Soap operas entice students

Vicky is married to Jake, but she's still in love with Shane. Brenda was stood up at the altar and fell into a deep depression, only to be comforted by Robin, who had just returned from Paris. Neil found Drucilla's birth control pills, and it destroyed their marriage. And what is Eric's secret?

Welcome to the world of soap operas.

By the next day, what's happening on those soaps is one of the hot topics discussed among college students -- both their favorite characters and the best story lines.

One of the major characteristics of soap operas is simplicity of characters, said Matthew Glenn, graduate assistant for Integrative Arts 110 (Dramatic Arts in the Mass Media).

"As a general rule, in soap operas, characters are really one-sided," he said.

Often, the characters are so simple, they almost represent specific emotions, he said. For example, one character might act only out of greed, but another might carry a grudge for an entire season.

This one-sidedness can draw in viewers.

"Once you start learning all the characters, you get hooked on them," said Jeremiah Friday (sophomore-special education), who started watching soaps with his roommates when he came to the University.

Although the characters often focus on one trait, the plots can be just the opposite.

Overlapping story lines can stretch the shows' plots out for weeks or even years, Glenn said. Different episodes of the same show can focus on alternating plots, most of which involve easily identifiable "good" and "bad" characters, he said.

"The number of different plots sometimes justifies the simplicity of the characters," he said.

Carla Bielecki (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said plots that focus on real-life issues such as HIV and assault attract viewers.

"Usually, the story lines are based on a real person's life," she said.

However, plots involving aliens and demon possession -- two story lines that have popped up on various soaps -- might not be as easy for students to relate to.

Alyssa Karp (junior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said although she is obsessed with soaps, the story lines and characters are too far-fetched for her to identify with.

"It makes your life seem so normal because all these crazy things happen to all of these characters," she said.

Erica England (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management), said her mother drew her into watching the long-running soap "All My Children."

"My mom watched it, so I've been watching it all my life," she said.

Bielecki said she also inherited her soap-watching habit from her mother.

She can remember her mother watching soap operas while she played in the living room when she was younger, Bielecki said. Then, when her mother went back to work, they would tape the soaps and watch them together on the weekends.

But some University students have other ways of making sure they see their favorite daytime drama.

Karp said she would like to try to schedule her classes around her favorite soap operas, if she didn't have so many other problems scheduling.

Although not everyone would go so far as to think about arranging classes around the soaps, a certain curiosity still exists to keep viewers coming back day after day.

And as for Vicky's marriage, Brenda's friendship, Neil's relationship and Eric's secret, viewers will have to find out in the upcoming episodes.