It's Time for My Story: Soap Opera Sources, Structure, and Response

(Hardback)

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Soap opera story, the only mass-public form of continuing narrative today, is oral culture for our electronic era. Carol Williams' "It's Time For My Story" is an examination of soap opera sources, structure, and response, particularly from the critical viewpoints of psychology, both archetypal and empirical, and popular culture, specifically narratology and feminism, that uncover the true nature of the genre. First, Williams traces the development of soap opera from its immediate source in radio and television as well as from its fundamental source in age-old myth and storytelling. Then she analyses the content and form that together make up the structure of soap opera. Finally, she looks at what soap means to watchers and in the process debunks many myths about soap opera (for instance, the myth that soap opera, like all television drama, is merely commercial, produced formulaically by advertisers; Williams argues that soap opera is not only a commercial product but also a popular art form derived from the wellspring of culture and folk story). She also argues that it is a form which has been depreciated because it is historically a woman's medium. Discussions with writers, creators, and fans are included throughout.

Reviews

A refreshing entry into the growing list of studies of the soap opera genre.-Popular Culture in Libraries
Her conclusion that the soaps have "resonance, complexity and spacious vision" is persuasive. Undergraduate; graduate; faculty.-Choice
This is a serious analysis of both the programs and their critics which does a useful job making the format more understandable to those who cross serials off their list.-Communication Booknotes
"A refreshing entry into the growing list of studies of the soap opera genre."-Popular Culture in Libraries
"Her conclusion that the soaps have "resonance, complexity and spacious vision" is persuasive. Undergraduate; graduate; faculty."-Choice
"This is a serious analysis of both the programs and their critics which does a useful job making the format more understandable to those who cross serials off their list."-Communication Booknotes

Author Bio

CAROL TRAYNOR WILLIAMS is Professor of Humanities at Roosevelt University. Her research and writing focus on the social, political, and psychological effects of popular film, particularly on women and the image of women. Professor Williams, who is the author or co-author of several books, watched a dozen soap operas over a six-year period in doing her research for this book.