From: jmf@egret5.stanford.edu (Joseph M. Fierro)
Subject: Re: B&B: Wed 7/22 & Y&R & ATWT
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date: 27 Jul 92 09:18:29 GMT

bjag@nwu.edu (Bharathi Jagadeesh) writes:
>It always annoys me when people on soaps are supposed to have a real skill
>(like fashion design, photography, or even medicine) but act like total
>denseheads about it, never actually having it interfere with their lives.
>I have to give the Bell soaps credit for at least _attempting_ to integrate
>people's work lives into the soap. Maybe Scott Grainger's looking at
>microscope slides and Brooke boiling blue liquids in beakers, Ashley
>playing with testubes, and Felicia designing is a silly approximation of
>what those jobs are really like. But at least they try! Taylor even
>periodically blubbers gibberish about psychology.

>On ATWT, they seem to completely ignore this stuff. Most of the people are
>employed in mythical "consulting" businesses. What does Iva do anyway? And
>even Barbara Ryan, who's actually supposed to be a designer almost never
>actually does any designing. Margo, who's supposed to be a policement
>almost never does that, really, either. 

>Bharathi Jagadeesh                 bjag@nwu.edu

  I have to disagree with you, Bharathi.  I feel the Bell soaps (Y&R, B&B)
insult the professions they portray when they show these cliche scenes
of doctors looking through microscopes, chemists boiling blue liquids in
test tubes, or designers drawing pretty pictures on large sketch pads. 
  I much rather prefer the way ATWT implies the job is being done, without
having to show these stereotypical scenes.  Just because we don't actually
see Iva fundraising for the hospital does not mean she doesn't do it.  
Most storylines on soaps do not revolve around people doing their jobs, so
it is not necessary to show people performing them.
  At least on ATWT, everyone has a job to go to everyday.  Compare this to
Y&R (Nikki, Nina, Flo, Katherine Chancellor, Brock, Rex, Douglass) and B&B 
(Bill Spencer, Kristen, Blake, Faith/Karen) which are full of people who 
spend their days idly.  And don't forget characters like Dru, Neil, Ryan or 
Felicia, Stephanie, and Macy who leave their jobs whenever they please 
without asking the boss.  Finally there's those characters that just change
professions like they change a pair of shoes.  Taylor Hayes started as
an oncologist, then she bought a couch and became a certified psychologist.
And Brooke took her degree in chemistry, made the transition from analyzing
blood samples to designing fabrics, read a few books, and within four months 
created a new wrinkle-free fabric that other experts had been working on for
more than two decades.  You and I took the same Chemistry class, and we 
know switching disciplines involves more than just checking out a few books
from the public library.  (Notice that Brooke's lab setup is exactly the 
same as when she analyzed Caroline's blood sample for leukemia!)
  I think the writers at ATWT don't want to insult their viewers.  You'll
never see Bob Hughes performing open-heart surgery, or Holden plowing the
fields, but I don't think it's vital that we do.  I see your point about
not having people's professional and personal lives overlap, but I feel
if you can't do a good job of portraying a profession, don't even try.
  Excuse me for going on and on, but I can't stand the "Bell-world", where
complex professions are learnt in weeks by gardeners, the road to the
CEO starts with a job in the Jabot mailroom, and all the servants are 
uneducated minorities (Mamie and Miguel from Y&R, Maria from B&B).  These
soaps can be dangerous reenforcements of stereotypes if taken seriously.
Oh well, I'll probably continue to watch them anyway, I'm such a hypocrite.

                                            -Joseph M. Fierro