by Deborah Allan

Created on: September 27, 2009

In order to answer the question of "Why soap opera fans are willing to believe the unbelievable", you must first have seen at least one episode of any soap opera. On any given Soap Opera, on any given day, you will see things that would never happen in real life, but we, the viewers, get so wrapped up in these lives and lies, that we cannot stop watching. We are intrigued, we are mesmerized, because we have all gone through similar situations, with totally different outcomes.

In Soap Opera's we see someone battling cancer. That person is on the verge of death. That person is in a coma. All of a sudden, a long lost love enters the room, demanding that they live. And they wake up, and live happily ever after. That, sadly, does not happen in real life, but, we all know someone who has been affected by Cancer, so when we see our loved one struggling, and then see the outcome on our favorite Soap Opera, we are given a false hope, because if "Liz" from As the Days turn to Stone (I know it's not a real soap opera, but let's just play along) can survive, so can our loved one.

All of us have also had our hearts broken. The Soap Opera is a great place to delve into when you are lonely and feel like no one loves you and you will never be happy again. The reason? Because when you turn on that show, "Bob" will have just taken an overdose of pills, because "Jane" has broken his heart, taken their child, and has moved on with her life. "Bob" has just done the worst possible thing, trying to end the pain, and while we would not do that, we can feel his pain, and we have made a connection through this character, and we feel better, because he is so much worse off than we are. So we follow these characters, and in time, as these people's hearts heal, we realize ours has too. Isn't that wonderful, that we transferred our pain and sadness to some fictional character, without actually dealing with the real situation. Oh, Soap Operas are so wonderful.

I don't watch these shows, although I used to. But, as I get older I think I just realize that my life is real, and the I can't be bothered with alien invasions, missing family members, rags to riches, and just the drama that enfolds, when my life needs my attention. I can't argue that these shows are very entertaining, yet, I can't bring myself to watch something that I can't imagine being a real life situation, and let's face it, do any of the story lines on these shows ever show up in real life: I don't know anyone who has been brainwashed, had their identities stolen, children abducted by aliens, anyone who owns their own business, and is filthy rich, yet never goes to work. Come on people, get real. Live in the real world, not Pine Valley or Genoa City.

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