BY LEIGHTON WILLIAMS, Staff Reporter
I HAVEN'T WATCHED a soap opera for years. And, everytime I see someone watching a soap, I'm fascinated at how they do it. Seriously, I'm puzzled about people skipping lunch to watch soaps or even being glued to a television set all in the name of soaps.
At one point in time I used to believe people watched soaps because they wanted names for their kids, since every popular name in a soap opera gets passed on to a new-born child. Seriously, look how many kids have been named Chantal or some other ghetto fabulous name, if that child was born in 1990 while Generations was on television.
However, that's not the reason. The main reason for wasting their time was the entertainment value.
Perhaps I'm a typical male, but I find watching a game of football, cricket or any sport for that matter more entertaining. As a matter of fact, how can a soap opera be entertaining?
However, based on what I used to see before I started hating them, I cannot for the life of me, figure out how a person can find 'Ryan sleeping with Victoria and later finding out they are family', entertaining. And, how can Megan trying to steal Michael from her daughter Carrie, be entertaining?
To make matters worse, if you watch a soap on January 1, 2005 and not watch it again until July 1, 2008, chances are you wouldn't have missed much. It is as if the script and plot don't move, until after five years.
STUPID
Frankly, I wouldn't want to call people stupid, but how on earth can something moving more slowly than a snail crawling along the Great Wall of China, be entertaining?
And how can something that moves so slowly be easy to understand? Also, how can something which promotes incest be entertaining? I mean, since incestuous relationships are not my thing and the mere fact that the pace these shows move at is tantamount to unbearable boredom, I don't know how one can find enjoyment in them.
However, the avid soap fan will chastise you for questioning their rationale for watching. They'll also get mad at you if you change the channel while they try to watch their favourite programme.
Still, at the end of the day, every person who stops watching these soaps is making a step in the right direction. To me its like overcoming an addiction.
In my view soap operas paint a false perception in the minds of its viewers. Hmmm. Maybe that's why some women who watch these things always have relationship problems.
E-mail leighton.williams@gleanerjm.com or williamleightonc@hotmail.com
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