I'm going to level with you all: I don't watch soap operas. I know they are spoofed, I know they are dramatic, and I know that there are plenty out there. Don't get me wrong, I DO know all about Susan Lucci's Emmy dry spell. But otherwise, I am up a creek without a paddle.
Color me surprised, however, when I started my reading for the week.
Cathy Leaker tackles a difficult subject-- queer representation on soap operas. In particular, she examines All My Children's first notable lesbian character, Bianca Montgomery. What makes this character's trajectory so fascinating is her limited queer experience on the series. Why is this, you may be asking yourself? As Leaker explains, the soap industry (not the bubbly kind) has had a long, tumultuous relationship when it comes to gays and lesbians on their shows. And yes, while Bianca was a lesbian who lasted on the show for almost five years, Leaker also notes how understated this representation is.
And most importantly and equally as damning, Bianca appears to be punished for identifying as a lesbian on the series. I guess you could call Bianca "unlucky in love," because her relationships always last until a certain point and then fizzle away. She falls in love with straight woman, they do not love her back. It is all tragic. But wait! Not all is lost for Bianca! For instance, Leaker points out that after finally finding herself in a relationship with bisexual, Russian spy Lena (don't ask) and America witnessing one of the first same-sex kisses on daytime soaps, Bianca is promptly raped and impregnated by Lena's ex-boyfriend. And then she is pushed off a balcony and lands in a coma. But fret not, all! She is then written off the show with her child and one ambiguous relationship with a woman, as she chooses to travel to Paris-- an apparent lesbian haven, according to Leaker.
I know. Doesn't that make you want to start watching soap operas? See, when I said I knew that soaps were dramatic, I was not expecting it to that level. Nor was I expecting all of it to be just be added onto Bianca's character sentence. And just think: how are we, the audience, supposed to take this? I'm uninformed when it comes to this subject area (i.e. soaps), but what I do know is that representations such as Bianca's are disconcerting. How do they communicate to the LGBTQ+ community? What does this say?
Perhaps we will never know. Which is sad, in a way. Soap operas are pervasive, they are clearly not going anywhere in the canon of television. But where are we to go with portrayals such as these?
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