NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Soap Opera Forum Focuses on Change

Can soap operas save the world?

Stay tuned.

“I think it’s a medium to reach people deeply and emotionally,” Gloria Carlin, an actress who played Charity Gatlin on “General Hospital,” said at a forum in North Hollywood on the power of daytime drama.

The forum--held at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences theater on Lankershim Boulevard Wednesday night and titled “Can Soaps Save the World?”--focused on the educational use of television to change social attitudes through characters and plot lines.

Wednesday’s discussion focused on how some soap operas in Mexico, India and Venezuela are seeking to change attitudes on reproduction, the empowerment of women and other social issues.

Panelists also included David Poindexter, president of Population Communications International, and Cecile Guidote Alvarez, a representative from Balintatow Theatre Television Productions, a Venezuelan soap opera series production company. It was moderated by actress Jeanne Cooper, who plays Catherine Chancellor on “The Young and the Restless.”

Executive producer Roger Pereria talked about how he created ‘Humraahi,” a 52-episode Indian soap opera designed to educate the Indian people on overpopulation. One of the main characters was a young woman who was being pressured into pregnancy by her family.

“By the year 2000, India will have 1 billion people,” said Pereria of the current birthrate in his country. “A girl must not be forced into marrying until she is ready for it. Unless there is significant attitude change in this area, achieving a lower birthrate is impossible.”

Citing research done by his own company, Pereria said the series, which is preparing for its second season, created a small but strong change in attitude among its viewers. Fewer viewers accepted the premise that a girl should marry and have children early, he said.

Although the ratings are not yet in on the overall effectiveness of such educational programming in soap operas, audience members said a lot can be learned from these pioneering efforts.

“Today, there are millions of people in the world who believe that if we do not use media carefully, we will not survive,” said Miguel Sabido, a Mexican television executive and one of the panelists featured in the discussion.