The Television Genre Soap Opera and its Audience: the Role of Mass Media in Creating Gender Identifications

BASLAROVÁ, Iva. The Television Genre Soap Opera and its Audience: the Role of Mass Media in Creating Gender Identifications (The television genre soap opera and its audience: the role of mass media in creating gender identifications). 2007.

Basic information

• Original name: The Television Genre Soap Opera and its Audience: the Role of Mass Media in Creating Gender Identifications
• Name in Czech: Televizní žánr soap opera a jeho publikum: role masových médií při vytváření genderových identifikací
• Name (in English): The television genre soap opera and its audience: the role of mass media in creating gender identifications
• Authors: BASLAROVÁ, Iva.
• Edition: 2007.

Other information

• Original language: Czech
• Type of outcome: Conference abstract
• Field of Study: 50000 5. Social Sciences
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: gender studies; soap opera; telenovel
• Tags: gender studies, soap opera, telenovel

Abstract

This television genre is marked as feminine in these days, in spite of the fact that men watch it (but they are as a rule ashamed to admit it in the public). Soap operas are, in the same way as romance in literature, considered as a lower form of popular culture (which is why, not only men, but women too do not like to admit watching these declined genres). In addition, soap operas are built on emotions and love affairs, that is in EuroAmerican culture connected to female identity, not male identity. My research questions are: How do the female spectators and the male spectators take a part in soap operas, and how do they form their identity by them? How do they organize their relationships in the family and in society by them? What attributes do women expect from this television genre and what attributes do men expect from it? What function (social, emotional or other) do soap operas fulfil by their spectators?

Abstract (in English)

This television genre is marked as feminine in these days, in spite of the fact that men watch it (but they are as a rule ashamed to admit it in the public). Soap operas are, in the same way as romance in literature, considered as a lower form of popular culture (which is why, not only men, but women too do not like to admit watching these declined genres). In addition, soap operas are built on emotions and love affairs, that is in EuroAmerican culture connected to female identity, not male identity. My research questions are: How do the female spectators and the male spectators take a part in soap operas, and how do they form their identity by them? How do they organize their relationships in the family and in society by them? What attributes do women expect from this television genre and what attributes do men expect from it? What function (social, emotional or other) do soap operas fulfil by their spectators?