"Soap Opera soap box"-- love that.

 

You know, when I was younger (and still now probably) the soap opera genre blew my mind; I couldn't conceive of it.  You point out that they are daily and that's the thing that gets me-- there is no beginning, there is no forseeable ending.  And while I love films and novels that resist easily tied-up narratives, they still fit within a format that is easily tied up: no more pages, the credits roll, etc.  But soap operas are so vast and amorphous; could anyone ever know the whole story?  Is that the point-- that stories aren't so easily reducible?  This is why Dickens and you are sympatico.  He is the original soap opera writer. 

 

But back to me-- what is this anxiety I have (and maybe others) about not being able to get the whole story?  Isn't it more about a universe, a vibe, a place, than everything reducing to one point?  That's feminist, honey.  I dunno.  I feel the same way with The Matrix/Star Wars/Trek, Joss Whedon-esque-type universes that extend into novels, films, tv, and whatever else. 

 

Stories told across multiple media like that cannot be encapsulated either, BUT it's different than the soap, write?  The soap is told in one medium, unless you count fanfic.  What makes the soap so broad, then, is simply that it is told every day, seemingly forever.  However, just because it's been called General Hospital for so many years since radio doesn't mean it's still the same show, right?  It changes, grows.  But there is no definitive breaks, cuts, or endings.  Some stories overlap as some end and begin, as characters leave or die or discover twins. 

 

I dunno.  What do you think?

You've basically hit the nail.  The thing is that nothing ends.  Soap operas thrive in the land of supporting characters, spin offs, if you will.  How often have you met a supporting character you just adorded, just couldn't get enough of?  The Artful Dodger?  Emma's project Harriet Smith?  Well that's how soaps mine their history to make the show new again.  Once the story of Joanie is told, the story of her sister Toni must be told, and after that the story of their childhood full with teasing at being rhyming sisters!

 

Ok, that's not it exactly, but the function of soap does change, just as the function of all medium changes.  Think about newspapers:  once our daily source of what's what and who's who, they now find themselves gearing toward online subscribers, while the nightly news anchor becomes our liaison of current events. The great American novel is no longer what it once was.  With 30 million copies in print, The Davinci Code tells us that the public craves a different kind of mystery novel.

 

And your journey and obsession with having the whole truth?  Well, I think it's pretty darn normal. I'm sure you're tired of hearing me tell you that. You want the answers, that's why you're a researcher.  I want the answers, that's why I spend my small fortune on VHS dubs of GH from 1986.  All you need to remember is that it's not always the truth that sets you free.  Rather it's the journey that becomes your truth.