Hello again, today I am going to tackle the topic of the possibility of targeting younger age groups with the soap opera genre.
Traditionally, soap operas have been more directed towards women who are probably 20 or older, in my opinion they are attempting to lower the number from 20. I know that recently I have become more interested in trying to follow soaps, and although that may be because of my mother watching a lot when I was younger I think that the plot lines and the shows they are coming out with now are contributing factors.
Such as the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager that airs on ABC at 8/7 central on Monday nights. The plot is based around a 15-year-old girl named Amy, who becomes pregnant by a boy (Ricky) that is not her boyfriend. So there are decisions that need to be made not only on her part, but on the part of the baby’s father, the mother and also Amy’s current boyfr
iend Ben.
This to me, is just promoting the fact again that there are people who are under the age of 16 who are having sex and who may have the possibility of becoming pregnant. Personally I don’t think that this is really helping matters. Yes, we know that people are still going to do it. But if there are 8-year-olds watching this show, which I am willing to guess that there is, they may get the idea that it is okay to become pregnant at the age of 15 with a boy who is just another guy in your life.
The plot line on this show, is so crazy and outrageous that it is also considered a soap opera, even though it doesn’t air, during the afternoon, it still falls under that category, mainly because if they aired it during the day they would lose majority, if not all of their viewers because of them attending school.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying getting pregnant at the age of 15 is a horrible thing, it’s just not something that I would want to do, my life right now is so involved with sports that having a child is just not an option at the moment. If you were to go back even 10-15 years, on television 15-year-olds being pregnant was not even HEARD of, was not SPOKEN of. Now there is an entire show based around this. Yes this is where society is going, but some may question, is a show like this really going to help lower these types of statistics? Hmm….
I have really started getting into this show, but I would have never guessed that it is considered a soap opera. I found this show to be like a vamped up Seventh Heaven. It still kind of teaches you life lessons, but in a new and more experinced kind of way. Yes, it does talk about and show a little bit too much of the sexual parts of the show, bit i think that it is all in good thoughts. It seems like everything is about sex now, so maybe we need to portray sexuality to teach it?
ReplyDeleteI will get the one thing I like about this show out of the way: Amy chooses to let her baby live, despite her youth and the inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteThis show really bugs me. The plot and dialogue feels like a knock-off from "Juno" (which Diablo Cody also wrote, so I guess that's why). Amy's little sister is pretty much exactly like the character Juno, with her one-liners and deadpan delivery.
Another thing that bugs me: Amy cries all the time, at the LEAST once an episode, whining about how she is pregnant. And the actress portraying her is constantly playing with her hair. I stopped paying attention halfway through a plot to count the number of times she touches her hair (I had about 9).
A lot of girls in my dorm get together to watch this show, and get really into it. I have to hold back laughter at some of the situations and characters (and not in a good way).
It also seems like the writers are purposely trying to shock people with the sexual escapades. They probably are, but personally, it's really easy to see through and feels really forced.
Okay, this was longer than intended, but I don't feel that this really is an accurate portrayal of the "secret life of an American teenager". Really, why don't the parents in the lives of these kids take more interest in what they are up to? The kids' entire lives rotate around the following: "Should I have sex?", "I want to have sex", "When should I have sex?", "I can't believe I had sex". I cringe at the thought that little kids are watching this.
I could have guessed this was a soap opera. All they need is long lost evil twins and they're good to go.
And oh yeah, during a commercial break between each of the episodes, they have a "Have safe sex" commercial starring people in "Secret Life". It's basically saying "Don't do what we're doing."
The Secret Life of an American Teenager is a show for ages 13-17. The target of this show is to attempt to teach youth that sex is more serious then the media portrays it to be. Think of the standard soaps, most of them through sex and getting pregnant around like it no big deal. I think this is promoting that its OK to have sex. I think the intentions of this show are good. If anything it is going to be getting the point across rather then not at all. And if it takes a over dramatic "soap opera" to do so then so be it.
ReplyDeleteI watch this show all the time. It mostly revolves around the concept of sex. There are a lot of kids in the show doing it, and in the show it seems like it's not such a big deal and they play it off like it's all going to get better. I do agree with you that it could put across the idea that sex and teenage pregnancy is acceptable. It seems like that because everyone on the show is so accepting of it! The mom, dad, sister, and Amy's boyfriend all don't seem to mind! But, on the other hand, I think it could also show that it is a negative thing and shows the struggles of the family and Amy, and the consequences and how her life is going to change.
ReplyDeleteOHH yes,this is something which even i have noticed. This sudden change of story in the soap shows is truely because of the target group of audience.
ReplyDeleteSoap show were mostly for people above the age of 25-30. They consist of ideas regarding,"child care" , "married couples", "divorce" and lots of other stuff which teenagers would be least interested
The curve of soap was falling rapidly. To increase viewer rating of these soap shows, "The secret life of an american teenager" came up
I have never been in to soap operas more than likely due to the fact at what time they air. I used to watch them with my grandma sometimes though because that is all she watched pretty much. I have a few friends they got into the show Passions, back in the day, but I don't hear much about that anymore. Like you said, now everyone is big into Secret Life of the American Teenager. I haven't got into that one either, although it does seem like a kind of show I would enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen this show, so I can't say much about it. I've seen it advertised and heard about it and I know what it's about. At first I was kind of amazed that this was being aired on a FAMILY network. I consider this too controversial. However, when I was younger I always watched 7th Heaven. The storylines became much more controversial towards the end of the series, which of course made it more interesting to watch.
ReplyDeleteIf this show is kind of like 7th Heaven and teachers teenagers to make the right decisions and shows consequences, this may not be so bad of a show.