Assignment:
Sociological Snapshots: Confessions of a Soap Opera Addict
This article discusses the observations of a professor who finds himself addicted to soap operas. It begins with a time in his life when he was working on his thesis and did this from home while his wife was watching soap operas. At first he tried to ignore them but pretty soon found himself engrossed in the story line.
The rest of the article discusses why soap operas have the ability to draw people in and keep them watching for months or years. The author cites several factors that contribute to this addiction. Some of these include:
The fact that soaps provide a better cross-section of real society than prime time television does. More elderly people, middle aged women and minorities are portrayed than on prime time. The actors are allowed to be mature and yet beautiful. They are not all young and fit 20 somethings.