The genre depends on human interaction and emotion to connect with its viewers. And viewers identify with soap opera characters, even though the characters tend to be from a select section of society, i.e., lawyers, doctors, business executives and other successful professional people. Understandably, these characters are carefully created. They appeal to an audience comprised of approximately 70 percent females who generally range in age from 25 to 35 years old. The sets on the soaps are just as carefully crafted, representing large homes with expensive furnishings.
Soaps are a fascinating study of audience-character relationships.
Not only do fans cheer when a favorite leading woman marries and boo when a hated leading man wins in a business deal, but fans also send wedding gifts, cards and even death threats to the soap opera star of the moment. Fans who watch on a daily basis, according to all reports, tend to have a greater belief in romance, a stronger desire to reward good and punish evil, and a stronger desire to see others make mistakes. Despite the emphasis in soap operas on sex and the physical aspects of relationships, at the center of the soap is the family unit. If one carefully examines the daily activities of soap opera characters, one discovers that the family holds the episodes together and provides a cohesive structure. They are and have always been a form of the serial fiction that was a part of 19th century popular culture, as represented by such writers as Charles Dickens.