International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2012 1 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org Women and Soap-Operas: Popularity, Portrayal and Perception Dr. Aaliya Ahmed Media Education Research Centre, Kashmir University, India Abstract- In the multi-media world of today, television has emerged as an important instrument of transmission of knowledge and information. Working as a complimentary agent to other sources, television has enhanced the process of change by providing timely information about education, hygiene, health, customs and so on. The purpose of television is to inform, educate and entertain its viewers. Television, because of its predominance of visual movement has the capacity of bringing the world into the living room with great authenticity and efficacy. As a result of this, television has a more profound and persuasive impact on its viewers, particularly women. Women are treated as “special audience groups”, so that appropriate measures can be taken to cater to their propensities and inclinations. In this context, problems and issues pertaining to women are shown regularly on television in different programmes. Soap operas are one of the most popular genres on television and as a cultural produce, this format is extremely popular among the masses. Soap-operas, inevitably, have attracted a large and loyal fan base. Soaps enjoy a momentous and immense popularity among the contemporary society and they have found a place for themselves and also allow a multiplicity of interpretations to suit the diverse tastes of the dominant Indian middle class. Index Terms- Television, women, soap-operas, popularity, audience. I. SOAP OPERAS he term "soap opera" was coined by the American press in the 1930s to denote the extraordinarily popular genre of serialized domestic radio dramas, which, by 1940, represented some 90% of all commercially-sponsored daytime broadcast hours. The "soap" in soap opera alluded to their sponsorship by manufacturers of household cleaning products; while "opera" suggested an ironic incongruity between the domestic narrative concerns of the daytime serial and the most elevated of dramatic forms. The defining quality of the soap opera form is its seriality. Soap operas are of two basic narrative types: "open" soap operas, in which there is no end point toward which the action of the narrative moves; and "closed" soap operas, in which, no matter how attenuated the process, the narrative does eventually close. (Pingree and Cantor,1983). Examples of the open soap include (The Guiding Light, etc.), the wave of primetime U.S. soaps in the 1980s (Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest), such British serials as Coronation Street, East Enders, and Brook side), most Australian serials (Neighbours, Home and Away, A Country Practice), and Indian soaps as Balika Vadhu, Uttaran Pavitra Rishta enjoy immense popularity. The closed soap opera is more common in Latin America, where it dominates primetime programming from Mexico to Chile. In India, Geet, Dil Mil Gaye fall in this category. These „telenovelas‟ are broadcast nightly and may stretch over three or four years and hundreds of episodes. They are, however, designed eventually to end, and it is the anticipation of closure in both the design and reception of the closed soap opera that makes it fundamentally different from the open form. The term itself signals an aesthetic and cultural incongruity: the events of everyday life elevated to the subject matter of an operatic form. II. AUDIENCE AND SOAP OPERAS Soaps in general have a predominantly female audience, although prime-time soaps such as Dallas (U.S), Bade Acche lagte hain (BALH) are aimed at a wider audience, and in fact at least 30% of the audiences for this soap are male. According to Ang, in Dallas the main interest for men was in business relations and problem and the power and wealth shown, whereas women were more often interested in the family issues and love affairs. In the case of BALH, it is clear that the programmes meant something different for female viewers compared with male viewers. The audience for soaps does include men sometimes but some theorists argue that the gender of the viewer is 'inscribed' in the programmes so the soaps address women in particular. Soaps appeal to those who value the personal and domestic world. Dorothy Hobson argues that women typically use soaps as a way of talking indirectly about their own attitudes and behavior. There is no doubt that viewing and talking with family and friends about soap operas is experienced by many women as a pleasurable experience, and the dismissal of the worth of the genre by many commentators, including some feminists critical of gender stereotyping, is open to the charge of cultural elitism. Some feminist theorists have argued that soap operas spring from a feminine aesthetic, in contrast to most prime-time television. Women are stereotyped in soap operas but the image of the modern women has changed. From being a meek, docile, subservient housewife, she has grown and evolved into a strong individual. She not excels in her profession but is also an able homemaker. This change is partially if not fully perceptible in the soap operas shown on Indian television. Soaps create a world dominated by interpersonal relationship, where characters discuss marital, romantic and family problems. There is little physical violence or crime. The soap opera world seems emotionally hazardous-mainly because of the continual sorting and re-sorting of relationships. T