Soap Opera’s

Sub-genre – (American) FantasiesBy Timothy Clarke

Definition:

• An extreme version of the bourgeoisie’s life styles, portrayed in its’ extremist form – involving money, land, and appearance.

CharactersDALLAS

SUNSET BEACH

DYNASTY

CHARACTERS

Characters in American Fantasy soap opera’s typically follow the conventions of having these features:

• They have wealth, property, and some have rights• They are members of the upper class bourgeoisie, and follow

hobbies associated with them respectively. (I.E Horse riding)• The casts costumes involve formal wear, as well as very good

condition casual wear. Accessories such as watches, belts, jewellery are extravagantly portrayed reflecting the wealth they own.

• Have important jobs• Are flawless, inspirational characters

Lots of make-up to make them look flawless

Extravagant costume

Lots of gold and silver jewellery

All of their hair is done, they look like they have spent lots of time getting ready to make themselves look good

Billionaire, playboy, philanthropist

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOZBnIhRF9Y

This clip contains

• Big smart houses• Start of clip is all gold colours connoting wealth• Epic editing• Lots of scenery shots, showing lots of land with horses, horse

riding high class sport.• All men in smart suits, holding champagne bottles• Shallow depth of field pulls focus onto important characters

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOQX_Q5mhJc

This clip also contains shallow depth of fields, that pulls focus onto important characters to increase the seriousness of their dilemma.

DALLAS

Shots of big rich houses, surrounded by land- Not realistic locations, demonstrates how rich and wealthy the characters are

The Establishing shots from far away emphasize how big the houses are and how much space they have

Storylines

American Fantasy Soaps consist of similar storylines such as:•Affairs•Blackmails•Poisoning•Flamboyant

These storylines tend to be driven with profit or revenge as the source of stimulus, within a capitalist society.