Topics You Would Like To See Explored

[Adam]

Its becoming quite clear racism is still quite prevalent in our society. The soaps should tune into that.... like they used to. Socially relevant storylines are always the best and most interesting ones IMO. Probably why I became so associated with AMC. Back in the day no one could tell a socially relevant story like Agnes Nixon.

[billyjill]

Not just you. Very true. With regard to social reality as well.

[KLN]

The interesting thing, though, is that racism has taken on different forms over the years. Now there's reverse-racism. There have been a few times that I was discriminated against by black folks just because I'm white, despite the fact that I'm not racist myself. I've been called a 'honky' for no reason, by people I don't even know, when I was walking down the street. It's cool, though... I kinda like the name, LoL.

Someone above mentioned self-segregation. Does that really happen? Do people really segregate themselves from different races on purpose? And if so... why?

Then there's the racism within different communities. I see alot of white people commenting on how certain white people are 'trying to act black.' And then I see racism in the black community when people comment on how certain black people are 'trying to act white,' or their skin color is too light or dark... the list goes on and on.

As I said before, this issue has been touched on lightly before, but simple 'racism' has progressed and taken on different forms over the years and the issue is far from dead. It needs to be explored. Why aren't soaps approaching this lately? Yes, it's an ugly thing, but soaps used to be known for 'going there.' I mean, I don't want my soaps to turn into social-issue central, but when they can inject doses of real-life issues into the stories whenever possible, why not do it? Why are they so restricted nowadays, barely getting away with things that they used to get away with on a daily basis in the 70's and 80's?

Meanwhile, I've come to the conclusion that I don't like using the phrase "african-american." I'm a white boy... does that make me european-american? If you didn't move here from Africa, then you're simply American. If you didn't move here from Asia, you're not asian-american -- you're american. The color of your skin has nothing to do with your nationality.

[JackPeyton]

religion, racisim, class conflict... u know things we all deal with everyday that just never happn on soaps

i also would like to see some soap tell a storyloine of a stright guy falling for another guy... gay or not.

[Faulkner]

• Born-again Christianity
• I agree that more religions represented, period...how interesting in this day and age would it be to have a non-Arab character who converted to Islam?
• Stories about financial troubles that aren't whisked away by marrying a rich person. Or having a wealthy family fall completely in financial ruin due to some Enron-like scandal.
• Bisexuality
• A mid-life coming-out story (not a teenaged story)
• A gay story that's NOT about coming out...how about introducing a character that's out-and-proud from the get-go and then tackling a story about gay marriage, gay adoption, ageism/racism in the gay community, etc.
• Post-traumatic stress military story
• A truly honest, non-sensationalist story about mental illness

I'd like to see less moralism in general...for example, have a character smoke a joint or engage in kinky sex and not have it be this judgmental public-service-announcement deal. It's funny that a character can torture a man in a coffin for months and there's little outrage, but having a young man do ecstacy and walk away without becoming some hopless junkie...NOOOOO, that's TOO much.

[KLN]

Religion. I'd like to see people with different religions and faiths going head to head over their beliefs... perhaps within the family? Parents having a really strong faith in religion while their children are non-believers. I'd love to see that explored. Being able to have your own faith without expecting others to jump on the same bandwagon.

[Bright Eyes]

Right now I want to see Billie lose eveything and go back to drinking. Make her depressed. It would be great material for Julie and a great dramtic stoyline that is needed on DAYS

[Ilovemydays]

I would like to see a foster family as an anchor family to one of the soaps. It would be a single shifting family with children that have temporarily found a home where their physical and emotional issues that can be realistically depicted.

[SpiritualJunkie]

Yeah, I'd like to see a storyline on something religion. They could go about this in a variety of ways.

Also, I was gonna say racism earlier or immigration/assimilation (or anti-assimilation)/cultural identity but I didn't add them because they've been done before..but now that I think about it, they've been done soo badly.

Anyone here who lives in Canada who caught the CBC miniseries "Dragon Boys" a few months ago will know where I'm going with this. It was about a Chinese cop who grew up in Vancouver and completely assimilated in a Canadian culture. He later finds himself intent on bringing down this Asian gang head honcho and as he does this, they explore the conflicts he has with his cultural identity. Not only that, they show the lives of the gang members and their families and provided quite a bit context to explain how they came to be criminals.

There's also a lot of racism in the workforce (ie. immigrants not getting their credentials recognized, North American-born people complaining about immigrants taking jobs away from them, etc.) that could be explored more.

[Bright Eyes]

If daytime is so enamored with putting teens on screen. I want to simply ask for them to portray realistic teenagers. Not once in daytime has a teen been portrayed like someone in real life or not as long as I have been watching soaps. Casey on ATWT came closest. I want how teens really act in school. There are groups. There is back-stabbing. Most teens say racial jokes and make fun of othe rkids but aren't some devil child. These are the popular kids who ahve a lot of friends. Who don't ever learn that they shouldn't be doing what they're doing because they know it is just their high school persona. Hell, the first two years of high school are the worst because 95% of teens do whatever they have to reamin popular like they were in elementary school. I want to see teens getting drunk on weekends and not being an alcoholic b/c that is what most teens do. A lot of them also smoke pot and try other drugs. Are they addicts? Hell no. I want to see a storyline of teens selling drugs to their friends and what not. IMO, pressuring peeple to do stuff isn't really an issue. If you say no and mean it no one will force you to take it. At least not where I'm from. Hey, and if a kid gets caught of course they'll be in [!@#$%^&*] with their parents. Have them be kicked out of their house. I also want to see a teen guy pressure is girlfriend into sex, because news flash that is what happens some of the time. But when this happens I don't want this guy to be considered evil, he's just a normal teenager for crying out loud.

[Shawn]

Something to do with Wicca. Its a very common religious practice that is NOT evil, and I woud like to see that explored/explained.

Male rape. It happens. I speak from experience. I would like to see this horrific thing played out to educate close minded people.

[Faulkner]

Amen to THAT. People try pot, people try ecstacy and 'shrooms...it HAPPENS. And they don't all become victims. It doesn't have to be a glorification; it's a reality. It's much less offensive than the murders, rapes, and infidelities that are commonplace on soaps. I think the major problem is that soaps have become so plot-driven that EVERY ACTION has to be tied to some story...thus, if someone smokes pot, it has to become this BIG THING for story. If someone says something racist, it has to be this BIG THING. Why can't characters have shadings and habits and foibles...ya know, be real flesh-and-blood people, for god's sakes?

I assume you mean male-on-male rape because a female raping a male has been done (ATWT's Jack/Julia, for example). But prison rape could be tackled. Soaps have shied away from this because they feel the hunky male romantic heroes will become feminized in the eyes of women who fantasize about being with them. Give audiences more credit than that!

[DevotedToAMC]

I would like to see AMC tackle schizophrenia....in fact Ryan at one point was hearing voices. Could that mean something deeper with regards to mental issues? Maybe then I could feel sympathy for him and start to like him again. I also do not mind seeing another racism story I mean AMC did a great job with Deconstruction and the beating of Terrence years ago and it factored into real life scenario since around that time Rodney King was beaten by the Los Angeles PD (and being a former Los Angeles native, the cops there have not changed that much). Teen suicide is something I would also like to see explored since the rates are up right now and it can educate people on what to do and how to stage an intervention. Religion stories I am not so sure since religion is a touchy subject and it can alienate an audience just because it is like politics...both can bring out the worst in people. I would also like to see a story that looks at the human rights catastrophe that is seen these days in prison and do a storyline lasting for one year with a character adapting to life behind bars and see what they go through on a daily basis. That would be interesting and the writers can research well written prison stories like The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile

[SpiritualJunkie]

Yeah, and it was handled REALLY badly. I can't even say that they handled it...more like ignored it.