L 190 F

Much has been said about the denseness of Dallas by critics. Nevertheless, it used to be very popular in the USA for years and nowadays it is very popular also in Hungary. The question has been raised a lot of times whether this program has any literary value at all.

Dallas, as a soap-opera, is one of the major money-earners, nonetheless it is rarely praised. The audience of Dallas is assumed to be naive, stupid and mainly female. Critics universally condemn it since nothing happens in it. It has also been suggested that many women use it to talk about their own lives, attitudes and thoughts. However, it is watched by a great number of male viewers.

The high rate of viewers may be contributed to the fact that there is a lot of gossip, confession and speculation in it. Furthermore, exchanges of confidences and a great amount of intimate conversation is typical of Dallas. It also tends to show the domestic part of life while the working part is seldom shown. The dominance of problem solving can be observed in the case of Dallas. Great emphasis is put on the discussion of private feelings and long, intimidate conversation. It avoids narrative closure and the emphasis is on the process and not on the end product as it can be observed in some other soap operas. This can be noticed in how crimes are treated: a lot of it happens off screen and it is the source of conversation. Dallas has multiple plots and a lot of characters. The setting of Dallas is usually in homes, communities - in the private sphere. Presumably, it also responded to real time quite well, when it was on in the USA. Probably it dealt with many current issues of that period. A lot of segmentation is also associated with Dallas, it is typical to jump from one action to another. It is also characteristic of Dallas that women celebrate their sexuality in the program since middle-aged women are portrayed as desirable and they use their sexuality to achieve their aims. The male characters are quite sensitive and not so aggressive in this soap-opera and domestic violence is usually not illustrated in it. Dallas tends to be not so dogmatic with its judgments about questions raised in the program and the episodes are open-ended in contrast to some other series such as Kojak.

The elements of fairy tales can also be detected in Dallas. The positive hero is Bobby. He is handsome and clever and always does good things. He is faithful to his wife and the wife is the one who breaks up their marriage. He fights for his son when a girl threatens him with taking away his son. He does everything for his family. He is the one, who understands the problems of other people and tries to help them. He is also very successful with women. He is a good son, husband and father and many times he also tolerates his brother, JR. Furthermore, he tends to be honest in business as well, which does not promote financial success. Whereas JR. is apparently the villain in the program. He uses his charm and his intelligence for evil deeds. He cheats his wife as often as possible and he would be able to divorce her in order to take revenge for the loss of his father's company. Yet, it should be kept in mind that it was lost as a result of JR.’s devious and cunning character. He uses women most of the time as a device to achieve his goals and does not treat them as equal human beings. He also handles the business according to his own set of rules and does not know the meaning of fair play. Nonetheless, this type of management is apparently more successful than Bobby's fair play. He also takes care of his family and he is deeply concerned about his son and his son's future. He also has a good humour and is able to laugh at difficult situations. Many times his goals are good but he uses the wrong tools.

There are different helpers in the film. Some of them help JR. and others help Bobby. However, the positive and the negative heros do not fight against each other. Sue Ellen is a strange character. She is supposed to help JR. Since she is his wife . Nevertheless, she is against her husband because JR. humiliated her regularly throughout their marriage. First, she became an alcoholic for she was not able to bear the brunt of JR. 's character. Later, she overcame the difficulties and turned into a successful businesswoman. Nonetheless, she is not faithful to her marriage either. She has quite a few boyfriends, mainly younger ones as to prove to herself that she is still desirable sexually. She is a very human character, she makes many mistakes and fails sometimes but she also has a strong will to overcome difficulties. She loves her son dearly and tries to help those who are judged by her as good people. She also attempts to harm JR. Because he hurt her so many times. Nonetheless, she is not a stable personality and she can be easily hurt. She mainly helps Bobby.

Another helper in the story is Ellie. She is the grandmother, the mother of Bobby and JR. She is the one, who keeps the family together, no matter what happens. She loves her husband dearly and also her sons. She is the only one, who has some influence on JR. as well. However, she forgives him many things. Sometimes she appears to be a stable person, other times she seems to be quite weak. She is strongly determined to protect her family. Yet, when a man appears and says that he is her former husband , she does not show great strength to resist the temptation. She is also quite biased towards her sons. She shows great affection towards South fork, the ranch. There are some other helpers in the story such as Sly, JR.'s secretary and April.

There are some people who obstruct the main characters' actions. Such a character is Cliff. Cliff is in constant opposition with JR. He always fights against JR., and usually he is the one who is the underdog in this fight. He is driven by his feelings most of the time which can be one of the reasons why JR. wins in the majority of the cases. He appears to be sometimes as a person who cares about only himself but sometimes he shows some kind of responsibility towards others.

The high rate of viewers can be attributed to the fact that the characters in Dallas have everyday problems just like an average citizen. They have problems at home in the private sphere: arguments about small things, problems at work - fight for better positions, these characters also have successful and unsuccessful moments just like anybody else. However, the family is very rich which makes the whole story more interesting since ordinary people are always longing to become rich. At the same time, it also shows that rich people have similar problems as average citizens. These people also have financial problems but on a different scale.

Certain values also appear in the story and they are emphasized. The most important value is the love of the family and the protection of the family members from the outside world. The central character who controls this responsiblity and also strenghtens it is Ellie. She always fights for the members of the family even if they are guilty of what they are accused of. JR. also has a very strong feel of responsibility towards his son, his son is one of the few things in his life which is sacred. The same can be said about Cliff as well. Seemingly he is a selfish person but he loves his sister dearly. Bobby also very much concerned about his family and so most of the times he tolerates JR. 's encroachments. The female characters also spend lot of time with charity work, which is a good example for the members of the society.

To sum up, Dallas does have some literary value. It is a record of the given period, it shows the way how people thought about the world in the US in the eighties. It also exhibits some basic human values and the characters are typical human beings. These characters change through the story, so some character development can be observed as well. However, it should be also mentioned that this soap opera aimed to entertain a wide range of audience and it remained a popular program which never had artistic ambitions.

L 170 M

The author of this essay would like to point out,to emphasize that the only soap- opera that is considered to be good by him is "Twin Peaks" and under no circumstances does he acknowledge that "Dallas" is a good one.

Dallas is a beautiful city in the southern part of the United States of America. This city is famous for its landscapes, its amazing ranches and for its people who live there. One of these ranches belongs to the Ewing family,to the heroes of the world-famous series" Dallas",which is popular everywhere in the whole wide world. In my essay,I would like to examine what made this monster series one of the best series in the history of film-making.

In an interview,the Swedish film-director Ingmar Bergman once said(dared to say) that "Dallas" is so bad that he has to watch it. After watching through very carefully all the ten thousand episodes of this hugely successful soap-operas and examining-of course without any prejudice-some so-called `famous' Bergman films I came to the decision that he was absolutely wrong.

Just think of all the wonderful actors and their performance in nearly all of the episodes,think of the very exciting, adventurous plot-line , think of the so-called `miniatures' like directing,lighting,effects or even its essence-what it tries to convey,to get through to the audience.

Compare just two short clips from a Bergman-film and a "Dallas" episode: in "The Seventh Seal" there is an absolutely meaningless shot when the main character(a Knight-isn't it funny?) plays dices with Death for his immortality. What's the point in this ?

Does Bergman really think that you can beat Death and become immortal? Does he want us to believe that non-sense? Give me a break !

On the other hand, how much drama was in those episodes when a man who claimed himself to be miss Ellie ‘s disappeared husband (but eventually turned out to be only a swindler ) appeared and we-the viewers-were very excited: is he really Mr. Ewing? Whom should miss Ellie choose to be her husband: her lover, Clayton or that
swindler?

What are soap-operas usually about? Family problems, love, money, trivial problems. What “ Dallas” adds to these is one of the most important things in the whole wide world: oil! The basis of the whole film, of being enemies is who owns the oil fields of Dallas. In the history of the twentieth century several wars broke out because of oil (e.g.: the Iraque-Iran war ). Oil is one of the life necessities of our lives., we can ‘t imagine our lives without oil. Un fortunately, Hungary has to import lots of oil, being a country that lacks oil as a natural source. So it is very important from whon and for how much money do we import it. Should we import it from Jockey, our good guy (played excellently by Larry Hagman) for 100 dollars per litre or from that wicked evil guy Cliff Barnes for 200 dollars per litre. So it’s no wonder that we sympathise strongly with the Ewing family.

The world we live in is not really bipolarised. Even the ancient Chinese people acknowledged it with their symbol: yin and yang. There are no absolutely good things and there are no absolutely bad things. This is also represented in our series. “Dallas” excellently catches and reinforces the idea that there are no good people without mistakes and there are no bad people without some good characteristics. Jockey and Bobby are good characters but they also have their drawing-backs. Jockey for example neglects his beautiful wife, who cheats on him (again, two very characteristic features of our world). On the other hand, Cliff has a beautiful lover and respects his family, his father-but still he is the bad guy.

Some people argue against “Dallas” on the basis of lousy acting and directing.They base their opinions on the fact that the actors and directors of the series can hardly be seen in any other films, they never ever direct any other films.But-as always- they are wrong:the reason they never appear in other films is due to the hard,professional jobs,performance they have to achieve during the shootings of “Dallas”.The actors get so exhausted and tired that they can’t accept any other work. But the greatest actors-after their huge performances- still accept some minor roles.The beautiful Jenna-for example-appeared in all the three episodes of “Naked gun”.
There is another, not neglectable proof for their excellent work and that is the follow-ing:soap operas have a group of directors,who do all the directing works. Our series has a group of acknowledged directors,but when the story reaches a climax,which requires excellent director works they don’t call out for help to other directors(like Ta-rantino,Wenders or Bergman) no,no,no-they ask the actors. This way Larry Hagman, Linda Grey or Patrick Duffy had an opportunity not only for acting but also for prooving their talents of directing.

Many people critisize “Dallas” by claiming that because of the huge number of cha-racters after twenty or thirty episodes they become very confused. But is it the fault of the series? No, it’s the fault of the viewers-they are so stupid. I am a very ordinary person and I never lost account of the series.

Another critique emerged because of the stupid plot-line, the ‘revival of Bobby’. In my opinion, “Dallas” has the most original story I ever met in a film. Where is mister Ewing,who will win the arguments, where is Pamela- so much thrill, so much adventure-no wonder that Jockey had to be operated on after finishing the series.About Bobby’s revival- again an original idea which was directed excellently.

Finally, in a world like ours,where human relationship has lost its importance,where people rarely talk to each others “Dallas” gives us a very good opportunity for commu nication. If you walk on the streets you can see strangers come together just for the sake of discussing the new episodes. Isn’t it wonderful? And isn’t it wonderful that in the United States of America the shooting of the new episodes has just begun?

L 161 M

Dallas is probably one of the most popular and widely known tv series ever made. It attracts thousands of viewers in front of the tv screens every week even in a country like Hungary, the inhabitants of which were not brought up in the culture depicted in the film.

According to a lot of people it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find literary values in soap operas like Dallas. They argue that such films do not convey any serious messages, their story is shallow and stretched which does not challenge the brain of the viewers, it sometimes can be felt that the authors had no new ideas which resulted in a lot of returning motives that make the film a bit boring and dull. People of such arguments claim that tv series like Dallas take the time of many-many high level cultural programs that could bring some colour into the dull, low level programs of tv stations.

However, I have the opinion that just like any literary works soap operas transmit certain important pieces of information toward the viewers. Such tv series attract people of a wide range of society from bricklayers to lawyers and this way they popularize the American way of life throughout the world to thousands and thousands of people. The film harps on several problems, although these may be mainly problems concerning everyday life and problems of personal relations.

The family of the Ewings is in the center of the story. The depiction of the family strongly emphasizes the importance of family values in the American society. Members of the family always keep together, they do not let each other down and they stand out for the interests of the family as one person.

Jock Ewing was the establisher of the family. His character represents the "American Dream". He came from nowhere and became one of the wealthiest people in Texas. He created his own existence and also that of the next generations of the family. He founded the Ewing Corporation which acted as a symbol of family loyalty throughout the story. The story of Jock Ewing emphasizes the idea that America is the land of opportunities. Anybody can become anything he wants to if he tries hard enough.

Ellie, Jock`s wife, is the one who keeps the family together. Her main role in the film is to express family loyalty and to present this kind of loyalty as a good example to follow for the viewers of the film.

The atmosphere of fairy tales appear in Jock and Ellie`s two sons` character. They are the total opposite of each other. J.R. is the bad boy who seems to have no human feelings at all and Bobby is the good boy, a typical boy scout character who pays attention to and understands other people`s problems. He strongly opposes J.R.`s corrupt ways of solving problems. The common feature in both of them is that they both highly respect the family and the Ewing name.

The problem of equality between sexes also appear in the film. There are two female characters in the story who undergo a certain change or development during the film. They are Samantha (J.R.`s wife) and Donna (the wife of the third Ewing, Ray Krebs). Donna Started out as a loving and caring wife who respected and obeyed her husband but later she gave up her family in favour of her career. She represents modern career women whereas her husband is a macho type man embodying the values of tradition and freedom. The other woman, Samantha, started out as a weak alcoholic woman and later she became a strong business woman, a powerful rival of men in the male centered world of business. This kind of change in their characters reflects a certain change in the American society itself. The film mirrors the changing attitude of Americans to the role of women and to the spreading of the feminist movement.

J.R.`s character represents pure capitalism. He shows exaggerated egoism, he only thinks of himself and has only his own interests in sight. He is the most powerful person in the story and the main source of his power is money. With the help of money he can achieve everything. He tramples down everybody in order to get more and more money. This exaggerated view of the capitalist society can be viewed as a warning saying that the role of money is growing dangerously and that it slowly supersedes all traditional human values in people`s life.

The creators of the soap opera borrowed some classical literary ideas as well. The relationship between Bobby and his first wife, Pamela, reminds the viewer of Shakespeare`s Romeo and Juliet. They are also the children of two opposing families (the Ewing family and the Barnes family) that do not want to accept and tolerate their love. However the classical story of Shakespeare`s drama: Romeo and Juliet has been altered here in order to fit the modern popular taste of American society: the love of Bobby and Pamela is fulfilled in their marriage.

The film depicts the life of the wealthy. It is the story of a rich American family in Texas. The viewers can project their dreams into the story. They feel themselves being members of the Ewing family, they enter fully into the spirit of the film. On the one hand the picture of this family sets standards for the ordinary viewer, it offers them a goal in life: to work hard in order to be able to lead a high level life without privation. On the other hand this family shows a lot of the features of typical American families, so the film fulfills the puritan idea of serving as an example for the whole mankind (being a ~house on a hill~). Families all over the world try to include some of the characteristic features of the life of this family into their own family life.

Through the Ewings` lifestyle the film emphasizes the importance of health and fitness, which are among the most important values of the Americans nowadays. We can often see the members of this family working out or jogging but we can never see them smoking and they hardly ever drink coffee either.

The Ewing family does not live in the busy city of Dallas, they live on a large ranch outside the city. The ranch is called Southfork and it also includes a large piece of free land where the Ewings often ride their horses. This large piece of land together with the habit of horse riding suggests freedom and independence. At the same time the fact that we often see the characters driving from one place to another or flying from one city to another emphasizes the importance of the value of mobility.

Also the ideas of puritanism left their marks on the story of this film. Typical puritan ideas are presented here, such as the glorification of hard work and the importance of education. Most of the main characters who have achieved something in the story have university education and all of them are highly scrupulous in their work (each of them in his or her own way), they often work overtime in order to help the advancement of their company.

In this paper I tried to show that, as far as the content is concerned, the soap opera: Dallas can be regarded as a film that has certain literary values, since it conveys several different pieces of deep inner meaning, from puritan values to feminist ideas, toward the viewer. The fact that these are embedded in popular style only helps them to get across to a lot of people of different social standings, but since any style can be regarded as being literarily valuable nowadays, I think that all in all we can assign such values to Dallas as well, and it can be claimed with perfect confidence that Dallas is one of the literarily most valuable pieces of work among modern soap operas.