“It’s Basically a Soap Opera.”

“It’s basically a soap opera” is an accusation I’ve seen hurled at shows as disparate as Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead — and it is almost always framed as an accusation or a dismissal, not merely a description. I just started watching Game of Thrones (I know) and last night I described the notoriously violent fantasy series just that way, and then wondered what I’d meant by it.

So now I’m wondering: what is it that makes a show “like a soap opera?” Are there shows that aren’t like a soap opera? And is being like a soap opera inherently a bad thing?

I definitely need to do some more thinking on this so I welcome your comments if you disagree, but here is a list of qualities that I think are what people are referring to when they say that a show is like a soap opera:

  1. The show is almost entirely about interpersonal relationships.

    Almost all TV shows have important relationships at their core (except maybe some procedurals at the extreme end of the episodic-serialized spectrum, like the original Law & Order), but on some shows the relationships are the music underscoring the plot and on other shows the relationships are the plot.

    For example, I would not describe The Americans as a soap opera because though Philip and Elizabeth’s relationship is absolutely central to the show and is in fact in many ways what the show is “about” in a thematic sense, the plot rarely revolves around it, but on Game of Thrones pretty much everything that happens is driven by someone’s relationship with someone else.

    Is this a bad thing? I would definitely say no, but I do think it might be sometimes described as a bad thing because talking about relationships is something that’s traditionally thought of as “chick flick” stuff and is therefore devalued by a society that devalues most things feminine.

  2. The show has a lot of “talking head” scenes in which two people just have a conversation about their relationship with each other, about their relationship with someone else, or about someone else’s relationship with someone else.

    The Walking Dead is famous for relying on these types of scenes more heavily than its zombie-craving audience would prefer. I think it especially starts feeling “like a soap opera” when characters seem to be having the same conversation over and over, or start dissecting the inner workings of each other’s relationships more often than they ever would in real life.

    Is this a bad thing? Yes, sometimes. Television is a visual medium, though maybe less so than film, and while talking head scenes can keep your budget down, they can get stale after awhile to viewers.

    HBO is famous for putting naked women in the background of scenes like this to make the scene more visually interesting (a move perfected on The Sopranos, another show I would describe as “basically a soap opera” — think about how much of the plot on that show was driven by someone essentially hurting Tony’s feelings).

  3. The show has a sprawling cast and a plot that’s heavily reliant on complicated histories between characters, often requiring lengthy “Previously Ons” before each episode.

    Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, but be wary of it in your own work if you’re a new writer.

  4. The show’s plot revolves around a lot of extremely dramatic and dysfunctional relationships full of secrets, lies, and misunderstandings. A surprising number of plots hinge on someone happening to be outside a door in time to overhear a private conversation.

    I’m not as confident about this one because it doesn’t describe The Walking Dead (a show that is constantly described as a soap opera by its detractors) or The Sopranos, but it certainly describes Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey.

    Is this a bad thing? I don’t think a secret baby plot is any more ridiculous than a “zombie virus outbreak threatens humanity” plot, so no.

What do you think? What did I miss? What did I get wrong?

Are there other shows you think are secretly “basically a soap opera” or shows that are definitely not a soap opera?

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Black Panther Did Something I’ve Never Experienced in a Movie

Major spoilers below for Black Panther.

Like most people in the world, I saw Black Panther this weekend. Given the reviews, I expected to like it, assuming the hype machine hadn’t built it beyond reasonable expectation. And in fact I did like it.

But it also emotionally wrecked me. I not only cried more during the movie than I think I’ve done since Life is Beautiful 20 years ago, I kept thinking about it hours after the movie ended and crying again.

What devastated me in this movie was not the (supposed) death of T’Challa, the film’s hero, or the death of Zuri, T’Challa’s beloved uncle and mentor. It was the death of the villain, Erik Killmonger.

Disney obviously has a thing for humanizing its villains (see: Kylo Ren or Maleficent) and we’ve certainly seen villains before who are a little sympathetic or who make a decent point, but what was so bold about Black Panther is that it didn’t just make you feel bad for Killmonger or give him a line or two that made you think — the movie made a powerful argument for his point of view.

When another character tells Killmonger, “Your heart is full of hatred; you’re not fit to be a king,” they’re right. He’s not. But his approach, however hateful, did achieve results. Wakanda wouldn’t have opened their borders if he had never burst through their gates. In some ways the trial by fire he put T’Challa through is what made him the worthy king he was destined to be.

Even though Wakanda “wins” in the end, there’s a powerful sense of loss for the man that Killmonger could have been if T’Chaka had made a different choice that night in 1992, and though his violent, self-centered approach made him unfit to be king, it did open T’Challa’s eyes to a perspective he sorely needed.

That said, Killmonger is not a good guy. It’s important that he’s presented as a worthy and frightening adversary to T’Challa. This is why it’s crucial that Killmonger wins (or seems to win) his initial battle with T’Challa so that we see him as a formidable opponent. If he had only been presented as a wounded young man, he wouldn’t have made a strong villain.

An important moment for his character as a villain is when he kills his love interest. He does it in cold blood, with barely a thought, because she’s disappointed him and is in his way. This is almost like a reverse “save the cat” moment – instead of a moment that drives empathy for his character, it’s a moment that cements him as frightening and beyond reach.

Another critical moment like this is when he orders all the heart-shaped herbs burned. It’s an upsetting moment because we know how important this plant is to Wakanda. He even physically attacks an innocent woman when he orders it done. Most movies with a villain have a “burn the heart-shaped herb” moment – something the villain does that has seemingly irreparable consequences and truly drives home their power and menace.

I don’t know if every villain needs to be this sympathetic or if every argument in a story needs to be this complex, but as our world grows more and more divided, I find I’m less interested in stories that paint conflicts as a simple right and wrong.

A TV show I’ve been loving, CW’s Black Lightning (coincidentally also about a black superhero with a cast that’s almost entirely people of color), does this really well. Almost every argument between two characters on that show, no matter who it’s between or what it’s about, makes a solid case for both sides of the conflict. It makes the story more engaging because I genuinely don’t know who is going to win, or even necessarily who I want to win.

My takeaway for my next script is to create a villain who doesn’t just have a sympathetic backstory or a decent zinger or two, but has a truly understandable point of view, even if the story ultimately rejects it. I also want to make a point in scenes of conflict to give both sides of the argument some solid ground.

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