Talk:Soap opera rapid aging syndrome

Hannah Martin, Neighbours
The below was recently added, deleted, then reinstated, by different editors. "Although most commonly used when a character is recast, there have been notable instances of characters being SORASed without a change of actor. When the character of Hannah Martin departed Neighbours in 1999, she was said to be 15, despite having been just six when introduced in 1992 (and her parents meeting for the first time in 1985 in an earlier storyline)." I tend to believe this is not really a case of Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome. They didn't really make an intentional revision of the character for storyline purposes or to fit a new actor, which is what SORAS really is. It sounds more like a minor scripting error. Her parents first left the series in mid-1985, so say Hannah was born in the first half 1986, she could reasonably be 6 some time in 1992. When she left the series they possibly pulled out a calculator and did a quick subtraction, and erroneously upped her age a little. Even still, it is just by one or two years - which does not really fit the spirit of SORAS to me. Also, since it happened when she was leaving the series, it is hardly a revision of her age for storyline purposes, since it happened when she was on her way out. She hasn't since returned as a regular, so not really SORAS. Format (talk) 19:47, 6 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, as I don't watch the series, I'm not sure I understand the nature of this age change as described. If the actor didn't change, the age difference could not be that dramatic, an as Format notes above, this concept applies to drastic revisions rather than slight age fluctuation. The situation you describe happens often enough with younger soap characters; slightly older actors are cast as younger characters (like 18-yr olds playing 15-yr-olds to avoid child labor laws), and their ages are slightly revised years later so the characters "catch up" with the performers to get into more adult storylines, etc. Or characters in general stay the same age, get a little older or younger or have milestone birthdays to suit storylines. Your Hannah situation only seems like it would be notable if an external source (like a soap magazine) has called it so. Is that the case? &mdash; TAnthonyTalk 05:12, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, soap magazines have noted this example, but given the character has not appeared on a permanent basis since 1999, it is going to be very difficult to source such articles. I believe this is a notable example as all the others, with the exception of Kendall in 'All My Children', are recasts. I disagree with the comment that this example 'does not really fit the spirit of SORAS'. It has nothing to do with 'spirit' - she was a soap character, she was rapidly aged, therefore this is SORAS. Also (and perhaps I didn't make this clear enough) Hannah did not become 15 in the series in her final episode; the rapid ageing took place around two years before the end of her tenure, and it was for storyline purposes. Also it does no harm to have an example that isn't from a US soap opera, as this shows it is not a purely US phenomenon. }Smurfmeister (talk) 09:25, 12 July 2010 (UTC)


 * There may be something there, but a) you as an editor cannot call something "notable" without a source making that point first, b) your source doesn't really spell out the age revision, and c) the small 2-year difference and no change in performer makes its notability seem a bit limp. Who's to say that the seven years of real-world time between 1992 and 1999 was seven years within the timeline of the series? Character age can be a big black hole of original research and trivia. I won't completely excise it again in good faith (and because I know you'll just revert without trying to make a constructive change) but I'm at least going to try and make the passage adhere better to policy and common sense. If we listed every time the mention of a character's age didn't jive with previously established "facts" we'd have a huge article full of trivial junk.&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 04:21, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

It's been many years but where was it ever clearly established how old Hannah was in the first place? There certainly were some storylines focusing on her going through puberty in her last years but coming of age storylines are generally the precise opposite of rapid ageing. And I don't think her age at the outset was ever properly established beyond "preteen girl" and she was presented as a near contemporary of Toby Mangel. There was probably an offscreen adjustment when she was introduced but there doesn't seem to have been a change during her years onscreen. (With regards the how long thing, my recollection is that by then Neighbours had cut back on time of year storylines because of the growing importance of the overseas market where the episodes could go out at a different time of the year, but didn't indicate it went against the general convention that soaps proceed at a real time pace.) Timrollpickering (talk) 19:55, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Yes, it was. In 1994 Julie (Hannah's mother) decided she wanted to try for another baby and her husband commented "it was hard enough when we had Hannah, and I was eight years younger then". Hey presto, five years later she's nearly 16. But in any case, the fact that her parents met in 1985 and left the show later that year with no mention of Julie being pregnant shows that she cannot have been born before 1986. Smurfmeister (talk) 16:55, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Bad Example
This article states: "Subsequent recasting kept him in his 30s for 20 years, with Tom hitting his 40s in the 1990s." This would appear to contradict the very title of this article. How can slowing a character's age progression be "rapid aging"? Besides being overall original research - this whole article is basically just fan conjecture without any hard information from production staffs, writers, directors, or producers - the topic is also well sort of pointless. Basically who cares? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.243.164.201 (talk) 06:48, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

MAD Magazine
There was a reference to this sometime in the 1980's. Some parody of an interview with a TV producer. MMetro (talk) 09:52, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Notability?
Is this Wikipedia or TV Tropes? Is this subject really important enough to be the subject of an encyclopedia article at all? SteubenGlass (talk) 16:07, 9 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I believe the term/concept itself is notable, but have always thought this article would be more appropriate as a subsection of something else ... but what, exactly, I'm not sure. Ultimately I'd like to do a slight overhaul of the soap opera article, and find a place for a version of this there.&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 16:50, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I tend to agree with TAnthony, and see my comment at Articles_for_deletion/Soap_Opera_Rapid_Aging_Syndrome_(2nd_nomination). This is a brief article that gives a definition, which is good. However it then diverges into an example list, which now seems to again be getting bloated with various editors adding in their favourite shows. I think the definition could go into soap opera perhaps. Situation comedies do age characters too of course, but often in sitcoms the entire series timeline and storyline continuity is deliberately vague and mutable - each episode is somewhat a reboot where minor points of previous episodes are not explicitly addressed and where the time elapsed between episodes is vague and variable - so to me sitcom ageing seems less noticeable/notable. SORAS is more a soap opera thing. Format (talk) 18:22, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I think people are just lazy and not willing to search more sources. Just delete examples that do not explicitly state on their article that the term has been applied to them. Simple really. IMO people like to opinionate but do little about it. If it was to be merged, no one would bother to see that through. RAIN*the*ONE  BAM 02:06, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Buffy
A mild example in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander Harris mentions his age as 17 in the middle of season 2; season 3 ends with the graduation of most of the cast from high school; in season 4 Xander gets a job in construction; at the beginning of season 7 he appears to be in charge of a major worksite (the new Sunnydale High School). —Tamfang (talk) 00:25, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

"Rapid aging" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Rapid aging. The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 September 2 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Mlb96 (talk) 19:35, 2 September 2021 (UTC)