CHAPTER 6 THEMATIC AND THEORETICAL ACCOUNT OF THE RESEARCH
6.1 Outstanding features of Muvhango
6.1.2 Fantasising and projecting
Part of the experience of viewing soap opera for some viewers is that it allows viewers to enter into a fantasy realm where they can experience vicariously the situations of the characters they see, and emotionally connect to them. There were respondents who enjoyed many elements of the male characters, even if the storyline was not about their favourite character. They commented on how they liked to make fun of the silly quirks of certain characters, for instance the way that the Chief behaves and KK’s shiny suits.
Ginger (F) commented on “the stupid things that he does — like when he picks up the phone [she performed the actions]”. Magic Fingers (M) focused on KK’s humorous role:
“He makes me laugh, like the weird things like when he goes ’boom’ yho.” Singer 2 (F) also commented on elements of fantasy that KK’s character brings to the soap opera:
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“Imagine having a wardrobe of shiny suits.” Singer 2 (F) here is projecting herself into materialist discourses of success, as implied by her wishful tone about being someone who has a wardrobe of expensive suits.
Muvhango also allows the viewers to fantasise about elements of life that they would love to experience, even though the experiences may be unrealistic or scary. For example, Ginger (F) commented:
It’s a nice twist, like when Albert died, it was nice to watch, the whole him disappearing (“him” being the sangoma, Mulimisi, declaring the death of Albert), him acting up, him showing up at places he wasn’t actually at, I think it was interesting to see, it was creepy, but it was very interesting. It made me feel like, I wish that’s how it happened, you know in real life, I’d love for when I die and I’m not home, I’d like for someone to be able to go home and say “Ginger is in trouble somewhere” or “Ginger has just passed away somewhere”, I think it’s nice.
Ginger (F) has a strong sense that the phenomenon depicted is not part of a modernist, rationalist world view. This element of the magical is often included in soap opera because some viewers believe that such phenomena do in fact happen in reality.
Although watching soap operas can be compared to experiencing a fantasy that one would like to be true, it does permit people to make links between the imaginary world of the show and their real-world experiences, and enables viewers to draw moral conclusions and to formulate opinions relating to the real world (Spence 1995).
In essence, “the soap world thrives on a lack of reality. What we see, however, seems to be closer to our 'real world' than we might imagine, [and] the content of the soap opera world approaches our 'real' world also” (Tager 2002: 41). Tager further argues that
“stories are almost exclusively confined to a consideration of human problems” (Tager 2002: 41). This is because reality has been condensed into dramatic episodes which are emphasised with little regard for the usual temporal and spatial limits. One of the characteristics of media is that dramatisation and condensation have to occur.
Audiences relate “not so much to their physical appearance as to their emotional experiences, situations in which we may have found ourselves or people we know”, who suffer the trials and tribulations of love and life, and moments of failure, which is what draws us to them and allows us to identify with them (Tager 2002: 42).
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The regularity with which soap opera viewers engage with these characters makes them view the characters as a part of their lives. Tager comments that “in a sense the characters become like friends or acquaintances in our lives” (Tager 2002: 42), and calls this “commitment” to a soap opera. This deep identification is often because of the viewers’ past experiences with similar characters in their own lives. Viewers often judge the behaviour of characters on the basis of their own notions of family dynamics, and there are often stereotypes involved (Tager 2002). Some viewers go so far as to
“recognize aspects of a character as similar to a significant person in their own lives;
this is called the concept of ‘parasocial’ relationships” (Tager 2002: 90–94). In terms of links to real life, the respondents identified a range of issues in relation to male behaviour, including the masculine capacity/incapacity to share feelings, male complexities, aggression and authority, infidelity, stealing women, pleasing women, rape, unplanned or illegitimate pregnancy, and polygamy.
These respondents found numerous links between the events and characters portrayed in Muvhango, and their own lived experiences. Ginger (F) thought that Black South African men could “relate to” many of the experiences that the male characters portrayed in Muvhango. She also commented on how Black South African men act similarly to the men in Muvhango. This can be seen, for example, in men shown pleasing women to get their attention, “like Sizwe and Nonny, and how men cheat on their wives like Thandaza and Ranthumeng, and men who go through a crisis, and while in crisis other men ‘come along to steal his girlfriend’”. These behavioural patterns of men “are accomplished in social action and, therefore, can differ according to the gender relations in a particular social setting” (Connell & Messerschmidt 2005: 836).
Ginger (F) also mentioned an interesting element of reality portrayed in Muvhango. A strange doctor entered the storyline, who pretended to be a good, trustworthy man who was there to do good, but he actually planned to steal the Chief’s wife and chieftaincy.
Ginger (F) said that everyone in life is like that — they enter your life with good intentions and then change their behaviour later, when you trust them. She said:
I think, unless you are family, because you are just there, but I think everyone that comes into your life that you meet, it’s not so much that they come into your
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life and pretends to be this innocent person it’s because you don’t know them.
And as you get to know them you find out who they really are.
Ginger (F) is expressing the shift that occurs from the initial surface stage of getting to know people to an in-depth understanding of them. She is interpreting the storyline in an individualistic manner, in that she is taking what is being presented to her on television and reworking it personally for herself. She does not only respond simply to the narrative of the character but instead she metaphorically communicates illusion versus reality. In other words, she is expressing the inevitable gaps that lie between our inner and outer selves, and how people choose which aspects of their selves that they wish to portray to certain people. She is suggesting that there is an invisible mask worn by each person, and that they have the power to show you what they want you to see about them.
Ants (M) made a valid point about how sometimes men confuse authority with aggression:
This whole thing of boys will be boys you know. Let the boys run around, get dirty, that, sort of thing whereas for him it gotten to aggression as opposed to authority…. That where that’s a serious issue that South African men battle with where instead of responding with authority to situations they will respond with aggression…. That’s what they battle with.
Ants (M) here is referring to hegemonic masculinity which focuses on the way that men may behave aggressively and exhibit traits that construct and reinforce patriarchy. Ants (M) starts by saying that “Boys will be boys”, which is a phrase that is used to express mischievous behaviour by men, that should not cause surprise when it occurs. This phrase is linked to hegemonic masculinity. Ants (M) contrasts male aggression with male authority here, his argument being that aggressive masculinity is not acceptable but authoritative masculinity is acceptable. This could be because Ants’s (M) decisive construction is through Christian discourses, as the Christian Bible states that men should be the head of their homes, promoting the view that men ought to take authority over their homes, but not be abusive to their wives and others. Men in the context that Ants (M) is speaking of experience social pressures to exhibit a less extreme form of hegemonic masculinity. Thus men such as Ants can be seen as constructing their
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identities through complying with aspects of socially prescribed hegemonic masculine ideals (Connell 1995; Connell & Messerschmidt 2005) as well as renegotiating meanings in the circumstances of existing power relations (Lindsay & Miescher 2003)
Respondents saw several connections between the content of Muvhango and aspects of their lives, as well as those of public figures. Loud Girl (F) said, “Our very own President Zuma has several wives in reality.” Another interesting aspect shared by Loud Girl (F) was that men in reality don’t like sharing their feelings, while men in soap opera do share their real feelings. She said: “It’s interesting to see men who share their feelings, because in reality men don’t share their feelings”. This is an example of what Brown (1994) speaks of when she says that soap opera validates women, in that what they do not experience in their daily realities they experience vicariously in soap opera. Magic Fingers (M) tapped into the issue of violence against women that is so prevalent in South Africa in speaking about a situation in which a female character in Muvhango was raped by a male character, and concluded how it made him uncomfortable to watch because sex should be consensual, both partners should be willing and it should not be forced on anyone. He did not like the fact that “rape in our country is a serious issue”.
Magic Fingers (M) is discursively positioning himself in relation to human rights discourses, and gender equality in sexual reactions. For Magic Fingers (M) masculinity is not crudely hegemonic, and what he is implying is that men do not have the right to have their way sexually with women and no matter how hegemonically they construct their masculinity.
Respondents thus highlighted issues of men who abuse women, irresponsible men, polygamous men, and men who strive to reach the standards of women. On the issues of polygamy and inheritance, some informants feel that it is a form of abuse, and discursively position themselves in relation to women’s rights, and how women have the right to a marriage with one man without being subjected to other wives. The issues that have been described involve taking on and negotiating hegemonic masculinity (Connell 1995; Connell & Messerschmidt 2005). These issues move beyond the fantasy elements of soap opera, linking the fictional world to reality.
It is clear that respondents watched the soap opera for different reasons. While some watched it for the opportunity to fantasise and to escape the real world, others watched
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it because of its diversity, and some because of the entertainment value of the humorous quirks of certain characters. Some respondents watched it because it represents the stories of South African culture.