"To be Continued. . ." presents the first scholarly investigation of the soap opera as a global media phenomenon. The broad range of essays in this collection examine the cultural specificity of television soap operas and their reception in other cultures, covering soap production and soap watching in the US, Asia, Europe, Australia and Latin America. The contributors consider the nature of the soap opera as a media text, the history of the serial narrative as a form and the role of the soap opera in the development of feminist media criticism.
"To be Continued. . ." critically explores the world's most popular form of television drama. Among the many questions raised are why the soap opera is universally popular but frequently reviled as low culture trash. Several contributors tackle the pleasures and perils of US daytime soaps while others look at the manifestations of soap in Latin American countries.
In addition to providing a fascinating insight to soaps and soap watching around the world, "To be Continued. . ." is an important contribution to many of the conflicts in contemporary media studies such as the nature of local and global contexts, cultural value and the popular, and the extent to which American cultural products infiltrate other cultures. Among the many notable contributors are Ien Ang, Robert C. Allen, Charlotte Brunsdon, Gabriele Kreutzner, Ellen Seiter and Christine Geraghty.
