First, Dr. sipmac will give you three true recollections about soap operas that he has witnessed throughout the years:
- When he was a child, Dr. sipmac was watching on TV a very popular and convoluted melodrama, practically on the edge of his seat. Her mother passed by, took a look, and coldly dismissed the production by saying that real life was even more tortuous than a TV show.
- Years later, sip was listening to the radio. It was the prime time in the morning. For sure millions were listening in the whole country. A major Latin American female TV star was being interviewed live and she couldn’t recall in which soap opera did something. “Never mind”, she said coolly without bothering about it anymore at all, “all soap operas are the same”.
- A few years later a renowned Venezuelan script writer, bitterly disappointed by the flop of his latest work, stated on a variety show that there were only two types of soap operas: those based on Cinderella, and those based on the Count of Monte Cristo.
At least all of them were sincere. In the meanwhile, Dr. sipmac still can’t figure out how to blend these facts, neither how to develop them properly, but he’ll give it a try. Has melodrama really something to do with real life? Is it a somewhat idealistic but simplified version of the existence or the true mirror of it?
Everybody knows how TV shapes the trends and the behavior of the population. Particularly, sip knows exactly when a kid (specially a little girl) has been watching too many dramas: the gestures and the language are ridiculously grandiloquent, and they really do not match those of a normal child. Imposture, ersatz language and personality like that is not exclusive of the children: I recall reading Three Trapped Tigers (written by Guillermo Cabrera Infante), a very (apparently) disjointed recollection of the pre-revolutionary Havana Hollywood
You could argue successfully it is not only the soap operas the only media artifacts that produce such unnatural behavior in people. Just almost everything, not just visual mediums only, but also printed matter, too. Then Dr. sipmac would have to point a finger to the soap operas, specially the way are made today. In a whole, Dr. sipmac feels the melodrama formula is a straitjacket conspiring to maintain certain mental climate that keeps the Latin American countries locked in the third world. Why? First, it is pure business without social responsibility (Remember, give the people what they want). Second, if there are only two types of soap operas; those based on Cinderella, and those based on the Count of Monte Cristo, which are the messages that are constantly put into the collective mind? Glad you asked. Forget that fairy tale about virtue and goodness triumphing over vice and evil, chapter after chapter people learn that:
- The only way to escape poverty for women is marring a rich fella, by any means necessary (Cinderella).
- There are no reliable institutions. There is no justice. The only way to get it is taking it by own hands (The Count).
Opportunism without law and order. Anarchy. Does not Latin America look like this? And Latin America is the kingdom of soap operas, isn’t it? Ever wonder how values are communicated in a society? Please, Dr. sipmac knows he is discovering nothing knew. But maybe you didn’t thought about this in a while.
But make no mistake: Dr. sipmac sounds pretty much like a leftist when he blames soup operas for brainwashing the people, but he wouldn’t forbid them if it were in his power. He believes it is a personal choice (for adults) to decide what to watch and thanks to the internet, when. For the children, you just have to watch the South Park
Dr. sipmac has ranted.
FULL DISCLOSURE: The last soap opera Dr. sipmac watched willingly, was the original Ugly Betty. He quitted by the time she was celebrating her birthday. It took a whole week to celebrate a lousy birthday that wasn’t vital to the central plot! Puh-leeze!
