The Family Feuds
Soaps weren't built on family feuds; they weren't a necessary equation in soaps. It was not something that anyone set out to create when they created a soap. However, they were an organic equation in soaps. Soaps were built on the idea of families in relatively small towns who interact on a regular basis after all. Eventually, somebody had to get into somebody's way. Some parent has to disapprove of a marriage; some black sheep of a family has got to antagonize the upstanding family patriarch. I mean, honestly, what would soaps be without character-driven conflict (well, they'd be the soaps we see today but I digress)? Even soaps that focus more on the day to day struggles of the middle-class can't avoid it; the show would be boring otherwise. It doesn't even have to be an out and out family brawl full of flying fists, just a bitter resentment harbored by one character for a member of a family that just goes on and on and on.
What made this a smart device was that it was so organic and natural. People don't get along sometimes. Sometimes the reasons are incredibly trivial and escalate and other reasons can be serious and devastating. We as viewers can usually relate to what is going on. The human emotions involved in conflict is basic to who we are as people; betrayal, grief, loss, impatience, and hot tempers. Then there is the fact that it is automatically an umbrella story. For soap viewers who are under eighteen and may not know this, yes, soaps used to be about family first and foremost. So this was a really good thing, it fed the story. Even in the most fractured families, if a member of that family is constantly having problems with someone from another family, it has to effect the rest of the family members. Whether the family actively gets involved or they try to put water on the fire, it changes the dynamics in both families. And that is just with the immediate family; friends, love interests, and other possible protagonists can stir the pot even more. Depending on the severity of the family chasm, it can really escalate into a front burner story that grips the audience. All the characters you hate, love, and sympathize with are involved, different sides are portrayed, and characters show different elements of their personality. It becomes like a game, there are people to root for or against, there is a lot to watch, and it can feed a soap for months, heck, done right, years.
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