MovieChat Forums > Dynasty (1981) Discussion > Soaps vs. Real Life

Soaps vs. Real Life

posted 8 years ago by bens33
5 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone else realize how different soaps are from real life? Do you remember Fallon's huge migraines before she drove off and disappeared in that rainstorm, right before her wedding to Jeff? When she confided to Steven about her headaches, what does he advise her to do? Most brothers would suggest, oh, I don't know, maybe seeing a doctor, right? Maybe going for an MRI or a CAT scan? All Steven says is that when Fallon hurts, he hurts. While the empathy is certainly nice, how about a little practical, common sense advice? But this is the alternate universe of Dynasty, I guess.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[–] paranoja 8 years ago

Yes.

Soaps can get ridiculous, but if you don't understand why a character acts a certain way, you might as well say adios. This is the point - characters (aka people) get put in ridiculous situations but acts in a way you'd expect them to act (even if the outcome isn't good)

Dynarsty = no one makes sense at all

[–] Jimmy-128 8 years ago

This is the point - characters (aka people) get put in ridiculous situations but acts in a way you'd expect them to act (even if the outcome isn't good)

Yep. It's the difference between internal logic and external logic. With external logic, you expect people to behave as "normal" people behave. With internal logic, you expect people to behave as "normal" people behave *within the parameters of the genre*.

[–] radrobd 8 years ago

Most brothers would suggest, oh, I don't know, maybe seeing a doctor, right? Maybe going for an MRI or a CAT scan?

Fallon did go to her doctor. She thought the headaches were a result from her injuries resulting from her being hit by a car and temporarily paralyzed. The doctors told her there was nothing medically wrong with her.

[–] bens33 8 years ago

Oh, that's good to know. I must have missed those episodes. Still, in his convo with Fallon, Steven didn't seem to know that, and he didn't give her that kind of practical advice.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[–] PrometheusTree64 8 years ago

Soaps, and fictional drama in general, tend to be far less ridiculous than real life (which we have no standard of "realism" for).

We're very strict with what we call "ridiculous" in fiction.

Mark Twain once said: truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.

Although I wish DYNASTY had made a little more sense than it did during its gravy years -- be it outrageous or realistic, the show's logic was often neither internal nor external.

But then the brass allowed hacks to run the writing during most of the seasons.

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA