SOAP OPERA

Evolution of Soap Opera

It would be very interesting to know that the term "Soap Opera" is the brain-child of the western countries and spread in an epidemic speed to almost every country of the world today, where people spend time sitting in front of television for entertainment. It all started when stage dramas were shifted first to the radio by only sound and then to the television with its visual impact by light and sound.

Actually works of fiction enacted by characters on stage were called "operas" and funnily they got the name as "soap operas" in radio and television, when they were sponsored for broadcasting/telecasting by the manufacturers of popular soaps to advertise their products.

Different forms of Soap Operas

Presently radio becoming a thing of the past, television has taken the predominant role of telecasting soap operas (otherwise called as tele-serials). The targeted audience being females in the household who watch television to pass time more than their male counterparts, primarily soap operas are vying with each other to attract attention. Exactly as in the case of celluloid fantasies of films, television serials of soap operas are filled with melodrama, family stories, human relationships (both legal and illicit of course) sentiments, fantasy, real life events, adventure, comedy and so on and so forth to make their audience glued to their TV sets.

Popularity of Soap Operas

Millions of people are watching television around the world for various reasons namely, news, events, sports, music, tourism, finance and so on but soap operas can be easily accounted for top viewing, basically because of its female audience. Every country has its own way of setting the stage for soap operas by scenes of romance, love, adventure, family sentiment, financial implications, politics and the like, with the sole objective of carrying away with this huge number of audience.

The scope is unlimited for tele-serials as -

• The storylines can be anything so far as it is new
• The characters perform not as actors in a role but as real persons
• These serials can be shown in episodes of a particular duration
• These episodes can be elongated to any number of days, months or even years
• Less expensive due to any one can be brought in to perform and no superstars are needed and shooting can be done indoors or at locations easily available, since the audience does not care about these factors.

Arising out of the reasons explained above, the popularity of soap operas is an ever growing one and will last until there are products to be advertised and sponsors available, hungry to get their commercials reach millions of masses.