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European Soap Operas: the Diversification of a Genre 247

goes one step beyond the classical American daytime soaps, which do feature
interchangeable couples but keep the dependence of the young generation on
powerful patriarchal moguls. (Less family-centred soaps such as Melrose Place
and Beverly Hills may be a closer variant.)

Power structure

As in the community (and unlike the patriarchal) soap, the status of characters
of changing couples is equal and interchangeable. The older generation is
demoted from power. This type of soap is mostly one-generational, about young
12
couples, with a few middle-aged characters of the parent generation who par-
ticipate in the romantic game but have lost their authority. The motivating force
is individual fulfilment, not the continuation of the dynasty. The holding, stable
framing of community has also disappeared as characters are metaphorical
orphans and do not belong to families or to communities.

Social loci

The network of changing couples may be casually organized around a bar (as in
the case of Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten) or a cafe (run by Jan Reitsema in Onderweg
Naar Morgen) frequented by protagonists or, as in the case of Goede Tijden, around
a person – in this case, an ex-high school teacher, a postmodern surrogate mother,
whom a number of the young people have studied with at high school.

Gender relations

As nobody can be sure of their lovers, all relationships are in constant conflict,
often accompanied by extreme violence. The stable, sometimes boring, harmony
of the community gives way to high melodrama. It is not uncommon for a lover
or a spouse to attempt to kill their mate 13 and, in the spirit of postmodern
lifestyle, everything goes and characters may go to prison only to return to the
soap untainted. Thus, paradoxically, the world in which both genders dedicate
their lives to seeking happiness and true love is filled with distrust and fear of
the person who is supposedly the closest to them. Violence in these soaps lies
therefore within the most intimate circle and constitutes the deepest anxieties
(Cavell, 1981). Not surprisingly, as romance fails it is not uncommon for people
to have mental breakdowns and end up in a religious sect or in mental hospital.
The chaotic, casual interchanging of couples, the deep mistrust of the credibility
and durability of human emotions and the (paradoxical) quest for durable rela-
tionships lead characters to trespass traditionally accepted boundaries. Every
boundary becomes a challenge. There is no respect for generational differences
or for accepted family taboos.