Incorporating ambiguity and archetypes in entertainment-education programming: Lessons learned from Oshin

Abstract

Entertainment-education programming represents a promising media strategy in development communication that can increase audiences' knowledge about social issues, create favorable attitudes, and change their overt behaviors on such topics as family planning, gender equality, and child development. This article draws upon the fields of development and organizational communication, psychology, and literary criticism to analyze the audience success of a Japanese television soap opera Oshin, arguing that incorporation of strategically ambiguous messages and cultural archetypes can help broaden the cultural appeal of entertainment-education messages. Caveats on the incorporation of these concepts in entertainmenteducation programming are also discussed.

Entertainment-Education and Social Change: An Analysis of Parasocial Interaction, Social Learning, Collective Efficacy, and Paradoxical Communication

“…In our opinion, most past studies of entertainment-education programs, with a few exceptions (Brown & Cody, 1991;Lozano, 1992;Lozano & Singhal, 1993;Svenkerud, Rahoi, & Singhal, 1995;Storey, 1998; and perhaps some others) have not provided an adequate theoretical explanation of how audience members' change as a result of exposure to entertainment-education programs. Most studies assumed, often a priori, that intense audience involvement with the entertainment content (for example, involvement in the lives of a soap opera's characters) leads to role modeling, which may be strengthened by the peer communication of listeners with other listeners.…”

En la casa, la cama y la calle: estrategias mediáticas feministas para el compromiso social

“…"Ambigüedad estratégica", un término que se mencionaba con frecuencia en las sesiones de elaboración de guion en Puntos, es central para la narración de historias, e implica el desarrollo de personajes que cometen errores, que están llenos de contradicciones personales y con quienes la audiencia se pueda identificar (Svenkerud et al, 1996). Tal fue la estrategia que se empleó para el desarrollo del personaje de Jessica y la representación de la fuerza policial.…”

The Dao of Oshin

“…The popular Japanese drama Oshin is one of the first female-centered TV series written by a female writer (Hashida 1983). It broke audience rating records in country after country and gained "worldwide popularity" (Svenkerud et al 1996). Some called it an "unprecedented thing" (Yip 2021).…”