When I was growing up, my sister was a huge Days of Our Lives fan, a fact that did not get past me without mockery. While she watched her soap opera, I made fun of her. I uttered snide comments as she talked about the show’s greatness, I hid the Soap Opera Digests she purchased at the grocery store, and I rolled my eyes whenever she rushed home from school to turn on DOOL, thus keeping me from watching a much more realistic show (Duck Tales) in the process. As much fun as I made of her, the tables were turned when I began watching Days of Our Lives in high school. Turns out, I kind of like it too. The vacuum of television series, it had a way of just sucking me in.
Still, Days of Our Lives, and really any soap opera, is not without its faults. Anything but grounded in actuality, soap operas have a bit of a conundrum going on. Their implausibilities make the shows both appealing and annoying, giving them a uniqueness no other genre can maintain. For the following reasons, they are shows we both love and hate.
SORAS: SORAS, or Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome, is the term given for the plethora of characters who are three-year-old toddlers one year, and in their late twenties a mere two or three years later. We all know time flies, but not quite this quickly. While this concept is unbelievable, it is also a bit amusing, particularly when a child suddenly becomes older than their parent.
The Work Situation: It seems that most people on soap operas have very noble professions: police officers, doctors, scientists, businessmen and women. Noble professions, but not busy ones. The amount of time these characters actually work may be incredulous, but it sure is appealing. I would love to be a soap opera character and only work an hour a week.
Article comments
1 - Spork Fashion
Soaps were actually specifically created that way. Back in the 1950s, soaps were formulated so that women could enjoy them while not letting their housework "suffer". The slow, repetative story lines meant that if a housewife had to vacuum or do the dishes, she could do so and know that she could easily catch up with the story or not worry about missing an important plot point. Similarly, the structure does not require 100% attention to follow.
2 - Laurie Siegel
Several years ago I had an idea, to write parody for a Soap Opera based on Freud's protege's and patients diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and later misplaced it and then totally forgot about it. I remember the title because of the sensitive subject matter. It was to be called, "The Jung and the Restless."
Laurdujour