozen tables. A bibliography of primary sources (274–78) is followed by references (279–97). The results of L’s research are presented with great care and in considerable detail, but for most linguists they are likely to be of only limited interest. Zdenek Salzmann Northern Arizona University Copyright © 2006 Linguistic Society of America

A conference in the United States is providing an ideal forum for male nurses

Charlie Fairhead has a lot to answer for, by all accounts. The positive role image presented by this slightly cynical, highly effective nursing star of the BBC TV soap opera Casualty has been cited as one reason why more men are going into nursing. If the Charlie factor is influential then it is a great shame that he has just handed in his notice, fed up to the back teeth with the lack of respect accorded to him and the ludicrous management decisions the department has been subject to recently. Anyway, thanks Charlie, because the last time anyone looked, men accounted for more than 10 per cent of the total number of nurses in the UK. That amounts to quite a respectable number.

Expanding horizons for the call center

A documentary shown on UK television last year followed the fortunes of a group of Indian university graduates who were being trained to work in call centers catering for UK customers. The trainees had to work on being as accent‐less as possible and they also had to “bone up” on aspects of modern life in the UK, such as a knowledge of household names from sport and show business, and familiarity with TV soap operas.

Big Shot From Beijing: Feng Xiaogang's He Sui Pian and Contemporary Chinese Commercial Film

The economic reform and commercialization of the cultural industry in the last two decades have greatly changed how film is made and consumed in contemporary China. From the in-flow of Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and foreign investment to the annual import of ten Hollywood blockbusters (starting in 1994); from independent film production companies to new regulations in 2002 which allow any citizen to apply to make a film; from film crew members getting involved in the production of TV soap operas and MTV to a new breed of underground art-house movies, the formal monopoly held by the state-run studio system has gradually disintegrated and the Chinese film industry, like other cultural sectors, is undergoing a profound transformation with more and more diversified products.

Reaching the Male Consumer by Way of Daytime TV Soap Operas

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> The purpose of this study is to provide clear insights into the function and meaning television soap operas in everyday life, particularly for male viewers. Results suggest that male soap opera viewers watch daytime television because viewing makes them feel good, provides an escape, and helps to aid in social conversations, namely with the opposite sex.

Popular Culture, Gender Relations and the Democratization of Everyday Life in Kenya

The article deals with young women's and men's appropriation of local and global popular culture in a poor Nairobi neighbourhood. Local media articulate Christian ideals of marriage and gender relations, ideals that in the West would be considered conservative. In a Kenyan context, the ideals support the transformation of family systems, based on large collectivities and a clear separation of functions between generations and genders, into 'modern' nuclear families, which are more fluid, and where power may be distributed more equally between sexes and generations. Influential global popular culture narratives, such as the TV soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful , and several situation comedies featuring African American stars, also support ideals of equality between the sexes and generations, implicit in the modern love marriage and nuclear family ideal. At the same time they may seem to encourage non-binding love affairs. The role of popular culture in central areas of life is increasing in tandem with a general social transformation that renders the authority of older generations and also of church and state debatable. The arguments of the article base themselves on group and life history interviews, and surveys of work and leisure activities of a group of fairly well educated but mostly out-of-work or self-employed young men and women. The sociological approaches are supplemented by reception analyses of especially visual material. The conclusion of the article is that young women in particular make use of a public sphere, understood as a process of articulation. The discursive spaces opened up by media do not have the barriers which elsewhere keep women and poor people from taking part in debates on key social and moral questions. In that sense they contribute significantly to the establishment of a democratic public sphere.