Recommendations for soap opera dialogue
July 7, 2010 7:59 PM Subscribe
Please recommend books /movies/tv etc. with romantic / soap opera-ish dialogue. Not so much grand or sappy like Titanic ("Where to miss... To the stars"), but something more on the saucier side. Tropes typically surrounding infidelity or breakups are good, along the lines of "It's not you, it's me," or "There you have it, the scandal is on" or "I'm not really a part of this family. I should have married my college boyfriend"
...or "At this point in my life, maybe just isn't good enough" or "Where were you last night?" or "We can't keep doing this" or "He was just leaving… weren't you?" More interested in cliches than idiosyncratic one-liners.
Titles are welcome, specific episodes, seasons, or story arcs are better. If you're inclined to suggest, "Anything on Soap.net or a telenovela", could you recommend a specific show? (From what I've seen, General Hospital seems to give the best mileage, though I may be wrong.) Although most of these examples are from TV, any book or author recs are certainly welcome.
Some more examples:
- The episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where all the girls fall in love with Xander. "It's funny how you can see someone every day.. And not really see them.. You know." or "So you're saying this is all a game!?" or "I should've known I'd find you with her" (This is probably the ideal example)
- Salma Hayek's run on 30 Rock
- Smithy's lines in Gavin and Stacey when he's in hysterics, "I see. It's all clear now. Take him out to his favorite place, buy him a drink, he won't make a scene"
- Personal Ads in the London Review of Books
- Bette Davis, sometimes
- 50s romance comics a la Roy Lichtenstein
...or "At this point in my life, maybe just isn't good enough" or "Where were you last night?" or "We can't keep doing this" or "He was just leaving… weren't you?" More interested in cliches than idiosyncratic one-liners.
Titles are welcome, specific episodes, seasons, or story arcs are better. If you're inclined to suggest, "Anything on Soap.net or a telenovela", could you recommend a specific show? (From what I've seen, General Hospital seems to give the best mileage, though I may be wrong.) Although most of these examples are from TV, any book or author recs are certainly welcome.
Some more examples:
- The episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where all the girls fall in love with Xander. "It's funny how you can see someone every day.. And not really see them.. You know." or "So you're saying this is all a game!?" or "I should've known I'd find you with her" (This is probably the ideal example)
- Salma Hayek's run on 30 Rock
- Smithy's lines in Gavin and Stacey when he's in hysterics, "I see. It's all clear now. Take him out to his favorite place, buy him a drink, he won't make a scene"
- Personal Ads in the London Review of Books
- Bette Davis, sometimes
- 50s romance comics a la Roy Lichtenstein
Books by Jacqueline Susan, Jackie Collins and, of course, anything in the Mills and Boon canon.
posted by Kerasia at 8:19 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Kerasia at 8:19 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
My So-Called Life is just rife with this stuff. Basically anytime Angela gets that dreamy, pre-Carrie Bradshaw-but-much-smarter glaze in her eyes:
-My parents keep asking how school was. It's like saying, "How was that drive-by shooting?" You don't care how it *was*, you're lucky to get out alive.
-It had become the focus of everything. It was all I could feel, all I could think about. It blotted out the rest of my face, the rest of my life. Like the zit had become... the truth about me.
-I just like how he's always leaning. Against stuff. He leans great. Well, either sex or a conversation. Ideally both.
posted by zoomorphic at 8:58 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
-My parents keep asking how school was. It's like saying, "How was that drive-by shooting?" You don't care how it *was*, you're lucky to get out alive.
-It had become the focus of everything. It was all I could feel, all I could think about. It blotted out the rest of my face, the rest of my life. Like the zit had become... the truth about me.
-I just like how he's always leaning. Against stuff. He leans great. Well, either sex or a conversation. Ideally both.
posted by zoomorphic at 8:58 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Soapdish.
posted by samsaunt at 9:04 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by samsaunt at 9:04 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you want to get into classic Silver age romance comics, the Marvel Romance trade paperback is a good place to start. The stories are wonderfully soapy, and the art by John Buscema, Jonny Romita and Jim Steranko is fantastic.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 11:55 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 11:55 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Gossip Girl does this, particularly the unseen Gossip Girl herself, who says a line or two in between big scenes. Every single episode. They're usually sort of punny and snarky. Examples:
“It’s said that we’re all strapped to fortune’s wheel. Nowhere is this truer than the ever-changing landscape of love. As one couple enjoys an upswing, another is plunged downwards. But top or bottom, don’t get too comfortable. Because the one thing you can rely on is that the wheel will keep on turning.”
“You reap what you sow, what goes around comes around, no matter how far you run, you can never truly escape. Everything catches up to you in the end, and when it does, it usually kicks your ass.”
Snarkier example: "Don't look so sad, little J! The sun will come out tomorrow, even though your boyfriend did today."
Also, the characters do this a LOT.
posted by acidic at 11:56 PM on July 7, 2010
“It’s said that we’re all strapped to fortune’s wheel. Nowhere is this truer than the ever-changing landscape of love. As one couple enjoys an upswing, another is plunged downwards. But top or bottom, don’t get too comfortable. Because the one thing you can rely on is that the wheel will keep on turning.”
“You reap what you sow, what goes around comes around, no matter how far you run, you can never truly escape. Everything catches up to you in the end, and when it does, it usually kicks your ass.”
Snarkier example: "Don't look so sad, little J! The sun will come out tomorrow, even though your boyfriend did today."
Also, the characters do this a LOT.
posted by acidic at 11:56 PM on July 7, 2010
Casablanca (1942)
Ilsa: You're saying this only to make me go.
Rick: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you.
Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.
[Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry]
posted by crunchland at 5:55 AM on July 8, 2010
Ilsa: You're saying this only to make me go.
Rick: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you.
Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.
[Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry]
posted by crunchland at 5:55 AM on July 8, 2010
All of the Twlight movies?
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 6:02 AM on July 8, 2010
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 6:02 AM on July 8, 2010
Anything with William Powell, specifically My Man Godfrey or the Thin Man series.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 6:55 AM on July 8, 2010
posted by JeremiahBritt at 6:55 AM on July 8, 2010
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Ugh, god, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and Trista and Ryan's Wedding Extravaganza or whatever that was called.
And every opening and closing of Sex in the City, whenever Carrie narrates from her column.
Also Dawson's Creek. And Grey's Anatomy.
posted by sallybrown at 8:14 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]