Soap Operas

1. Source material

1.1. Secondary sources

1.1.1. books: worlds without end

1.1.2. agnes nixon book

1.1.3. book on women in television

1.2. primary sources

1.2.1. videotape footage of programs

1.2.2. archival materials

1.2.2.1. personal letters

1.2.2.2. Irna Phillips memoirs

1.2.3. my own writings/memories

1.2.4. interviews with fans

2. Fandom/addiction

2.1. How does this genre psychogically soothe its audiences?

2.2. what might be harmful/misleading in messaging?

2.3. what is the modern-day equivalent and why?

2.3.1. social media?

2.3.2. reality tv?

3. Target Audience

3.1. former fans

3.2. popular culture enthusiasts and scholars

4. History of genre

4.1. irna phillips

4.1.1. personal story

4.1.1.1. life in chicago

4.1.1.2. shows she created

4.2. agnes nixon

5. Research Questions

5.1. why are alternate worlds created in the soap opera an appealing escape?

5.2. How did the original creator life and the time in which she lived influence the creation of a new genre that became wildly popular?

5.3. How have changes in television viewing/consumption made this genre obsolete? What has been lost?

5.4. why do people become crazed fans? What drives media addiction? What was unique about the soap opera of the 80s and 90s that led to the perfect storm of addiction for one fan?

6. Medium for "treatment"

6.1. Creative non-fiction

6.2. Personal memoir

6.3. digital humanities: clip analysis of digitized footage

6.4. graphic novel format?

6.5. autobiographical fiction infused with research

7. situating myself

7.1. experience as fan

7.1.1. using personal writing

7.2. interest in writing/storytelling