CAPS 5

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GH's 50th Anniversary Cast Photo

       

       Martin and Nakayma (2012) define popular culture as “cultural products most people share and know about” (Martin & Nakayama p. 361). This can include anything from a tv show, to advertisements, to music videos, to magazines, and movies.  For this blog, I decided to write about one of my favorite shows: General Hospital. General Hospital is a daytime soap opera that is about to celebrate their 50^th anniversary of being on the air. I’m sure there are many themes that someone could come up with when they sat down to watch GH, but the three I came up with are: family, relationships/love (or the lack thereof), and backstabbing.

Family

       For the majority of the characters on this show, family is very important. Of course, they have their fights just like people in real life, but they do figure out a way to resolve their issues just like you and I would. General Hospital is set in a small town, so everyone knows each other and it seems like, everyone is related to everyone else somehow! Some of the families on this show get along great and are always together and then there are the families that are constantly in chaos and fighting. I just think even though it’s a show, and soaps are always known for their drama, sometimes watching the show does feel like the scenes I’m watching could happen in real life in regards to some families.

Relationships/Love

       The second theme I saw in this show is relationships/love (or the lack thereof!). Everyone on the show it seems is looking for love. It also seems everyone sleeps with everyone else and it’s just a mess! Relationships come and go on all soaps, and General Hospital is no exception. Many couples who get together don’t last, and the ones that do, are rare. Age also doesn’t matter in a relationship on a soap opera. Some couples get together that are 10 years apart. I guess that also happens in real life, but it seems to be more common on a tv show, in my opinion. Since the town General Hospital is set in is so small, everyone knows who is dating who and pretty soon, your relationship will be the front page news.

Backstabbing

       The third theme I found in the show was backstabbing. It seems like there is always people fighting over love, money or some other reason. Most of the time, it’s two women fighting over a man, but there are times two men fight over a woman too! There are a couple characters who will backstab anyone just to get what they want.

      I never watched the show and thought about stereotypes, but having this assignment in mind, it made me really think and I saw the patterns in the show. 

Sources

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012.). Intercultural communications in contexts (6^th ed). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

GH SMACKDOWN: Sam vs. Carly – Youtube. (n.d.). Youtube. Retrieved March 29^th, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uASUO-sS2U

General Hospital 50^th Anniversary Cast Photo Revealed! ! | Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps | Daytime Soap Interviews, News, Updates and Previews, Video and Audio Interviews. (n.d.). Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps | Daytime Soap Interviews, News, Updates and Previews, Video and Audio Interviews. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/news/general-hospital-50th-anniversary-cast-photo-revealed/2013/03/25/

General Hospital – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Hospital