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Why We
Keep Watching Soaps |
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Written by guest author Kathryn Bruce.
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The first time I saw a
soap I was about six years old. My mother got sick and a neighbor sent her maid
over to clean our house and do some ironing. She watched "As
the World Turns" as she ironed my father's work
clothes.
At the time I remember hanging around the maid because she was an unknown
quantity: paid to do what my mother usually did and watching our television
which was never turned on except for a few select shows after supper,
on non-church-going nights, and usually for sports
events or musical specials. I didn't depend on television for entertainment or
diversion and was unaware of indirectly absorbing any of the soap opera until
years later.
In my early teens, when my mother was sick again, I was sent to stay with my
sister and her husband. They lived in "married student apartments" off campus
and he was studying to be an engineer, while she
worked as a secretary for a professor she'd become friends with during her
studies before their marriage. At lunchtime they met at their apartment and
watched ATWT. Their devotion to each other's happiness
impressed me as stories of young love in books and movies did. I was watching
them while they watched Lisa talking to her mother about what all had been
happening in Oakdale recently. I recognized the same people I'd seen so many
years ago as the neighbor's maid watched ATWT. For the first time in my life I
had something in common with my sister.
Over many years and miles we've always gotten a kick out of Stenbeck's many
deaths and reappearances. We've hated and enjoyed certain characters and been
shocked, disappointed or relieved when they were killed off or replaced. We even
got her daughter/my niece to watch with us during the particularly bad time when
she was recovering from a terrible accident and needed diversions to forget
pain. Unfortunately, the constant roadblocks writers threw up between Lily and
Holden finally turned her off and she left our little club.
Several times at social functions I've been unhappy to attend, I've found solace
in hearing a little cluster of people talking about soaps in general or ATWT in
particular.
After years of taking night classes, I quit working full time to get a college
degree. I found that younger students watched soaps in the Student Union between
classes. At first I resented their escapism and considered them inconsiderate
and unappreciative of their parents' money which was supposed to be supporting
their studies not their TV addiction. I was paying my way couldn't afford to
relax. Before I burned out I realized I, too, needed some down time. One day
when I got to the study area before the General Hospital crowd, I tuned into
CBS. It was when Capitol was jammed between ATWT and GL. I found comfort
following any or all of those stories, more than the
Luke and Laura fantasies the younger students were following. I found that the
crowds were familiar with my preferences too and rarely changed the channel. Age
sometimes has its advantages and less often follows the crowd.
As years passed I've found myself reading whatever summary was offered in the
Sunday papers.
When I cleaned friends' houses to pay for my last year of college, I watched my
soaps while I did the tasks nobody wants to do. After that I was limited to
watching only when I was too sick to go to work but I considered watching my
soaps part of the medicine that healed my spirit as prescriptions rest healed my
body.
When VCRs came out I immediately saw the advantage of taping my soaps and
watching them when I had the time instead of the relying on prime time offerings
or reruns.
Recently my husband asked me why I keep watching my soap? I didn't think he'd
understand the thoughts I've just expressed so I said. Why do you keep enjoying
baseball?
Why do you keep watching soaps?
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