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Its pop-y and fun, but its also doing some fascinating sociological heavy lifting.
Its pretty easy to pick out the two poles.
The soap side is just as distinctive and identifiable as the documentary side.
Its a dramatic, gossipy show.
My question aboutDeaf Uand about docusoaps more broadly is about how its two halves play together.
Theres a sense in unscripted television that much of the soapiest stuff is at least partially manufactured.
As a soap, where doesDeaf Ufall?
Theres a scene with Cheyenna and Rodney for instance, where they go on a date together.
Neither of them seems to really know what theyre doing there.
Does it matter ifDeaf Uis an amalgam of two things that are fundamentally at odds in their essential motivations?
Does the falseness of Cheyenna and Rodneys date undermine the pain of Cheyennas social isolation?
Thedocusoapterm seems mostly like an effective bit of marketing.
This in itself is suspicious.
What college students would have this talk in person in broad daylight instead of over Snapchat at 2 a.m.?
Anyone who looks at them can see what theyre saying.
But in a minute, the lovely detail of the oh-so-quiet hands is forgotten.
Because, Im sorry,whatdid Alexa say?!
She thinks Daequan didwhat?!
The documentary steps back, and the soap takes over.
