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Monday, 7/21/97 The daily cleansing Soap operas provide aficionados with a way to deal with the hum-drum reality of day-to-day existence, an escape from reality, and a measure of comparison to their lives.

By Michelle Navarro Daily Bruin Contributor When "Days Of Our Lives" character Kristen Blake tried desperately to get John Black to believe a multitude of lies, Cooperage audiences were aghast with disbelief. Soap operas, the daytime dramas notorious for delivering twisted plots of steamy love triangles, faked deaths, kidnappings, vicious blackmailing, and sex scandals appear to have a powerful, hypnotic attraction that engulfs a victim and never lets go - for years and years. "I started watching soaps when I could realize what a TV was," said Kaecia Curtis, a Parking and Commuter Services employee who watched soap operas at the Cooperage while grabbing a bite to eat. What is it about these daily doses of fantasy that keeps people enthralled everyday, year after year? Is it solely to see if "All My Children" 's Tad will marry Gloria, or if Stefano and Kristen will ever leave John and Marlena alone on NBC's "Days of Our Lives"? Apparently not. Many viewers who religiously follow a soap agree that the plot lines tend to lean to the fantastical and predictable side. But they continue to watch anyway, for other reasons. "They're not real," said Angelica Garcia, a fourth-year psychology student. "I watch 'Days' and there's been such nutty things going on. It's not like I like what's going on in them, I mean the same thing could be going on for a couple of years. You can get hooked on them." "I watch because I like looking at someone else's life besides mine and being thankful for what I have," Curtis said. Or perhaps others opt to frequent the soap zone simply because Kelly from "One Life To Live" has a more interesting life to live. The only way to escape the regular, day-to-day monotony is to watch perfect models on television do nothing but bicker, get married three times or die and then somehow come back to life. "I guess they're engaging to the extent that they talk about people's lives - the drama, sex," said Michael Suman, a communications studies professor. "Usually they're much more exciting than people's lives - the drudgery of day-to-day lives. It's like reading a romance novel." Just how drama-packed are they? According to a study done by Soap Opera Digest, a weekly magazine full of soap synopsis, in just two weeks worth of episodes, "Another World" had over 10 physical assaults, "Days of Our Lives" had 12 incidents of eavesdropping, and "Guiding Light" 's Annie regularly shouted 10 to 30 times per show. "I don't think they're real at all. Take "Days" for example - a woman possessed by demons? Or one husband thought his wife died, so he married another woman, but then it turned out the wife didn't really die," said Mark Wu, a third-year biochemistry student. "People watch because people love to live in fantasies. People only love something they can't have. If they have it, then they don't love it anymore," Wu said. "A fantasy is something they can't have so they love it." The opportunity to escape boring reality and live in "Another World" where the characters are seldom seen eating, reading a book, going to work, or watching T.V. contributes to the magnetism that soaps have with viewers. "People like to escape and deal with the entertainment and sensationalistic stuff," Suman said, "and they'll get it in one place or another, either from O.J., a romance novel, or a soap opera." The fact that soaps are on five days out of the week also contributes to their affinity. Soaps provide a never-ending story that continuously leaves viewers hanging on and wanting more. However, other UCLA students have different opinions on the dedication of so much time to these overwhelming sagas. "Soap operas never end. If you watch Superman, you have one storyline per episode," Wu continued, "if you watch a soap opera, it just drags on and on." "They're stupid, I don't see why they make them so long," Garcia said, "In Spanish, it just takes three months and it's over. In English, it keeps hanging for years and years. I'm going to die and it'll still be going on." Daytime soaps are seen everywhere, in different languages and parts of the world. Is it dangerous for so many people to watch these hour-long, action-packed episodes, given that gross expectations of society and everyday life that could develop? "I think on the one hand people get ideas about love, romance and relationships from TV, sitcoms, and the media - they give people a frame of reference," Suman explained, "but then people ask 'why isn't my life this exciting?'" "On the other hand, soap operas are so over the top, people know they aren't realistic, they just enjoy it like a kind of trashy novel," he said. Whether fans realize or not how distant the soap opera portrayal of life is from reality, the devotion people have for daytime drama will never die. "I'm going to watch for the rest of my life," Curtis said, "I even watch Chinese soap operas." CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin "General Hospital" is a crucial part of third-year student Heidi Arriola's daily routine (left). Her partner today in the depths of the Coop is Linda Calvillo, a third-year physiological science student. CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin Joanne Park, recent Music graduate, divides her attention between two televisions at the Cooperage. Related Site: Soap Dish (TV Guide)

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