The Soap Opera

 I do not need to compose any analysis of the "soap" because that task has been done well.  In fact it was done well long ago, even before I was born:

Radios became extremely popular and widespread in the late 1920s and especially the 1930s, in no small part because of soap operas. Writing a decade later, this is what writer James Thurber had to say about the new kind of entertainment that still dominates daytime entertainment:

“A soap opera is a kind of sandwich, whose recipe is simple enough, although it took years to compound. Between thick slices of advertising, spread twelve minutes of dialogue, add predicament, villainy, and female suffering in equal measure, throw in a dash of nobility, sprinkle with tears, season with organ music, cover with a rich announcer sauce, and serve five times a week.”

Here is the webpage where I found this half-remembered quote (using Google):

https://anothercenturyblog.com/2017/01/25/soap-sandwich/

I do not know what soap operas appear on daytime television these days.  With the fertilizing influences of technology and an advanced entertainment industry the genre has undergone a metamorphosis and proliferation.  It is now enough less than it was to attract some male interest but it has also expanded and taken on real life (as in "Reality") to make it more awful, more monstrous, than I ever imagined it could be.

I knew that my wife enjoyed soaps when I married her.  This fascination would have bothered me except that my own mother was an addict.  It did not bother me when she lost interest for a long time.  Now it is back with a vengeance in the form of "Ninety Day Fiancee" - along with all of the associated spinoffs and commentaries.

This could be one more step toward our apotheosis into the metaverse, a sneak preview.  Or eventually it could become Teilhard de Chardin's "Noosphere".   Lord help us.