Serial Monogamy

This book contributes provocative insights and novel approaches to the ongoing scholarly conversation about daytime dramas. It scrutinizes soap opera producers and viewers, the processes by which they define and interpret the genre and its texts, and how subjectivities of age and gender influence their practices and circumscribe a range of romantic fantasies deemed acceptable to purvey or savor. The investigation breaks new ground with its multi-sited, naturalistic, virtual ethnography of activities among online fans, including bulletin board and e-mail interest group discussions, and combines this with analyses of producer/creator goals, fan publications, and key soap opera texts. An as-it-happened assessment of the content and reception of a multi-year soap opera story entailing power relations of age and gender is spotlighted.