Grey's Anatomy originally aired on at 10pm on Sundays for its first two seasons before moving to the coveted Thursday night spot, where it still is today. Grey's Anatomy as the modern soap opera features many elements tie it to original soap operas, the use of mostly close up shots, most notably during the surgeries, is comparable to that of close up shots during emotional and high intensity scenes in original soap operas. As the traditional woman has moved away from the home and more into the working world, so have soap operas, creating shows such as Grey's, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder and more. These shows still focus on interpersonal relationships and bonds between characters, but have now moved further from the family unit and into the work space, promoting capitalism, and yet they still cater to the lives of mostly women.
The multiple storylines of Grey's allows for the audience to focus on whichever charcater they want, also allowing for the show to lose multiple main charcters over the years but still have enough content to carry on. Charcter Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), on whom the show originally and mostly centers on, is taking her leave from the show, however it still goes on. This is because despite her being the original center of it all, the show has grown beyond her, and can carry-on whetehr she is included or not. Grey's also features specially times breaks that fit in tot he pattern of home care after work, and each break resumes with a focus on a new storyline allowing the audience to follow at least one story from the episode no matter when they join the stream.
40 years later, Modleski's points still ring true in television.
I find this idea that Grey's Anatomy is like a modern soap opera very interesting and it makes me wonder about how the show has morphed over the years from something that I would consider above the standard of a soap opera to now essentially a modern day soap.
ReplyDeleteIn a lot of ways I definitely agree with your point, especially when I think about these more recent seasons of the show. In the last 5-8 years, it seems to have developed a "clunkiness" to a lot of the episodes. The coverage of each scene is basic and boring, much like a soap opera I might argue. As you said, they capture surgeries in close up (most likely to avoid too much use of VFX or specialized shots) to make the surgeries look realistic. And in scenes in the hospital halls and rooms, they capture performance in groups of 2s and 3s. Even the lighting is flat, and looks as thought they just turned on all the lights so they wouldn't have to change anything from one setup to the next as they filmed. In a lot of ways, the show feels sloppy and rushed, and it really does feel like the modern day soap opera.
However, once upon a time there was a beautiful intricacy and care in the way that Grey's Anatomy was filmed. The lighting was manipulated to create beautiful images, not just to create light in general. Close-ups on characters were brought in to add emotion and camera movement was utilized in a beautiful way to enhance the story-telling (especially in any episode directed by Debbie Allen, I love her). And even performance felt more specific and rooted in reality, rather than the somewhat over-the-top and very character-y line readings we get now. And when I think about the old Grey's Anatomy compared to the Grey's we are subjected to now, I wonder where things went wrong. Was it the change in personnel, a change at ABC, or a push to find new ways to innovate that inevitably fell flat.
What I find most interesting though, is that despite my disappointment with the show and the direction it has been heading in, I still find that I watch the new episodes. Like many others, it has been running for so long I almost feel "obligated" to continue watching to see what happens next. And I wonder if those who watch(ed) soap operas felt the same way. Were they so attached to the characters and invested in the rather ridiculous drama that they thought "well it's not good but I still want to know what happens next." Though we laugh as we watch soap operas because in many ways they really are ridiculous, I wonder if there is still something to be said about their success. Despite its flaws, somehow Grey's Anatomy still manages to reel us in and hook us, just as soap operas once did.
Often, as I watch the new episodes, I think about the absolute television masterpiece that was seasons 1 - 13, the memory of those seasons has made it impossible for me to abandon the show, as it has me in such an iron grip. It seems to me that the show is striving to return to its roots with the new season but that is yet to be seen.
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