Cultural influence of the soap opera in Kosova

Cultural influence of the soap opera in Kosova

Fazli Rrezja

Television storylines of the soaps in Kosova became of a great interest in post war period and have substantial influence on viewers. Social relationships with soap characters affect Kosovo consumers’ behavior directly by means of effects on attitudes toward the characters' consumption.

Such unrealistic outcomes have implications for viewers’ expectations living in a transitional country, when they deal with friends, family members, lovers or if they are recovering from social or psychological problems themselves. Most of the viewers, simply consume what it’s served by our non-professional broadcasting media.

The Soap Opera Consumption
Daytime soap operas in three Kosova’s TV channels account for approximately 16 hours of network time daily and attract more than one million potential viewers; the majority of whom are women, not college-educated adults and teenagers not currently in the workforce.
Among regular audiences tend to be stay-at-homes, women and teenagers of limited income whose educational resources and opportunities to socialize are limited, and who display loyalty to soaps for long periods of time. Media broadcaster companies in Kosova have a huge influence in cultural aspects toward its audience. Today, Kosova broadcasting companies have thirteen soaps. Three of which are local soaps broadcasted in weekly basis and which tend to be more entertaining in a sense of mocking the reality of culture we are part of. Ten are international, most of them latino soaps which are broadcasted in daily basis. Four soaps are broadcasted in TV 21, four soaps in Koha Vision and five soaps in RTK television. Among these soap operas, latino soaps consist of high level of intrigues and low level of entertaining. Currently, soap operas have become obsession and provocation for broadcasting audience and especially toward huge number of teenagers.
Obsession, because of “emotional” plot that reveals events full of tears and nightmares and provocation as a result of images from costume design, interior, and paradise view. Soaps provide an emotional release and an escape from reality. But however soft the motivations may appear, they reveal a vulnerability system of conveying images of vulnerable people living in luxury to downscale viewers living in constrained circumstances, repeatedly expose unrealistic role models.

Today, the soap’s plot is like “breaking news”
While traveling everyday to work by bus or taxi in our capital city, I happened to hear often lot of “sad” stories from a passenger’s conversation. Stories which are similar to real events because of the way they are told and felt by the most people of our society, at school, at office, in streets or even at home with guests, soaps are the like breaking news!
In pre- war period the most interesting topic among women and teenagers was politics. Influence of mass communication reports about politics, war and other social problems related to this issue were the crucial factors which directly had effects on their attitude. But today, for most of women and teenagers of our society, soaps became their main consumption food on their table with the help of media.

The story of a taxi driver
What stroke me the most was the interesting story of a taxi driver! He was called urgently to drive a man and his daughter to their flat. Behind their pale faces was a probably a tragedy thought a taxi driver. They told him that they needed to arrive on time, so the taxi driver was driving faster than usually, feeling sorry of what might have happened to them. When they arrive in front of their flat the man and his daughter, looked at the watch and began to smile, revealing that they were happy to come on time because they will participate in “Graciela funeral”. The last night death of character in their favorite soap opera has stroked them deeply. The influence of the intrigues happening in everyday television series has made them live deeply into the events of the soap plot. The fact that the father his daughter participates in a “Visual Funeral” shows the involvement of this influence even toward the adults. Viewers’ responses show vulnerability expressed as a need for emotional satisfaction and their influence may be emotionally harmful.

The soap opera in the classrooms
The psychological effect of the soap operas also has a deep reflection on teenagers in Kosovo. During their summer and winter holidays they spent most of the time in front of the television watching soap operas because Kosovo broadcasting companies on their schedule have lot of these “entertainment programs”. A teacher of primary school has told a very interesting story regarding to the soaps influence in the students culture. After summer vocation he asked his students about their activities during this three month of vocation. Reading? Hobbies? Etc. But the response of all students in the classrooms, especially females was on the favor of soap operas, and all their stories were regarding to their favorite characters and intrigues. Some parts of characters have reflected into their cultural attitude.

Escapism & transition
Kosova people have become part of social and psychological intrigue during the last six years in post-war period. The media and traditional culture have faced rapid changes and are still on transition. Escapism in our society is similar but in other dimensions to the phenomenon of period after the First World War in some of European countries, where people’s attitude of a hard-drinking, fast-living was in trend . The generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world. Hopelessness, materialistic, and emotionally barren attitude increased among the society. But, now days, Kosova people who are involved as a regular audience of soap operas tend to be those who desire to live in a fictive reality that is full of love, hate and intrigues, and this becomes hard at the same time while they are stuck between the West, East and traditional cultures. Kosova society (in particular women and teenagers), in its transition period is exposed toward negative influence of soaps, especially latino soaps, which are broadcasted by our national televisions which are also in transition.


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This feature story is published also in;

-Kosovo daily newspaper- Express- on november 13, 2007
http://www.gazetaexpress.com/

-Kosovo daily newspaper-Bota sot- on february 2006

-News agency- Telegrafi- on august 7, 2007
http://www.telegrafi.com/?id=26&a=44

-Informative portal- Agimi- on October 24, 2007
http://www.agimi.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=918&view=next&sid=d7b 48cd14ac12042f519a853b0ff0209