Subject: Passions- the return of Class to soap operas
I first wrote this for a website back in March. I still think that Class is a prevalent theme on Passions.

One of the best uses of dramatic tension on soap operas was always the tension between the classes. The conflict from those who are on high, with those who are looking up from the bottom. Time and again, the mainstay on a soap, was the person, usually a woman, from the 'wrong side of the tracks', who had her eye on a better life.

Yet, over the years, this concept had been whittled away to nothing, as more and more upper middle class to outright rich showed up on soaps in droves. The wealth of material provided by the clash of class had been lost.

Until it showed up on Passions this summer-1999.

In a fantastic organization of the show, James E. Reilley has brought the issue of class as a clear and constant undercurrent of his show. The way he chose his families: the super wealthy and powerful Cranes, the working class Lopez-Fitzgeralds, the middle class Bennetts, and upper middle class Russells. Each one distinct, and yet complimenting one another.

One of the first times that I truly believed that this would be a serious source of tension on the show, was during the first couple of months, when, in a sea of absolute dreck, there was a marvelous and deep conversation between Whitney and Theresa at the Harmony Country Club. Theresa, in the middle of one of her Ethan fantasies, was going on and on how she couldn't help but imagine herself there, with Ethan one day, amongst the rich and powerful. Whitney gave a powerful speech about how they didn't want 'people like them', i.e., black and brown, at the Country Club. She expressed the resentment of having to give lessons to people like those at the Country Club, to raise the money that she needs to help support her own aspiring tennis career throughout the rest of the year. When asking Theresa about why people like them weren't readily seen at the Country Club, Theresa had to acknowledge that there is definitely a problem, and in an almost naive, but hopeful speech by both, that by following their dreams and desires, they would become rich and powerful, and too, be able to go anywhere they wanted to one day, including the Harmony Country Club.

The class issue is a mainstay in BOTH of the big romances of the show: Teresa/Ethan, and Sheridan/Luis.

In the first case, you have dreamer Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, dreaming of the life that she will have with Crown Crane Prince Ethan. So much for Theresa is 'the life' she will have with Ethan. Though I don't doubt Theresa's love for Ethan is real, in those first months, it would not have been easy to doubt it, because of so much of what Theresa said about Ethan, and her dreams of being with him, were so totally tied to Ethan being 'A Crane'. She had followed Ethan, the way that a fan would follow a rock star, athlete,or movie personality.Teresa had magazine articles, the walls of her house were covered with his pictures. It would be fair to ask HOW Theresa knew that she loved Ethan.after all, she hadn't even met him at the beginning of the show.

Theresa is one of a long line of young female dreamers that exist on soaps. The ones who come from humble backgrounds and aspire to something different.aspire to a better way of life. Usually, though, those young women have something in common: they are the schemers of the world: the Rachel Davis', Erica Kanes, Dorian Kramers of soapdom. Theresa is different in that she's not such a schemer. She's a dreamer, and there is a comedic innocence about her that makes you want to root FOR HER, instead of being appalled by

the schemes she does to get into her man's life. The closest character that Theresa can be compared to in soapdom, would be Brooke Logan on The Bold and The Beautiful, whose initial story is very much like Theresa's.

Now, I happen to believe that THIS has changed. For me, at least, Theresa has definitely crossed the line into true schemer, ever since she LIED to Gwen's face when directly asked about her feelings for Ethan. Since then, it's been all downhill for Theresa, IMO. She looks more classless and dishonorable with every move that she makes with regards to Ethan and Gwen.
 

Ethan is The Prince to Theresa's Cinderella.they've even gone to a ballet with it as the title. The rich boy, decent, To the Manor Born, the true Prince. Ethan is completely the Crane Crown Prince, and he lives his life that way. On the surface, he seems like an OK guy..the good guy. Well, one of the reasons why Ethan is such a 'nice guy', is because he's never had to NOT be the 'Nice Guy'. He grew up in a world where his every wish has been catered to since birth, and he can probably count on one hand the number of people that have ever told him 'No'. And, sure enough, the few times that we have seen Ethan go into 'Crane Mode' is with those people who will not bow down to him, but, fight him.

For Sheridan and Luis, the irony there is that there is classism, but, in this case, a great deal of it is from LUIS, not Sheridan. The Luis that we met when the show began, coined the catch phrase 'Those Damn Cranes'. He had a chip on his shoulder. He resented his mother working for the Cranes. Thought Theresa's 'infatuation' with Ethan wasn't plausible, and scorned it, to the point of nearly being a tyrant. And, took any chance her could to needle the Cranes,and make sure that they knew that at least HE did not and would never consider them 'above the law'. It was these prejudices that Luis had, that cloaked his first meetings with Sheridan. Sure, Luis would have been upset if anyone had run into his police car, but, the situation was aggravated 10fold because it was Sheridan Crane. He wanted her prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and didn't want any corners cut. Luis, though a romantic, could never have envisioned that someone from his background and Sheridan's could get together. They had several conversations about it, one I definitely recall, was about the pride of the male in a relationship like that, and how any man's pride would be called into question if he were involved with someone so wealthy. That, it's part of a man's identity to be able to provide and contribute to the wellbeing of his family, and if there is a such a lopsided earning potential between mates that it will get in the way of the relationship. Sheridan believed that in love all things were possible.

The choice of the poolhall as one of the dates for Sheridan/Luis was also excellent, because it was the first time that Sheridan actually had to function is, what was essentially 'Luis World'. They had to show Sheridan's somewhat discomfort initially, and that Luis couldn't come in and 'smooth' things over. That Sheridan had to navigate those waters by themselves, and that they had to be willing to withstand the pressures and comments of the 'real world', if their relationship is going to exist. The tension between their upbringings will definitely be a point with Sheridan/Luis. They are both a product of their environments, and it is their struggle to continue along with one another, that makes this relationship interesting to watch develop.

Then there is the continuing line that is slipped in from time to time by both Ivy and Gwen, when discussing Theresa's possible interest in Ethan. While Ivy thought it was ridiculous, Gwen found it equally as
insulting..after all, Theresa is only 'The Housekeeper's Daughter.' Pilar was nice and all, but, one of her children involved with a Crane? Puleeze. Then, there was Gwen's reaction to Sheridan, when she said that she was interested in Luis. Gwen's initial comments were that it couldn't possibly be serious..and that Luis was an interested in social climbing up the social ladder like Gwen believed Theresa was. There couldn't be any possibility of REAL feelings between a Crane type and a Lopez-Fitzgerald, and, although, Gwen has superficially changed her tune, and given support to Sheridan and Luis, I still have my doubts that it doesn't still exist.

I do happen to think that Gwen has changed her mind. I think that she believes it's very difficult for two people of different classes to be together, but, she wants Sheridan to be happy, but, thinks that she would have to work on it.
 

Ivy and Gwen both give off the air of 'Not Our Class Dear', when talking about Teresa and Ethan. Julian completely believes in it, by so MANY comments that he's made since the beginning of the show.. From his encouragement of Ethan to 'bed Theresa with the exquisite eyes', to his slamming of the Lobster Shack, to his 'tamale' comment about Luis, to referring to Luis as 'the Housekeeper's son'.these are but a few of the times that Julian has brought up class during the show.

Then, there was the Christmas Party at the Crane Mansion, where Alistair delivered his famous 'gifts'. Every one of the gifts had a special meaning to the recipient...yet, Sam and TC's gifts had class and race written all over them. From the moment that Alistair spoke with Sam, he made it clear that there was a power structure in Harmony, and that the Cranes were atop of it, and that part of Sam's duties were to help protect the interests of the Cranes in Harmony. Alistair spoke of Sam's ' limited power', and to reinforce the
position of the Cranes being on top, he reminded Sam, not so subtly, with the picture of the family farm that the Cranes got from the Bennett family during the Depression.

With TC, Alistair's gift of a picture of TC's father being a caddie, was not only class tinged, but, racially tinged, and Alistair added insult to injury, when he described his father as a 'simple man...eager to please'. He also reinforced about the power structure by informing TC that he knew about TC's job at Harmony High, and the information about his daughter, Whitney.

Then Julian and Ivy discussed the gifts, and Julian said there couldn't be any meaning to Grace's gift of the picture of the betrayed wife, because, not only did Sam adore Grace, but, it would be against 'his pathetic middle-class values' to cheat on his wife. Julian mocked that Sam would see it as 'immoral', thus reinforcing the view that 'the rich are very different from you and me'.

It's been there, from the beginning, with the interaction between the Cranes, and the Bennetts and Russells. How the Cranes 'lowered' themselves in the first place to go the Bazaar where they originally met up with the families. Then, there was very middle-class Grace, who was naturally curious about the rich and powerful Cranes, and be genuine with them, because she can't believe in the possible duplicity that they do on a daily basis. How open is Grace and trusting of people on face value? The episode where she brought a tomato
soup cake to the Crane Mansion, as a gift, was funny. In Grace's mind, she was going to someone's house, so she brought them something, but, the thought of the Cranes even tasting the cake was too absurd for words.

Classism is all across the board on Passions, just not exclusively the domain of the wealthy Cranes. Reilley has been been excellent is showing the class divisions amongst African-Americans, with the Eve/Chad conflict.

Eve Russell is a doctor, held in high esteem. She has sheltered and protected her daughters from life, especially her own past. On the surface, she is 'to the manor born', with her daughters easily reciting off her debutante, white gloves and afternoon teas past. But, the audience knows the truth: that Eve came from the 'streets'. And, instead of embracing her past, she has totally turned her back on it, and reinvented herself, in the image that she wanted. She is the 'Self-made Debutante', but, is raising the real thing.

She and Chad automatically come into conflict, because he reminds her of everything that she's been running from her entire life. She doesn't want that life for her daughters, and can't think that it's possible for anyone else to want that life. Chad instantly picked up on Eve's dislike for him, and even it's origins.

Though Chad does use 'street language' more than any other character on the show, he only goes deep into his 'Ebonics' linguism when Eve is around. He knows how it upsets her, and he does it to rebel against her and needle her.

TC overlooks Eve's snobbery because he loves her. Her daughter Simone acknowledges it in her mother, but, just brushes it aside. Only daughter Whitney has embraced her mother's outlook and view of life. It has been stated over and over again, by Whitney's own words, that she uses her mother as the model by which to live her life. Whitney definitely sees life in those terms, as a conversation not long ago with her sister Simone. In trying to dissuade Simone from being interested in Chad, she told her that
"Chad Harris would never be interested in an upper-middle class girl, which is you. He will always choose the easy girls; the ones he grew up with."

What a marvelous line that completely reveals Whitney's own classism and teachings of her mother. And, shows the challenge of the Chad/Whitney relationship, however it may develop.

Another use of class and working class concerns came up in one of the Ivy/Eve confrontations, when Ivy, who had exhausted her Grace arguments, brought up to Eve what her telling would do to Sam. His position as Police Chief, as well as the very realistic concern about how a disgraced Sam would be able to provide for his four children, and put them through school. A very logical argument that hit to the heart of the matter that everyone could relate too, but, not used very often these days in daytime drama.

Since this post was originally written, we've gotten other good class use, with Rebecca & Theresa/Pilar. From the insulting way that Rebecca pronounces Pilar's name, to her total putdowns of Theresa, while thinking that she HAS to be after Ethan, because 'Housekeepers Daughters' dream of improving their station, this only reinforces the class issue.

Class is also in the way that Sheridan handled things coming back from Paris. Sheridan is a Crane..there's nothing that has ever happened to her that the Crane Money and Power couldn't make 'go away', so when she acted impulsively and had Luis arrested, then, within the next few moments, ask if the police department could just make kidnapping charges, ' go away', it pointed out just how accustomed she was to getting her way because she was a Crane. She didn't have the courage of her convictions, and then expected the Crane name to 'fix' things.

Class is a terrific sociological tool to use in drama, because everyone, at one time or another, has been affected by it. People respond to it, even if they don't want to admit it. By acknowledging that the divisions do exist, James E. Reilley, has added layers and a richness to his soap that might otherwise been lacking. The struggle of class has been a mainstay in literature and drama for ages, and I'm happy to see the daytime arena once again exploring it.