Hey, folks. I had to write a discussion post for school, and thought I’d share it here for posterity. It’s one of my favorites.

The cultural work I’d like to share this week is an episode of the comedy series, and satire/parody of soap operas, SOAP, starring Katherine Helmond and Billy Crystal, among other amazing actors. If you’ve ever seen Benson, this is the show that he spun off from. SOAP is from the 70s, and decades ahead of its time. Focusing on two sisters and their families, one very wealthy, the other lower middle class. It tackles all sorts of issues of the time, including the first openly gay character on American network television.

The episode is season 1, episode 9. It revolves around Billie Crystal’s character, Jodie, checking himself into the hospital to have a “sex change” operation, and Katherine Helmond’s character, Jessica, discovering that her husband is cheating on her. It’s one of my favorite episodes, from my all time favorite comedy series. One of the things about SOAP, though, is that it’s not just a comedy. It can be powerfully emotional, and more than one tear has been shed for these people in my home. A particular scene in the episode, when Jessica sees Chester, her husband, carrying on with another woman, is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of that in the series. I’ll link a youtube short of the scene in case anyone wants to see it.

The major theme, and universal idea, of this episode is heartbreak. Jessica is heartbroken when she discovers Chester’s actions, Jodie is heartbroken when he discovers that his NFL playing boyfriend is breaking up with him. Jodie had decided to have a “sex change” operation so that he could be with his boyfriend openly without the boyfriend having to be outted. A… Fairly problematic storyline, but they were trying. It’s a product of its time in a lot of ways. Jodie has a conversation with his hospital roommate before attempting to end his own life over the devastation that losing his love has wrought. Jessica, when she sees her husband cheating, delivers the line in the title of this post, “Oh, Mary, I would faint, if I knew how,” and collapses onto the table, being embraced by her sister. Heartbreak runs through this episode, touching just about every character in the show. One sister is in love with a man who joined the priesthood, one sister is dating a married congressman. Jodie’s brother has been ordered by the mob to kill his stepfather, who he’s just begun to get along with, as revenge for the killing of his own father (satire of a soap opera, remember). For all of the slapstick and comedy, the show as a whole, and this episode in particular, highlights that universal human experience of heartbreak, of deep emotional agony with no outlet, no quick fixes, no medicine. Just pain and time.

The culture that SOAP was created in was conservative 1970s network media. The show bible was notoriously stripped down to bare bones, the network did everything in their power to sabotage the show. The Campbell’s, Jessica’s sister’s family, nearly had to have their name changed, because the network feared it would upset the soup company. By the end of it’s run, all advertisers besides Vlasic pickles had pulled out, and when watching the episodes as it aired, you would watch the same pickle commercial repeated several times during each break. Susan Harris, the main writer and creator of the series had to sneak into her office some days, because of protesters outside. Billy Crystal was accosted in an airport because he portrayed a gay man on television.

This cultural work, in the context of the culture it was created in, represents the desire to show humanity as it is, regardless of the backlash. It represents, for all its outlandish trappings, what real life is for many people. The persistence of Harris and her team in the face of all the push back they received is a testament to that desire, to discover and investigate what we are, how we are, and why we are.

On top of all that, it’s just darn funny and you should really check it out if you can.

My own personal biases and opinions definitely shape how I view this show, and this particular episode. As a gay man, Jodie represents something powerful to me. A forebearer who walked so that others could run. My own progressive and leftist politics were likely shaped by this show at a young age, and today, watching it through the lens of my more fully formed political views, it is easy to see where it falls short, and where it shines, even when compared to modern media.