I've recently bought the Peyton Place DVDs, and Ben and Maggie Scott's relationship seems really to be a copy of Betty Anderson's parents, George and Julie. Julie even had an almost affair with Leslie Harrington, causing George to be jealous. The only difference is, George was the alcoholic, not Leslie.
This is surprisingly progressive material. A woman is forced into an unhappy marriage, deprived of her career, and treated like garbage by her nasty husband. In soaps today, the husband would be the hero, and the wife would be considered lucky to even breathe the same oxygen he breathes.
I think you have that reversed, sort of. If soaps today would write stories like this, with an overbearing husband causing the decline of the wife's career, women would not like it because it's depicting the woman as the weaker of the two even though it's those kinds of stories that are way more compelling...
People today are in reality over kill...there's certain segments of the soap audience who are offended by these kinds of stories...although I myself find the stories fascinating to watch.
One of the annoying things to me, though, is when modern-day watchers say things like this: "why doesn't she just leave him?" or "why in the world doesn't she..." do this or do that.
A simple lesson of social history is in order for those kinds of viewers...it was the 1960's...in soap's women were just starting to claim independence but the men still had the emotional upper-hand and knew the women's vulnerabilities...and women were written to be afraid of being "alone"...so the men always won
I would have believed this is true, but on today's soaps, or most of them anyway, women are written as being very inferior. If they do have careers, their careers are unimportant, and the needs of the man come first. The misogyny on display at shows like AMC and GH is really shocking. This type of story which shows the pain and degradation a woman faces because of a controlling husband, it's not easy to find now.
"Nice plain Mrs. Bauer." - Bert was the "every woman" that the audience could relate to.
Andorian323 1 year ago
I've recently bought the Peyton Place DVDs, and Ben and Maggie Scott's relationship seems really to be a copy of Betty Anderson's parents, George and Julie. Julie even had an almost affair with Leslie Harrington, causing George to be jealous. The only difference is, George was the alcoholic, not Leslie.
stanbrown32 2 years ago
This is surprisingly progressive material. A woman is forced into an unhappy marriage, deprived of her career, and treated like garbage by her nasty husband. In soaps today, the husband would be the hero, and the wife would be considered lucky to even breathe the same oxygen he breathes.
CarlD2 3 years ago
I think you have that reversed, sort of. If soaps today would write stories like this, with an overbearing husband causing the decline of the wife's career, women would not like it because it's depicting the woman as the weaker of the two even though it's those kinds of stories that are way more compelling...
People today are in reality over kill...there's certain segments of the soap audience who are offended by these kinds of stories...although I myself find the stories fascinating to watch.
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
One of the annoying things to me, though, is when modern-day watchers say things like this: "why doesn't she just leave him?" or "why in the world doesn't she..." do this or do that.
A simple lesson of social history is in order for those kinds of viewers...it was the 1960's...in soap's women were just starting to claim independence but the men still had the emotional upper-hand and knew the women's vulnerabilities...and women were written to be afraid of being "alone"...so the men always won
ACcountryFan 2 years ago
I would have believed this is true, but on today's soaps, or most of them anyway, women are written as being very inferior. If they do have careers, their careers are unimportant, and the needs of the man come first. The misogyny on display at shows like AMC and GH is really shocking. This type of story which shows the pain and degradation a woman faces because of a controlling husband, it's not easy to find now.
CarlD2 2 years ago
He was down right mean! He's right about Bill Bauer, though.
jward199 4 years ago
Ben Scott, despite being a Korean War vet, was very much an a-hole.
Yesimustbestupid 5 years ago