The soap opera has been the stay at home parent’s friend for several generations now. They’re sappy, dramatic, and universally loved by so many that the reason they’ve stuck around is that people like them for some reason and get hooked on them in ways that might seem a bit unhealthy at times. But in movies they’re comic gold in certain moments because they seem to envelop a story line in a way that is best described as campy, unrealistic, and so over the top that you can’t help but laugh at something that’s supposed to be serious and dramatic. Now if only we could laugh at soap operas like this in real life without some crazy fan taking offense.
Here are a few moments in movies when soap operas were either a big part of the film or were the premise of the film in some way.
5. Mr. Mom
Michael Keaton plays a man’s man in this film as is evidenced by the way he goes about his life and what happens when he is fired and has to stay home with the kids. The house is filthy, the kids are barely taken care of and somehow, some way, he is drawn to the soap operas he so often derides as being little more than trashy and overly dramatic. Funny how that happens.
4. Tootsie
It might not have been meant to be but Tootsie is in effect one long soap opera. Look at it this way, you’ve got the drama, you’ve got the intrigue, and you’ve definitely got the long, drawn out plot points. Dustin Hoffman does an awesome job of taking on the role and persona of a woman but overall this is one, long, drawn out soap opera.
3. Soap Dish
And now we get to a show that’s actually SUPPOSED to be a soap opera. Soap Dish had all the campy feeling of a parody that it was supposed to and yet still stuck to the serious side that balanced it out so nicely. The effort to make it funny and light was achieved by Kevin Kline and Sally Fields but the seriousness definitely came from the fact that their real lives were every bit the soap opera that the show was.
2. Delirious
Imagine you injured yourself and woke up in the same world that you helped to create. You’d eventually get to the point of writing yourself in as the main attraction, yeah? But beware the dreaded typos and unforeseen issues that arise from moving too fast. Eventually you could write yourself into a corner with no way out, especially in a soap opera.
1. Dark Shadows
The original version of this was in fact a soap opera-style show and it shows upon watching the film. There is drama, trysting, and all sorts of strange happenings that would fit right into a casual soap opera if the majority of them had anything to do with horror films. Still, it’s an interesting movie in it’s own right, and would fit right in with the genre.
Soap operas in movies are just amusing and flat out ridiculous most times. But at least they’re supposed to be.
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