Discuss the importance of realism in British soap opera.

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Discuss the Importance of Realism in British Soap Opera                 Peter Harding

Corrie, ‘Enders and Brookie are all one. Family Affairs and The Archers are too. These shows are all a part of the great institution known as the British Soap Opera’s. Originating from when they were U.S. daytime drama programs sponsored by soap manufacturers, they were aimed at 1930’s housewives with Opera ironically mocking the storylines that were thought of as being trivial and domestic.

Soaps have always remained melodramatic, outrageous and containing high emotional content. They explore the domestic and personal worlds of their characters, which make the audience become more fascinated with the everyday drama of relationships and communities then with apparent ‘serious’ events such as politics or current affairs.  

Soaps are mainly revolved around an established location (a street, close, square or an area). Some Soap, such as The Bill and Casualty are known to be occupational soaps, revolving around a workplace. The key factors in Soap are the community – places where everyone knows each other making storylines a lot more possible. The Local pub is a place where gossip can be spread fast and enemies cannot avoid one another. Meaning a confrontation (a la Mike Baldwin and Ken Barlow) is inevitable - providing a worthwhile appearance in soap.

A big part of the Soap Opera’s popularity is realism, which is the dominant mode of representation in Television and Media. The term usually implies that the media text attempts to represent an external reality; Soaps are realistic because it is accurately reproduces the part and culture of the world its referring to. The uses of conventions aid this representation.  A series of conventions is used to charm the audience into the world. Locations, narrative structures and mise-en-scene conventions are a few which attract the audience. If everyone in Eastenders drove Mercedes convertibles with the top down in October, it wouldn’t match the reality of it happening at the same time in East End London.

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Whilst still being dramatic, soaps have always connected to their audience using realism. To achieve this the audience should feel the Soap should be set in contemporary setting meaning it should be set in the present day or at least modern times which the audience can recognize. The drama should contain people who the audience can identify with; a character like Phil Mitchell is more believable then someone having superhero powers (think Superman, Buffy). This means the audience are able to believe the characters are real people too, because of their possible human existence. Realism is also constructed by ...

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