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E-book
Author Anger, Dorothy C. (Dorothy Catherine), 1954-

Title Other worlds : society seen through soap opera / Dorothy Anger
Published Peterborough, Ont., Canada ; Orchard Park, NY : Broadview Press, ©1999

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Description 1 online resource (171 pages)
Series CEL - Canadian Publishers Collection
Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Notes to the Text -- The Soaps -- Chapter One: Introduction: The History of the Soaps -- Chapter Two: The Theory of the Practice -- Chapter Three: The Art of the Soaps I: The Production Machine -- Chapter Four: The Art of the Soaps II: Actors, Characters, and Stories -- Chapter Five: Spinning Dreams or Living Life: Messages of the Soaps -- Chapter Six: Conclusion: Who Watches, Why, and What Soaps Tell Us About Ourselves -- Appendix A: Soaps' Most Daring Stories -- Notes -- References
Summary When American nation-wide network radio was still in its infancy, new programs such as Ma Perkins began to feature ongoing story lines in fifteen minute episodes focusing on home life and romance. Procter & Gamble and other soap companies were the most common sponsors, and soon the genre of soap opera had been christened. In this entertaining but probing inquiry into the nature, history, and significance of the soaps, anthropologist Dorothy Anger shows how they reflect and shape the ethos of particular nations. Anger's primary focus is on the similarities and contrasts between American soaps and British serials such as Coronation Street and EastEnders-soaps that look more like ordinary life than do their American couterparts, and that feature story-lines based on surviving on what you can earn rather than striving for more. Anger looks at the industry as well as the televised product and examines the social effects as well as the inherent characteristics of soaps-with particular emphasis placed on the ways in which their implicit messages reflect and reinforce the ethos of the society in which they are made. She examines how the soaps themselves are shaped in turn by the cultures and the place from which they come. Though far from uncritical of the genre, Anger herself loves the soaps. She recognizes how soap operas provide a "continuing renewal of the familiar." Through interviews with and observations of soap fans she shows that the sharing of information and opinion after the program is over is as important to the viewers as actually following the stories. Informed by recent work in anthropology and cultural theory, Other Worlds will easily be accessible to a general as well as an academic audience. -- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-171)
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Print version record
Subject Soap operas -- Social aspects -- United States
Soap operas -- Social aspects -- Great Britain
Television soap operas -- Social aspects -- United States
Television soap operas -- Social aspects -- Great Britain
PERFORMING ARTS -- Television -- Reference.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
Television soap operas -- Social aspects
Soapopera
Gesellschaftsbild
Fernsehserie -- Grossbritannien.
Fernsehserie -- USA.
Soap opera -- Gesellschaft -- USA -- Geschichte.
Soap opera -- Gesellschaft -- Grossbritannien -- Geschichte.
Gesellschaft -- Soap opera -- USA -- Geschichte.
Gesellschaft -- Soap opera -- Grossbritannien -- Geschichte.
Great Britain
United States
England
USA
Grossbritannien -- Soap opera -- Gesellschaft -- Geschichte.
USA -- Soap opera -- Gesellschaft -- Geschichte.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0585311773
9780585311777
9781442602786
1442602783