MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu CMS.603 American Soap Operas Spring 2008 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms. As the World Turns in a Convergence Culture by Samuel Earl Ford B.A. English, Mass Communication, News/Editorial Journalism, Communication Studies Western Kentucky University, 2005 SUBMITTED TO THE PROGRAM IN COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUNE 2007 2007 Samuel Earl Ford. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author: ____________________________________________________________ Program in Comparative Media Studies 11 May 2007 Certified by: ___________________________________________________________________ William Charles Uricchio Professor of Comparative Media Studies Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: __________________________________________________________________ Henry Jenkins Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities Professor of Comparative Media Studies and Literature Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies 1 As the World Turns in a Convergence Culture by Samuel Earl Ford Submitted to the Program in Comparative Media Studies on May 11, 2007, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies ABSTRACT The American daytime serial drama is among the oldest television genres and remains a vital part of the television lineup for ABC and CBS as what this thesis calls an immersive story world. However, many within the television industry are now predicting that the genre will fade into obscurity after two decades of declining ratings. This study outlines how the soap opera industry is and could be further adapting to the technological and social changes of a convergence culture to maintain and revitalize the genre’s relevance for viewers and advertisers alike. CBS/Procter and Gamble Productions/TeleVest’s As the World Turns will serve as a case study for these changes. This project examines how the existing fan base plays an active role in gaining and maintaining new fans by researching historical and contemporary examples of social relationships that fans form with other fans and the show itself. In addition to looking at how these fan communities operate, this thesis focuses on how soap operas have adapted and might adapt to alternate revenue models such as product placement, capitalize on their vast content archives, and tell stories through multiple media formats. The study concludes that soap operas should be managed as brands and not ephemeral television content because of their permanence in the television landscape, that fans outside the target advertising demographic should be empowered as proselytizers for the show, and that a transgenerational storytelling approach best utilizes the power of the genre to tell its stories. Thesis Supervisor: William Charles Uricchio Title: Professor of Comparative Media Studies 3 About the Author Sam Ford is a June 2007 Master of Science candidate in the Program in Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been a student at MIT since 2005. He previously received a Bachelor of Arts from Western Kentucky University in 2005 with majors in English (writing) from the Department of English, mass communication and news/editorial journalism from the School of Journalism and Broadcasting, and communication studies from the Department of Communication. He also held a minor in film studies. During his four years at WKU from 2001 to 2005, he worked as a professional journalist for the Andy Anderson Corporation, Craig Williams Creative, the Kentucky Associated Press, and the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at WKU. Ford remains a columnist for The Ohio County Times-News, located in Hartford, Ky., and a freelance journalist. During his time at MIT, he has worked with the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium as a researcher, writing white papers and running the consortium’s public blog and internal newsletter. The consortium brings together graduate students, MIT faculty, leading academics, and corporate partners from the media industries to discuss the changing technological and social climate of the media. His white papers have included a detailed look at the activities of fan communities, an ethnography of media consumption in a student dormitory, and a case study of tape trading behaviors among pro wrestling fans. While at WKU, Ford co-taught a freshman seminar for the School of Journalism and Broadcasting students and a special topics media research class on professional wrestling. In Spring 2007, he taught Topics in Comparative Media: American Professional Wrestling for the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT. His essay “Mick Foley: Pro Wrestling and the Contradictions of the Contemporary American Hero” is set to be published in the forthcoming book Bodies of Discourse: Sports Stars, Media, and the Global Public, and his essay “Pinning Down Fan Involvement: An Examination of the Multiple Modes of Engagement for Pro Wrestling Fans” is under revision for the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Ford’s previous work on soap operas was presented at the 2007 National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference on 06 April 2007, and portions of this thesis were presented at MIT at the Media in Transition 5 Conference on 28 April 2007. 5 Dedication This research is dedicated to three of the most important women in my life, all of whom have shared my passion for the soap opera genre in general and As the World Turns in particular: first, my grandmother, Beulah Hillard, whose longtime love of her “story” fostered a multigenerational family interest in the narrative of As the World Turns; my mother, Betty Ford, whose continued active viewing of ATWT throughout my childhood and adolescence created a bond with the characters in fictional Oakdale, Ill., that has lasted throughout my life; and my wife, Amanda Ford, who has helped me make ATWT part of the regular evening ritual in the Ford household. 7 Acknowledgments As always, I want to thank my wife Amanda, both for her continuous feedback and communal viewing of As the World Turns with me, but also for her regular support, guidance, editing, patience, nudging, pleading, and demands to keep me on track in working on this project over the past two years. I thank William Uricchio and Henry Jenkins, whose advice and support at every stage of this project has helped to shape my thinking. William’s urging for understanding the parallels of the historical development of television was instrumental in grounding my understanding of the formation of online fan communities around the soap opera, while Henry’s breakdown of what he labels a convergence culture in his book by the same name provided the groundwork for the chapters of this thesis. This thesis was also greatly strengthened by the participation of the other two members of my thesis committee, Lynn Liccardo and Kay Alden. Due to MIT administrative issues outside of my committee’s control, this thesis does not bear the signature of either, even though they both signed my original title page, but their guidance and suggestions at every step of the writing process left a permanent mark on this document nonetheless. Lynn’s efforts to ensure that my thoughts remain consistent with the realities of soap opera fandom and the industry, based on her work for the soap opera press and her longtime involvement in the soap opera fan community, were substantial. Kay, the longtime head writer for The Young and the Restless and former consultant for ABC Daytime, also helped me tremendously in grounding my work in the realities of the daytime television industry. All our marathon telephone conversations helped direct the ideas that are presented here. 9 I thank Joshua Green and my fellow colleagues in the Convergence Culture Consortium—Ivan Askwith, Geoffrey Long, and Alec Austin in particular—for shaping the development of this thesis. Askwith’s own thesis project, looking at the modes of engagement that fans have with media content using ABC’s Lost television series as a case study, closely paralleled mine, and many of the ideas contained in this thesis are related to our many conversations over the past two years. Long’s persistent interest in transmedia storytelling and his own thesis project on the Jim Henson company’s use of transmedia extensions also played an important role in my own understanding of how telling a story over multiple media forms has or could work, while Alec Austin’s research on product placement for C3 helped guide my understanding of both the historical developments and audience reaction to product placement in television. Finally, despite not being a member of my thesis committee, Joshua has showed interest in my ideas and gave me a chance to present them to C3 members at the Collaboration 2.0 event in Spring 2007. I thank the users of the ATWT Media Domain board for accepting me into their community and for sometimes openly sharing their ideas in relation to my project. Above all, I thank them for their creativity and passion, which initially sparked my interest in this thesis project. I also thank those on the PGP Soapbox, Soap Central, and R.A.T.S. ATWT boards whom I have interacted with regularly over the past couple of years. I thank Nancy Baym both for her influential research that this study builds upon and also for her helpful feedback and communication. I thank mentor and fellow soaps fan Ted Hovet of Western Kentucky University, who acts as a Affiliated Faculty member with the Convergence Culture Consortium, for his feedback on this project. I also thank fellow male soaps fan John Morris, both for becoming an ATWT convert during this project and for his regular conversations 10 regarding the show and its fan community.