Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 513-523). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

No description available.

This thesis uses the concept of pleasure as it has been applied to cultural artefacts in order to give a description of various characteristics of the soap opera genre. The concept of pleasure is applied to soap opera narrative, characters, visual style and viewing attitudes. Three soap operas, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, and Another World, are described in detail according to these various types of pleasures. The Young and the Restless is a soap that relies largely on visual pleasures and melodrama. General Hospital's strongest pleasures are related to its character development and use of humour. Another World, the most traditional of the three soaps, is best at stimulating the pleasures associated with talk. Through analysis of viewer commentary supplied by letters sent to Soap Opera Weekly and Soap Opera Update and Nielsen ratings, it can be concluded that the pleasures that most soap opera viewers seem to value the most are related to visual style, romance and a delicate balance between realistic characters and fantasy in narrative.

Popular feminine narratives, domestic, emotion-based texts through which communities of women have traditionally practiced feminine discourse, have been marginalised by dominant masculine cultures throughout their long history. This continues in the postmodern era, in which the culturally dominant postmodern aesthetic has declared the death of the social, narrative and affect, all intrinsic to the popular feminine narrative. Nevertheless, these narratives persevere in such forms as the daytime television soap opera. Using a reader-oriented model, American soap operas are discussed as a site for the generation of women's pleasure, and as a forum for the raising, sharing and addressing of problems which affect women's lives. Soap opera fan magazines further extend the already social soap opera experience, which celebrates emotion and empathy in a culture which often negates them.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, March 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A. (Journalism and Media Studies))--Rhodes University, 2005. / "A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts" -T.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Soaps operas, or daytime serials, have long been a staple of American culture. In April 2011, ABC-Disney announced the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live. Cancellations propelled the fans of these programs to launch efforts to save not only the shows, but the genre. Through the use of social media, websites, and traditional off-line activities that included calling and letter-writing, fans strived to make their voices heard. The study examines the creation of an online community and discourse through a textual-analysis case study of blogs on two fan activist websites. Dahlberg’s criteria for presence in an online public space and Habermas’ public sphere allows for the presentation of ideas within a group to encourage a sense of democracy in a grassroots effort to be heard against corporate interests. The case study will examine a fan website, Sudz.Tv, as a group organized in a virtual public space.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 11, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-138).