Students view soap opera as a happy hour
By BECKY ANSHUTZ
Of the Emerald
The lights dim at 2 p.m., the
room quiets and the bartender
tunes in Luke and Laura on the
big screen before a captivated
audience.
About 70 students gather dai
ly in Duffy’s tavern for "General
Hospital Happy Hour,” a
promotion tavern manager Bill
Rose implemented last week.
At the suggestion of several
employees and patrons, Rose
put the top-rated soap opera on
the big screen, usually reserved
for sports events, and offered
half-price glasses of beer and
wine.
While the venture draws cus
tomers during the tavern’s slow
hours, it also brings attention to
a growing social phenomenon
in colleges — watching soaps.
"There’s a great difference
between sitting and watching a
soap opera alone as a habitual
practice, and sharing it as a
social experience,” says
telecommunications Prof. Ron
ald Sherriffs, who teaches a unit
on soaps in his drama criticism
class.
“As a social experience, you
are using the soap oper
a you're not being victimized
by it,” Sherriffs says. But the
"solo drinker” — the viewer who
habitually watches soaps alone
— can be a different story, he
adds.
A 1941 study of radio lis
teners, the ancestors of today’s
soap viewer, lists emotional
release, escape and advice as
the major reasons for watching
However, a 1976 cross-sec
tion poll of 200 Eugene re
sidents showed entertainment,
habit and convenience as the
top motivations. Those respon
dents list advice and escape
Iasi. Sherriffs says most
students who watch soaps in
groups are using the soaps as
"social currency.”
“You have to know what’s
going on — or be left out.”
Graphic by Sioux Anderson
Finance major Scott Drum
mond says he began watching
soaps more than a year ago
because three friends often dis
cussed them.
“I got sucked right in."
Drummond is one of the few
men who now goes to Duffy's to
catch the latest sordid
goings-on in Port Charles, the
mythical location for General
Hospital.
Sorority girls compose the
largest part of the audience, the
tavern’s manager says.
According to Kari Rosenberg,
who lives in the Alpha Chi
Omega house, more than half
the house members gather to
watch General Hospital in their
TV room and have done so for
years.
"It's kind of a fun social thing
and you can chit-chat with
everybody," she says.
Why is General Hospital,
Soap Opera Digest’s high
est-rated serial, so popular with
college students?
The soap has more qualities
of evening TV drama than most
soaps, Sherriffs says. “Action
and adventure fights are
staged and weapons appear,
like on nighttime television.’’
Many students became Gen
eral Hospital fans last "Summer
when Luke — the witty anti-hero
who managed a Mafia-con
trolled disco — ran off to decode
a mobster’s black book with
Laura — the goodie-goodie who
manages to mess up everyone
else’s lives but walks away
clean herself
The couple slept in barns,
battled hit-men and searched
for gold bricks. Though that
kind of drama couldn’t compete
in prime-time, Sherriffs says it
adds a bit more sophistication
to daytime drama.
Soaps portray women
differently than evening televi
sion, Sherriffs says. Evenings
offer the Angie Dickinson type
character. Though the
policewoman works in a male
dominated field, police ulti
Assembly debates pay raises
University Assembly mem
bers will consider biology
Prof. Bayard McConnaughey’s
two faculty-related motions
today at 3:30 p.m. in Room 150
Geology.
Last week, Senate members
defeated McConnaughey's first
motion on faculty raises 20-8,
and his second motion on
faculty layoff procedures 27-1.
McConnaughey's first motion
asks that the administration give
faculty members equal dollar
raises instead of percentage in
creases when giving 'across
the-board'' raises.
McCorinaughey says his mo
tion would equalize gaps
between professorial ranks so
“people who need the money
most get as much as those who
don’t need it as badly."
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This would encourage assis
tant professors to stay at the
University, he adds.
Senate members criticized
the motion, however, arguing
that faculty salary trends show
assistant professor salaries are
highly competive with other
schools while full professor
salaries aren’t as competitive.
McConnaughey has slightly
revised his second motion for
the Assembly because some
Senate members misunder
stood the language of the mea
sure.
The motion recommends that
the administration lower each
employee’s pay by the same
percentage before laying off
anyone during a financial emer
gency.
McConnaughey also at
tributes the motion’s failure in
the Senate to the "tendency to
fear rocking the boat during
times of stress.”
In other business, Assembly
members will consider
chemistry department head
Robert Mazo’s motion support
ing a National Academy of
Sciences proposal to change
federal Office of Management
and Budget regulations.
The regulations require
faculty members to report
“unnecessary” information on
grant reports. Senate members
approved Mazo’s motion.
*
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mately use her as villain bait.
In soaps,however, women are
often essential problem solvers.
“Love it, and it will correct
itself” is the prescription most
often used, Sherriffs says.
Dr Leslie Webber, Laura's
kind-hearted mother, is General
Hospital’s reliable problem
solver.
When Heather, who is faking
insanity, wants to leave the san
itarium for the holidays, Leslie
takes her in. When Diana needs
a godparent for her adopted
son, who is Heather’s natural
child, Leslie is the obvious
choice.
“Women are allowed to be
needed, effective and in control,
and men are bumbling around. I
think the 51 percent of the
population likes that,” says
Sherriffs, who isn’t surprised
that many women take advan
tage of General Hospital Happy
Hour.
And he also is not surprised
that some men are attracted to
soaps. Daytime television offers
a greater range of human emo
tions than night-time television
viewing, he says.
Characters deal with divorce,
rape, drug addiction and impo
tence as well as simple rejection
and stress. As men feel freer to
express emotions, they may be
more attracted to the emotion
alism of daytime serials, Sher
iffs says.
Drummond agrees
"Guys feel freer now to watch
(soaps) than they did 10 years
ago. I only started using a blow
drier five years ago."
Of course not everyone at the
happy hour watches the screen
Gene Mowery and Tony Roberts
say they come in for the half
price beer.
Joe Close watches the screen
because he was with two female
General Hospital fans. He says
he was reluctant because
"every time I watch, I’m hooked
for an hour.”
Not everyone finds soaps ad
dicting, however.
“When I was ill and had to
stay home from school, I got
chicken noodle soup,” Sherriffs
explains." And all day long, I
heard soaps. Now, whenever I
smell chicken soup or hear
soaps, I feel sick.”
But more specifically, Sher
riffs says he is frustrated by
“programs populated by people
who seem unable to make a
rational decision."
"They just fuss around.”
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