preface

As a term paper, this is necessarily only a first draft. Let me begin, then, by apologizing in advance for its no doubt numerous faults. One of which is probably its length (over 40 pages in the print version) ��� as usual, I was overfull of ideas, and had a very hard time paring them down. I invite and encourage all but the most dedicated of you to use the table of contents to skip around (the "My Girlfriend Olivia" box you should now see at the top of the sidebar), rather than reading the whole beast from beginning to end. If you���re here as an Olivia fan, you might want to ignore ���Textual Orientation��� and all its subsections entirely (this half of the paper explores methodological frameworks from television studies in some detail). In ���Detecting Desire��� I move back toward Olivia, and discuss SVU directly starting in ���Investigating SVU.��� Please don���t feel that you have to read every word in order to comment ��� you���re welcome to post your thoughts on whatever sections interest you.

Speaking of which -- because I am considering working more on this paper in the future, I would especially value your comments and criticism. Please don���t hesitate to let me know where you disagree with me or where what I���m saying isn���t clear to you. I don't know how well I've succeeded in writing something that is accessible and engaging to fans and/or academics, but I'm curious about your opinions on the matter. And on matters of Olivia in general.

Please see the help page for instructions about using the interactive features of this site.