I am in the camp of not wanting to see Alzheimer's on screen since I had dealt with dementia twice in real life with loved ones.
That said, death is a part of soaps. Even Days, which is now a colossal joke as far as death goes, did it right when it had Isabella die all the way back in 1992 of pancreatic cancer. (Which, looking back, is eerie considering Drake Hogestyn had to play out that story for a good four or five months, only to succumb to that very disease in real life decades later!) But Isabella did stay dead and she is still occasionally remembered.
And then there was the big (albeit depressing) Stone and Robin story with Stone succumbing to AIDS and Robin infected with HIV herself on GH.
Death is a certainty for us all. Asking for it to not be shown doesn't seem feasible. But perhaps it's slightly easier if the story/writing allows the viewer to connect with the story while allowing the character to remain who they are until the end comes. Dementia/Alzheimer's not only means death, but it also means the erasure of a person, more or less. Depression stacked upon more depression. So, that condition is one that, yes, I wish soaps would steer clear of. Especially when you consider that, perhaps, you have viewers that are again, like I did, dealing with the horror every day and maybe want an escape from that. It's a fine line, balancing realism with the usual soapy conditions and such, and I think there is a line that could take the misery too far for some, and I think dementia is it.
But, that's my opinion, as a soap viewer.
By
Wendy ·
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