How to Write a Radio Serial Drama for Social Development- PDF

108 Chapter Seven: Writing for the Ear
Analogies
An analogy is a type of comparison that suggests that if two things are similar
in some ways, they are likely to be similar in others. Analogies can be
extremely helpful in explaining a new idea to a listening audience.
In the following scene from the Tanzanian radio drama, Awake, the
health worker, Shada, uses an analogy to help Mama Jeni understand that
some contraceptive users experience side effects and so need to be kept under
observation.
EXAMPLE
1. SHADA: Oh, Mama Jeni, so it is already three months since your last
injection. Let me see your card, please. O.K. March, April, May. It’s
all right. How is your body adopting this new method
2. JENI: What do you mean adopting
3. SHADA: You know human bodies are all naturally somehow different. Some
want their tea with very sweet sugar, while others put in just very
small amounts of sugar.
4. JENI: Yes, that’s very common.
5. SHADA: Some people are irritated by medicines like chloroquine, while
others aren’t.
6. JENI: My husband always scratches himself after taking chloroquine. I
don’t.
7. SHADA: Because of such differences, it is good to monitor any new
phenomenon in the body to see how well it is adopted.
8. JENI: That’s right. My daughter is allergic to perfumed soaps. They cause
rashes on her body.
9. SHADA: In the same sense, when people start using a certain modern family
planning method, we make a follow up and monitor how the body
has adopted the method.
Proverbs and Sayings
Yet another way to enrich the language of a radio drama and to create
pictures in the minds of the listeners is to use local proverbs, expressions, or
sayings. These expressions may not be familiar to people in other countries,
but they add color and credibility for the local audience.
The following excerpt from the Australian agricultural radio serial, Dad
and Dave, demonstrates that familiar expressions reflecting the norms of one
culture may not be understood easily by another culture. It also shows how
the use of local expressions can enrich the characterization and the story
while providing evocative word pictures.