Kate Adams argues that Soap Operas teach us a lot, whether or not we realize it and she defends that they are applicable to our lives, however, they reflect our lives in a much more exaggerated way. The talk starts with her describing a soap opera and then using pathos of her in the second grade to show the importance of soaps to her. Throughout the talk, she goes through 4 life lessons and provides examples from the soap opera and then ties it to how that mirrors our lives. The 4 lessons are as follows:
Lesson #1: “Surrender is not an option”
Lesson #2: Sacrifice your ego and drop your superiority complex”
Lesson #3: “Evolution is real”
Lesson #4: “Resurrection is possible”
For Lesson #1 she gave an example of a character from “All My Children”, Erica Kane, who almost met her 
death facing a grizzly bear. She told the bear that he couldn’t harm her because she was “Erica Kane”. Kate Adams ties it back into real life by saying that we can either surrender when faced with an obstacle, or we can fight.
death facing a grizzly bear. She told the bear that he couldn’t harm her because she was “Erica Kane”. Kate Adams ties it back into real life by saying that we can either surrender when faced with an obstacle, or we can fight.
For Lesson #2 she discusses Howard Schultz, The CEO of Starbucks. He stepped down, and when he came back in 2008, the first thing he did was apologize to his employees and he asked them for new ideas to improve the business. Since he’s been back, Starbucks has more than double its revenue.
For Lesson #3 she says that recasting occurs often in soap operas and the story adapts for the person playing the character and in regards to our own lives, we too evolve. We can stay in one closed spot, or open ourselves to new possibilities/opportunities. We sometimes decide to evolve and adapt, but sometimes life chooses for us.
For Lesson #4 she says that as long as we’re still breathing, nothing is permanent. Which she then supports with pathos of when the show she worked on got cancelled and how she had to bring her life “back up” so to speak.
A good phrase to summarize the TedTalk, which Kate Adams used as her closing statement, is, “As long as there is breath in your body, it’s never too late to change your story”
I chose this TedTalk because a lot of people think that Soap Operas are a waste of time, that the acting is bad, or the story lines are too outlandish, but no one really takes them seriously. Kate Adams describes how the lessons that the soap operas teach are applicable to our lives. She made me look from a different perspective to realize that soap operas have life lessons and they are of value to the viewers. It reminds me of when we discussed the idea of human tendencies and good vs. evil in every piece that we’ve read thus far. For example, Lady Macbeth deciding that “surrendering is not an option”. They have come this far in their lives and they are destined to be the King and Queen of Cawdor. Or “evolution is real” in the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When Dr. Jekyll is present, he has a different set of opportunities than Hyde, mainly because of his social class and how he presents himself, whereas Hyde has a lack of opportunities because of his grotesque and indescribable appearance.
Kate Adams’ purpose is to get the audience to see the worth in soap operas. Yes, they are dramatic, theatrical, and sometimes, as she put it, “unsophisticated”, but she doesn’t want us, as the viewers, to discredit their value because of these reasons. She’s hoping that people become more open to viewing soap operas, and that they consider the parallel between the soap opera story lines and the person’s life.
Kate Adams was the assistant casting director on “As the World Turns” for 8 years. She watched soap operas, read the scripts, and auditioned actors to be on the soap opera. As she put it “[she] knows [her] stuff”. Because of her experience in the Soap Opera industry, as well as her love for soap operas since the second grade, she does have credibility in what she’s saying because she knows soap operas and the depth of their plots.
Logos was present because Kate Adams had soap opera examples for each real life lesson. The quality of the examples were good but they were a little surface level. She explained the plot that corresponded to the lesson, however, she didn’t dig deeper or provide examples to which everyday people might encounter similar things. She tied her examples to people like the CEO of Starbucks but it’s clear that not everyone leads a similar life. There was definitely bias present because of her close relationship and extensive knowledge of soap operas. Her close ties may have persuaded her to discuss serious lessons that applied to normal everyday lives, but may not have necessarily applied to the soap opera to the extent in which she’s making it out to seem; especially with the title “4 larger-than-life lessons from soap operas”.
There are several examples of pathos in the TedTalk. For example, when she shows her great appreciation of soaps by saying that she ran home from the bus stop to watch Luke and Laura’s wedding on “General 
Hospital”. This strategy was effective because we can relate to a time of being so excited for something that we ran all the way home or something to that effect of showing our emotions. Another example of pathos is when she describes how she lost her job and had to move from New York to Alabama with her in-laws. The audience can most certainly relate to a time when things were rough in their lives and when things seemed like they would never improve, which makes this yet another effective strategy for the argument presented. To finish off the example of pathos, she says that she was able to find a job, and things got better. Which shows the audience that things can improve while also demonstrating an example of one of the life lessons discussed-- “resurrection is possible”.
Hospital”. This strategy was effective because we can relate to a time of being so excited for something that we ran all the way home or something to that effect of showing our emotions. Another example of pathos is when she describes how she lost her job and had to move from New York to Alabama with her in-laws. The audience can most certainly relate to a time when things were rough in their lives and when things seemed like they would never improve, which makes this yet another effective strategy for the argument presented. To finish off the example of pathos, she says that she was able to find a job, and things got better. Which shows the audience that things can improve while also demonstrating an example of one of the life lessons discussed-- “resurrection is possible”. TedTalk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/kate_adams_4_larger_than_life_lessons_from_soap_operas/transcript?language=en#t-734400
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Zully, I think you did a great job portraying Adams' opinion in her TedTalk. I would like to see more of your perspective, as an audience member, as to how valid you perceived her claims to be. What drove you to choose this topic? I liked your connections to J&H and Macbeth!!
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