Evolving Themes - Changing with the Times

By: Laura Onofrio

Health and sickness are pervasive problems on soaps but are treated in such a way that are non-threatening to their audiences as it is rare that a character dies from an illness. The serial world seems physically safe but emotionally hazardous, mainly because of the continual sorting and re-sorting of relationships (Edmondson & Rounds: 1973:84). Alcoholism is a storyline that was prominent during the radio years of soap operas. It was a common illness that characters faced and which audience followed as they overcame the addiction. Since the 1970s and the hippie era drugs have increasingly been found in soap operas and characters often combine alcoholism and drug abuse as a solution to the misery of their life. Today a more common theme, substance abuse has replaced the traditional theme of alcoholism since drugs are increasingly becoming a social problem. Following the war radio soap operas followed the theme of mental illness and amnesia to compliment the growing interest in the 'real' world with the psychological effects of war on the individual. Today it is more common to have characters suffering from nervous breakdowns and anxiety that result from the growing concern of stress in one's life and pushing oneself beyond healthy limits. It is also more common to have characters suffer from a heart attack or stroke that have becoming a growing cause of death in today's society. Throughout the years soap operas have examined various health related issues and discussed various topics that were becoming of growing concern in the 'real' world and therefore among the viewing audience.

Soap operas are generally a non-violent genre and are parallel with the conflicts experienced by audience members in their 'real' relationships. Characters are rarely involved in the physical attack of one another and conflict between characters is usually of a verbal nature. On soaps, women and men argue and threaten each other, and the combatants are usually either lovers or family members. For this reason, soap opera violence also seems more realistic than that of primetime (Edmondson & Rounds: 1973:80). However, once soap operas moved to the television crime became more prevalent. To provide some entertainment which deviated from its traditionally form soap operas began to develop stories around crime and deviance yet was able to explore such storylines with minimal violence or graphic representation of the crime. Murder, rape, abduction, juvenile delinquency all became storylines that provided twists to the plots, introducing suspense and fear into the soap opera world.

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