Soap Opera Fan
From LoveToKnow Soap-Operas
The soap opera fan is a modern television viewer. She doesn’t sit at home in curlers, ironing clothes or baking cookies. The soap fan of today is just as often the smart, savvy corporate executive as she is the housewife, the project manager or teacher. Soap fans come from all walks of life, they do not share a color, a creed or a religion. They are the everyday men and women and whether they are watching nighttime soaps or daytime ones, they are watching them for the same reason.
The Soap Opera Fan
When soap operas first began airing as radio dramas in the 30s and 40s, what appealed to the fans that tuned in daily or weekly was the personalities that came through the radio box. Guiding Light, the longest running soap opera in the United States began as a radio drama in 1937. The season airing in 2008 is the 72nd season of the venerable television show. Listeners tuned in to hear what would happen next with characters they grew to love though they had never ‘seen’ them. These were the first soap fans. Housewives would listen to the shows while doing their general chores and looked after the little ones around the house.
When soap operas transitioned to the small screen in the 1950s, the fans followed. It was the actual transition from radio serial to television serial that encouraged the purchase of televisions in the post-war booming 50s. Soap fans continued to follow their favorite characters, who were everyday people, face the ups and downs of romantic turmoil. At their heart, most soap fans are romantics. They want to see the guy get the girl and the girl get the guy. They enjoy the adventure and the stunts, but for more than 50 years, it was characters that people were tuning in to see.
Changing Tides
As the decades passed, more and more women were working outside the home, the Civil Rights Movement and the Equal Rights Movement were all issues that would affect soap opera characters and their fans. Contrary to popular belief, the women of soap operas were never helpless. When Nancy Hughes from the As The World Turns decided she wanted to get a job for the first time, her fans empathized with her. Nancy and Chris Hughes were a very happily married couple, but Nancy’s dissatisfaction was not an alien concept. The struggles they faced as she wanted to work and had to balance a chosen job with her family life was something husbands and wives everywhere could relate to.
Willful Women
In the 1970s, with the launch of All My Children, fans were introduced to the vixen Erica Kane. Erica was selfish and spoiled and very self-centered. She could and did have a heart, but she was just as good at being bad. She was a teenager who ran rampant, who got whatever she wanted, but viewers who were equal parts enthralled as they were exasperated with her, could be satisfied that despite all her antics, Erica was unhappy and she really didn’t know what to do to make herself happy.
Action Adventure
Soap fans were introduced to a new style and trend in soap operas in the late 70s and early 80s as Luke and Laura adventured their way to romance and saving the world. The media focus on their phenomenon put soap operas on the map and they weren’t a guilty pleasure anymore. The launch of night time soap operas continued the push of soaps out of the ‘niche’ of a housewife’s show. Husbands and sons were just as likely to watch the shows with their wives and mothers as the other women in the family were. Soaps fans were equally prevalent on college campuses around the country.
Nighttime Soaps
Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest and Knots Landing all remained in the top 20 shows watched in the seasonal ratings. Men admired J.R. Ewing and women were delighted with the wicked Alexis, despite the change in settings to more luxurious surroundings and big business, it was still the characters that had fans tuning in. After all, 30 years later, who shot J.R.? is still affecting modern television shows on daytime and nighttime because it was one of the first ever ‘cliffhanger’ season enders designed to get soap fans to come back to the television three months later.
Soap Fans and the Internet
The Internet created a fantastic medium for soap fans to reach out to each other and communicate whether its via newsgroups, message boards or blogs. Soap fans in Washington can befriend and chat with their counterparts in Michigan, Florida and New York without ever leaving their homes. The Internet also allows fans to share spoilers and arrange fan weekends and events. The ease of access to the Internet also allows fans to continue to interact whether they are at home, at work, at school or overseas. Soap fans from all walks of life became neighbors who could chat over the Internet fence.
Fan Fiction
Fan fiction is another way soap fans can interact. Fan fiction allows them to tell their own stories about their favorite characters.
- Soap Opera Fan Fiction – Fan fiction for soap operas from All My Children to Passions to The Young and The Restless.
- Soap Opera Fan Forum – A place for fans to meet and greet, chat about recent episodes and post their own fan fiction.
- As The World Turns Fan Discussion Group – The discussion group allows ATWT fans to mingle, chat and post their own fan fiction.
- Grey’s Anatomy Fan Fiction This live journal blog presents a fan’s view of the storylines that make up the beloved medical drama.
- FanFiction.net – This is a rich sight populated with fan fiction based on multiple television shows. The stories range from obvious Mary Sue’s (a term for the writer inserting him or herself into the storyline) to the bad to the good to the phenomenal.
Learn More
This page has been accessed 1,938 times. This page was last modified 17:36, 21 September 2008.
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