Incorporating ambiguity and archetypes in entertainment-education programming: Lessons learned from Oshin

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Abstract
Entertainment-education programming represents a promising media strategy in development communication that can increase audiences' knowledge about social issues, create favorable attitudes, and change their overt behaviors on such topics as family planning, gender equality, and child development. This article draws upon the fields of development and organizational communication, psychology, and literary criticism to analyze the audience success of a Japanese television soap opera Oshin, arguing that incorporation of strategically ambiguous messages and cultural archetypes can help broaden the cultural appeal of entertain ment-education messages. Caveats on the incorporation of these concepts in entertainment- education programming are also discussed.