by Monty Hamilton

Created on: November 07, 2007

People get sucked into soap operas for the same reasons that they become absorbed with most other forms of entertainment, because they are able to live vicariously through others, and see what it is like to say and do things that they rarely, if ever, get to experience in their day to day lives without consequence. Have an affair? Sure! Fake your death? Why not?! Why do you think our society is so obsessed with celebrities? It's because they get to express things many of us suppress. Because we can either identify with the mistakes they make or see what it is like to make those mistakes without actually having to walk that plank ourselves. Because we can fuel our daydreams by marveling at and striving for what they have. Because when things are bad for them, we can feel better about how things are going for us, and when they accomplish success, we can connect with them and share in that, and have hope that our own ship might come in someday. Soap operas provide that for some people the same way sports does for others, and Dr. Phil and Oprah do for their fans. And sure, each group may think the other's chosen outlet is silly and ludicrous, but to paraphrase the Dude from The Big Lebowski, "That's just like their opinion, man."

If watching soap operas or doing whatever provides you with any of what I described above and it's not hurting you or anybody else, then who cares what other people think? Bottom line is, if you are unwilling to do what makes you happy, then nobody else can do it for you, and when all is said and done, that's all that things like getting sucked into soaps, basically, come down to, people doing what makes them happy. It's as simple as that.

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