The obvious sexual tension between Joey and Dawson in the first season, and also the constant discussion of sex. This fairly controversial affair contributes to the prevalent theme of sexuality and coming to terms with your sexuality. The appeal of soap operas comes from the fact, that they are different to our lives, exciting events constantly occur. The characters are beautiful, rich and glamouress. You do not see them doing school work, housework or paying bills.
Soap operas are substitutes for the fairytales, folk tales and stories .
Soap operas fill a psychological void, influence our knowledge, attitudes and our behaivour. The themes and characters are overtly exaggerated. Murder and death constantly occur and then somehow these characters never die, they can be shot, lose their memory get caught in natural disasters and yet they survive this and come back to their home town. However if soap operas were about poor people and everyday occurences i.e walking the dog, grocery shopping they would not have the appeal that they do. Every aspect of soap opers are exaggerated, there are long lost brothers and mothers, everybody knows everybody in the community, the characters are popular and smart.