Tonight's premiere of the new Dallas has me nostalgic for my soaps, All My Children, One Life To Live, Dynasty, Knots Landing. Televisions line up is chock full of talk shows and reality shows. They can be entertaining, but it can get tiresome. I miss the days of scripted dramas, with twists and turns and ball gowns with shoulder pads. In honor of tonight's Dallas comeback. I am re-blogging a post I wrote a while ago about my soap love.
An
Ode to Classic Television Soaps and 41 Years of “All My Children”
So,
in addition to my many varied entertainment addictions, is my
sometimes secret shame.... Daytime Soaps. Yes that's right, I said
it. Most people who know me, would call me a TV snob. I'd like to
say I'm a connoisseur of sorts. I respect the art of good
storytelling and cannot be convinced to watch a show because it's
popular, if it's just not there.
This
is why I've always found it hard to defend my 30 year love affair
with Pine Valley. I mean I've heard all the complaints, they're too
predictable, too far-fetched, the writing is bad, the acting is bad.
Then there are the stereotypes for soap watchers, I recently came
across one study that said “Typically,
soap viewers have been equally condemned and stereotyped for their
addiction to this so-called mindless form of entertainment. Early
accounts of the radio-soap listeners envisage groups of educationally
backward, emotionally and socially deprived women, all eagerly tuning
in to their favourite serial. The typical listener was thought to be
a lower-class housewife, using soaps as a form of escapism from
mundane isolation in the home and an indisputable source of advise on
personal problems”
[Buckingham, 1987 : 5] Seriously? This doesn't
make you want to wave your Soap Fan Flag. I will admit I have
occasionally had the same complaints about my beloved soaps. I've
laughed derisively at ridiculous plots and thrown the remote down in
disgust and vowed at least 2 times a week, to never watch this
bull^&*@ again!
So
why did the prospect of soap (that I've watched maybe weekly at best
for the last few years) leave me in genuine tears? This is before I
even tuned in to watch the last two weeks of episodes. Now that I've
had a few days to recover and analyze it, I think I've figured out
why. Of course, I love it for all the typical reasons: mindless
entertainment, the escapism, melodramatic romances, all the corniness
you expect from a soap. But its been more than that to me. Soaps were
always on in my house when I was young, My mother and grandmother
were both ABC soap fans ( though they've both long since stopped
watching). I can remember the first day I actually paid attention to
them. In November 1981 my mom picked me up from Kindergarten, and she
rushed back to my grandmother's house, I can remember my mother and
grandmother shushing me repeatedly, while they stared at the screen
as they watched Luke and Laura's iconic wedding. Out of boredom and
maybe some curiosity I watched too. I'd like to say I was so blown
away by what I saw that it made me a fan for life, but that's a lie.
Gimme a break I was five years old. What I do remember is the
connection I felt between them as they watched and discussed the epic
episode. They bonded as they watched “their show”. I wanted to be
a part of that. So I pretended it was my show too. Until one day it
actually was. I turned to ABC Channel 7 everyday at 1 pm on every
summer vacation, every sick day, every school holiday.
By
the time I got to high school I started taping them. They became a
part of my life through their sheer consistency. Even if I ignored
them, for weeks or months at at time, while I became engrossed in new
friends, new boyfriends and new activities whenever I looked for
them, they were still there waiting, as if they knew eventually, I’d
be back. I didn' t need a reintroduction. There was no awkward
reunion. In the space of a day or maybe two, It would be like I
never left. I've heard people reminisce on the music soundtrack of
their youth. I think I have a ABC Soap film reel of my youth.
And
as fantastical and over the top as they were, they taught me so much,
I was pulled from my seemingly important teenage dramas of grades and
cheer-leading and boyfriends, into stories involving serious issues,
my school and friends and family weren't talking about, like cancer,
mental illness, rape, drug addiction and homophobia. As I raged and
cried and suffered along with my favorite characters, I was exposed
to issues that would one day touch my life. And I wouldn't be lying
if I said it gave me empathy and a perspective at an earlier age than
a lot of my peers. But I didn't just learn from their tragedies. I
watched characters go from enemies to super couples and I learned to
give people second chances. I watched the under dog characters that
no one believes in anymore climb out of well or save the day and
shock ( well not really) everyone and I learned perseverance. I
watched con men, murderers and rapists save lives, selflessly
sacrifice themselves or bring another beloved character back from the
dead and I learned the power of redemption. I watched soul mates die
( sometimes 2 or 3 times) and come back to each other and I saw
love's undying devotion. And they never let me down. They were always
there, waiting to give me exactly what I didn’t even know I needed
on that particular day. So I cried for more than an entertaining TV
show, more than a deeply ingrained habit, I cried for my friends,
these characters that have lived in my head and heart for thirty
years, making me laugh, cry and throw the remote.
Good
Bye “All My Children” I'll miss you.
