Young People, Soap Operas and Reality TV

The transformation of the traditional soap opera into certain more extreme soaps, and the emergence of the recent ‘global’ reality TV formats have whipped up storms of controversy in a great number of countries. Such programmes have also generated worries among adults about how they are received by, and may influence, young viewers – because children from all over the world watch adult programming from an early age. Since research on young people and these fictional genres seriously lags behind, the primary aim of the Yearbook is to stimulate further research on the subject. In order to do so, the Clearinghouse invited scholars from all over the world to contribute their knowledge so far. Thus at the same time, the book gives answers to at least some of the questions on young people, soap operas and reality TV in the public debate.

Content

Foreword
Ulla Carlsson

Young People, Soap Operas and Reality TV. Introduction
Cecilia von Feilitzen

Television Viewing among 4- to 12-year-olds in Spain
José Ramón Pérez Ornia

“Soaps Want to Explain Reality”. Daily Soaps and Big Brother in the Everyday Life of German Children and Adolescents
Maya Götz

Reception of TV Series among Children and Teenagers in Germany
Christa Gebel, Helga Theunert

From Beverly Hills to Big Brother. How Australian Teenage Girls Respond
Robyn Quin

Children Interacting between Values at School and in Media. Reflections from a Norwegian Project
Gudmund Gjelsten, Asbjørn Simonnes

Critical Appreciation of TV Drama and Reality Shows. Hong Kong Youth in Need of Media Education
Alice Y. L. Lee

Everyday People, Everyday Life. British Teenagers, Soap Opera and Reality TV
Dorothy Hobson

Latin American Telenovelas. Interview with Valerio Fuenzalida
Maria Dolores Souza

On Possible and Actual Lives. Young Viewers and the Reception of Brazilian Telenovelas
Thaïs Machado-Borges

South Korean Television Drama in Asia
Doobo Shim

Chilean Tweens and Reality Shows
Maria Dolores Souza

The Idea of Learning. Young Viewers of Reality TV in the U.K
Annette Hill

Reality TV – The Mechanisms of a Success
François Jost

Reality Shows in Cyprus. New Media “Fallout”?
Michaella Buck, Nayia Roussou

“But It’s Not Real”. South African Youth’s Perceptions of Reality TV
Nathalie Hyde-Clarke

Reactions of Nigerian Youths to the Reality Television Show Gulder Ultimate Search
Eno Akpabio

“This is it” – South African Youth’s Reading of YizoYizo 2
John Gultig

YizoYizo: This Is It? A Critical Analysis of a Reality-based Drama Series
René Smith

Authors