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Soap Operas​—How They Can Affect You

“WHEN I started watching the television serials, or soap operas, I soon was absorbed in the lives of the characters,” reported one Christian woman. “I became like part of their family. In time my heart was as much involved with these characters as it was with members of the Christian congregation.”

Such viewer involvement is a characteristic of most television serials commonly called soap operas. For this reason Time magazine called them “the most powerful entertainment on or off television,” and added, “no play or film commands such long-term devotion; no TV show regularly attracts such numbers.” Four soap-opera serials in the United States have lasted over 25 years!

These serials are written to reach your heart. “I look for things that touch people’s lives,” explains serial writer William Bell. “I’m disappointed if my shows don’t produce tears from the audience three times a week.” Millions of women and men of all ages, races and backgrounds will rarely miss a show. These include common laborers as well as wealthy professionals, among them a United States Supreme Court justice and a former governor. In Brazil the telenovelas (television novels) are a dominating influence during the prime time evening hours. In the United States from 30 million to as many as 70 million persons may watch the serials.

What factors should you consider with regard to these programs if your heart is devoted to Jehovah God? Are such serials mere harmless entertainment, a means of relaxing and getting your mind off the cares of the day? Remember, the Bible urges: “More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Because the heart is deceitful and can be easily influenced, a Christian continually has to appraise what is being fed into it. (Jeremiah 17:9; Proverbs 28:26) But what is it that makes the serials so appealing?

“You build up a relationship with a character on the show because you see him almost daily,” admitted one 32-year-old viewer. “The more I learned about him the more I wanted to know. It was something very natural.” The shows capitalize on this natural desire. Once these characters are “entrenched in the hearts of listeners,” wrote an earlier serial writer, Elaine Carrington, the viewers will “have to tune in . . . because of what they feel for them.”

The characters become real and you care about them. Some viewers even “talk to the screen” in an effort to advise their favorites! As one therapist said, the characters truly become “a circle of friends.” Is this enticing feature a subtle danger? Can these shows gradually corrupt a Christian’s heart? What have research and experiences shown?