In Hollyoaks the British women are generally good looking, because this produces more viewers, the men are also good looking, because this attracts the female audience. The British women in Hollyoaks are very independent, they also have a lot of attitude, and this is due to the culture of society in the UK, where women act more like men, constantly fighting and binge drinking. The women in Hollyoaks are more down to earth, and act more like, your average Jane, this relates to an everyday audience in the UK, which is why the soap is so successful. In the O.C. the women are all still very good looking, however the women are all rich and glamorous, they live in the best parts of California, and are very rich, this show has been so popular because it brings out the audiences aspirations, because its only fantasy for the majority of the world, a lot of dreams are met by the audience by seeing the ideal women in the O.C., the O.C. deals more with teen issues, and the women used In this soap opera are more famous and clearly better paid than the women in British soap opera.
Women in an American soap about riches, glamour and teen issues, is so much more appealing to an audience, to a female and male audience, female audiences because it plays on their aspirations and fantasies and male audiences because the American female characters are so good looking and interesting to watch, the scheming from women in American soaps such as the O.C. is what makes the soap, and gets the viewers.
The common ideology for Women in British soap are a lot less scheming, and the narrative generally sticks to everyday life, with the odd event that happens in the story to tip the equilibrium off balance, thus creating the storyline for the episode/s, British women in British soaps are portrayed in this manor because of British soap as a general are obsessed with socio-economic groups, and they show all these types of groups in Hollyoaks and The O.C., however in British soap, people are fascinated in watching about social class, especially watching soaps about families and people who are working class, this is because it’s a comforting feeling for viewers that there’s “all those” other people out there who are also working class.
I have come to the conclusion that women in British soap are more life like, more real, more down to earth, and a lot less fake, like the soap I researched Hollyoaks, the women are more about realism, whereas the women in American soap, from the soap I researched the O.C. are more about escapism, and losing yourself for those 50 minutes to watch your fantasies.
