General Hospital has been heartbreakingly sad, even for someone like me who started watching after Leslie Charleson died and Monica was “sent upstairs” until the series was ready for the on-screen tribute that aired this week.
Monica’s on-screen death comes almost exactly a year after Days of Our Lives‘ Drake Hogestyn passed away, too, and he’s one of three deaths I’ve mourned in recent years.
When actors die and their characters also pass away after years on-screen, it’s painful for fans… and that just shows the unique power soaps have on the people who adore them.
Soap Operas Are Often Considered Low-Brow Entertainment, But That’s Not Really Fair
Yes, soaps are known for their silly plots.
Just last week, General Hospital had characters shocked that someone presumed dead was alive… five days after another “dead” character returned.
And don’t get me started on the resurrection drug, ridiculous magical masks, and other crazy plots Days of Our Lives has overindulged in during the last half-decade or so.
Still, that’s only half of the equation.
The enduring popularity of soap operas is partially because it is a very intimate experience. These characters enter our lives five days a week, more or less all year round.
We get attached to them as if they are real people because they are in our lives so often that they feel like extended family.
On some level, of course, most of us know that they’re not, but that doesn’t change how it feels.
This is especially true for long-time viewers. Characters like John Black and Doug Williams were in our lives for decades.
The only other show that comes close to that is Law & Order: SVU with its 27-year history, but that’s slightly less intimate because it’s only one once a week and takes several long hiatuses during the year.
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I’ve still cried several times over deaths on that show, but it’s not the same as losing John or Doug.
Soap Operas Are Wish-Fulfillment But Also Relatable
One of the reasons soap operas are so popular is that they give voice to fantasies we all have.
Many soap characters have the money to do whatever they want whenever they want to do it. They also are not shy about telling people what they really think of them — or using their fists to express their disdain for their worst enemy.
That part of the genre is sheer wish fulfillment. It’s people doing things that we’d land in serious trouble for.
Still, despite the characters often being over-the-top, they’re often relatable.
I was heartbroken when Doug died on Days of Our Lives because Doug and Julie were a lot like my grandparents. It felt like losing my grandfather all over again.
I’m newer to General Hospital, so I didn’t have as strong an emotional attachment to Monica, but I already have one to Tracy, so her pain over her loss was heartbreaking for me.
Watching a Soap Is Often a Family Tradition, Handed Down From Generation to Generation
Another reason why watching soaps can be so intimate is that it’s something we often share with our families.
General Hospital has been on for 63 years, and Days of Our Lives is about to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Do you have a special soap memory to share?
Pop it into the comments so we can talk about it. The more you comment, the more likely it is that I’ll write more soap-based articles. Win for everyone!
Some grandparents and parents watched these shows on their very first day and passed their love of them on to their kids.
When a show becomes a family heirloom, multiple generations love long-running characters, and when those characters die, it’s like a part of your childhood is ripped away.
That’s especially true if, like me, your grandparents are no longer with you and they’re the ones who introduced you to the world of soaps.
Soap operas connect family members over generations, so it’s not surprising that we react to them as if the characters are an extension of our real family.
There’s No Shame In Crying At Soap Opera Deaths (The Real Ones, Anyway)
Ironically, this genre has popularized the “back from the dead” trope.
When actors die, there’s no way around killing off their characters unless you recast, and sometimes that’ll cause a fan riot.
Have you been heartbroken when a soap character died?
Share your stories in the comments, and let’s commiserate together.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out some of our past soap opera coverage.
You might especially appreciate my previous article about why soap operas will never die as a genre.
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