April 22-23, 2023: Crowd-sourced Soap Opera Studying

[April 22nd marks the100th anniversary of the birth of the king of primetime soap operas,. So thisweek I’ve AmericanStudied Spelling and other soap opera contexts, leading up tothis crowd-sourced cliffhanger of a weekend post featuring the responses andthoughts of fellow SoapStudiers. Add yours in comments!]

Vaughn Joy seconds what Itweeted in introducing the series, writing, “I 100% agree that AaronSpelling is one of the most influential Americans of the 20thcentury.”

Rob Gosselin takes a quote from Tuesday’spost, about “testing the mind of the viewer,” in a differentdirection: “Wait until AI starts producingtelevision shows. It will not only test us, but it will find increasinglyeffective ways to influence us. Right now we are just cattle for mass media. Weare about to become sheep.”

OtherSoapOperaStudying takes:

Georgina tweets, “I’ve loved soap operas since the time my mom plopped mein the ‘playpen’ so she could watch GeneralHospital. They covered all the hot button issues from rape and domesticviolence to AIDS with lots of amnesia and evil twins in between.” And sheshares thisarticle as well, as a “good opportunity to talk rapepre-#metoo & soap operas during #SexualAssaultAwarenessMonth.”

&StanYeahMan shares the workof fellow SoapOperaStudier WillMcKinley.

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other soap opera contexts or stories you’d share?