A recent article in the Boston Globe cites evidence that people take social cues from soap operas. Brazilian telenovelas have apparently helped to lower the fertility rate. In India, villages that watch more TV give more rights to women and girls. In the US, health advice folded into soap opera plots appears to be more influential than any other type of information dissemination.
Here is what I wonder:
1) Is this necessarily a good thing? Do we want our cultures to be shaped by popular entertainment?
2) Do novels have similar influence, or is there something unique about TV?
3) If we do have that kind of power as writers (assuming all of our books have best-seller potential), how much weight should we give this phenomenon in our work?
I’d be interested in your thoughts. We’ll be discussing this topic, as well as many others of interest, on today’s Litopia After Dark. Please tune in and join the chatroom discussion.
And be sure to check out Muse, Litopia’s new literary ezine, while you're there.
Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D.,is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself,she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. She is the author of Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity(Seal, 2007). Her Career Coach column appears every Monday on Inside Higher Ed's Mama, Ph.D. blog, and she is a regular monthly panelist on Litopia After Dark. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.
Comments