Towards a Definition of the Soap Opera
(an ongoing exercise)

#1
Stories created and recorded for the main purpose of selling soap

#2
One of many possible results of a network-corporation partnership employing precarious contract workers

#3
A forefather to wrestling, tv news, the The Wire, and political debate

#4
The NeverEnding Story (1984)

#5
A daytime serial built on the five characteristics of: seriality, real-time orientation, pseudo intimacy, techniques of story exposition, and cleansing rituals

#6
The virtual brought to life on a regular basis

#7
Soap Opera: An extended dramatic composition used with water for washing, cleaning, odorizing, and coloring, often with instrumental accompaniment

#8
A narrative weaving in figure-eight patterns

#9
A broadcasted mediated drama series dealing with daily events in the lives of a core group of unreal but life-like characters played by actors

#10
Introductory segments followed by teasers and advertising and promotion with scenes of scripted life peppered throughout

#11
A compilation of all the technical and historical details of a fictional universe

#12
The corporate takeover of a medium once owned by and in service of the public

#13
A multiplicity of revenue streams constantly promoted through programming that serves the interest of garnering a loyal audience and solid profit margins

#14
Intentional dysfunction and provoked ire intended to rally a community of searchers (aka fans)

#15
An unnecessary commodity never required to make sense of the original text

#16
Immersive narratives so large that no one person can internalize their full history

#17
Its interpretation is left entirely to the fans and its history resides in their collective memory

#18
A quest for the authentic that lies behind the manufactured mask

#19
What is for one fan a hero is for the next a villain

#20
The longest of arcs. An arc of arcs

#21
A sustained alternative operation running parallel to the world occupied by its audience (Another World)

#22
A genre which is known by all: those who love it, despise it, and are indifferent to it

#23
A low rung on the cultural ladder and looked down on as such, but necessary for the integrity of the ladder

#24
An adaptive and enduring form capable even of life after death

#25
An active, intellectual, and mature form of participation

#26
Interventionist structuring techniques

#27
Intimacy derived from regular attendance over a long period of time

#28
Loosed from its marriage to commercial advertising by the DVR, and set free from the heavy hand of its chemical company father, today’s soap opera is a free agent with vast and heretofore inaccessible potential

#29
An interplay of allegiances, both onscreen and off, that provide enjoyment and employment for its subjects

#30
Live television programming on a two-week to six-month delay

#31
An active afterlife of: shared conversations among fans, in-program flashbacks, sanctioned text recaps, fan compilation YouTube videos, transcripts, and myth

#32
A daily promise of more

#33
Even death has no dominion

#34
Debut: October 20, 1930 on Chicago radio station WGN

#35
The grieving process on display

#36
A vehicle for passing time with those you care about

#37
A strong or exaggerated emotional display of content

#38
A flagrant shattering of work-based identity

#39
Fragmented narratives consumed, by design, in equally fragmented fashion

#40
A place where everyone is related, for a time, at one point or another

#41
Time stops for haircuts