Soap operas have given birth to
worldwide fan clubs, and the craze to get a signed
photograph from a beloved actor or actress is well-known
in the soap opera world. This phenomenon also manifests
on the Internet, with hundreds of web sites exist
about each show. These are created by eager fans who
watch the day’s episode and then faithfully
transcribe it in their archive sections (some going
back as far as the 1960s) for people who missed the
show and want to catch up. Legions of soap opera fans
often connect with each other on the Net and get together
for socializing, making trips to the sets of their
favorite shows, and meeting their favorite actors,
which of course they then breathlessly describe back
on the Web site.
You might be surprised to learn
that soap operas are not a creation of the materialistic
1980s or 1990s, but actually have been around a lot
longer than that. The world's first soap opera was
Guiding Light which was broadcast on the
radio in 1937! Televised soap operas were originally
vehicles for marketing soap products to 1950s house
wives, and were sponsored by companies that made laundry
detergents, dish washing liquids, and other soap items,
hence the name "soap opera". They do assume
that their audience is largely female, which is why
you will see the emphasis on female characters and
romantic story lines.
Soap operas tend to focus on
issues of society, especially those that deal with
the family and conflicts that families face in a variety
of settings (the high-flying world of fashion, a busy
hospital, the beautiful English country sides). There’s
a large community of interconnected characters,
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