Indian Audience Interpretations of Health-Related Content in the Bold and the Beautiful

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9848346
AutoresEverett M Rogers (University of New Mexico, autor correspondente), Arvind Singhal (0000-0001-7058-3932, School for Communication Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH), Avinash Thombre (0000-0002-0594-222X, University of New Mexico, and Department of Speech Communication, University of Arkansas at Little Rock)
Ano2004
Volume66
Fascículo5
Páginas437-458
Data de publicação2004-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoGazette (Leiden Netherlands (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0016-5492 • E-ISSN: 1460-3594
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0016549204045921
OpenAlexW2026051640
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas18

This article explores the meanings given by Indian viewers to a series of health-related episodes dealing with ‘Tony’s HIV’ in the Hollywood television soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful. Forty-two respondents in six focus group interviews and in 17 in-depth personal interviews were asked for their interpretations of this television health content. Indian respondents interpreted the sexual explicitness and the assertiveness of female characters as characteristic of the US, but not as a part of Indian reality. The sexual openness in The Bold and the Beautiful ‘shocked’ Indian viewers, and led some to watch the episodes only in private. Indian respondents generally had positive reactions to the ‘Tony’s HIV’ episodes, although they felt that self-disclosure of HIV/AIDS status could not happen in India, where HIV/AIDS is highly stigmatized. In general, Indian respondents felt that ‘Tony’s HIV’ showed an ideal situation regarding HIV/AIDS, but one that was far removed from Indian reality

Art history · Assertiveness · Family medicine · Focus group · Hollywood · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Media studies · Openness to experience · Reality television · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · History · Media Influence and Health · Media Studies and Communication · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology