The History of the 'Soap Opera'

The name 'Soap opera' comes from the advertisers of the original soap operas. This was because radio stations relied mainly on income from there sponsors, and as female audiences were the target audience, the advertisers marketed toward them, advertising household products such as soap, detergent and other cleaning products. The 'opera' was because the plots were often dramatic and surreal as were the theatrical operas of the time, hence the name 'Soap Opera'.

To keep loyal listeners, radio stations would each have their own different type of opera, however they all followed the same basic plots involving romance, drama and topics the audience could relate to, such as politics.

Soap operas were soon everywhere as they were very popular and very cheap to produce, an ideal combination for the soap and radio companies, however after the war listeners were flocking toward the television, and the radio soap operas were finding it difficult to complete. By the mid 1950's the radio soap opera was dead!

The soap and radio companies then turned to television, and began making the same popular soap operas for television. The soap ran in the same time slots during the day as the radio soaps had so the target audience would be the same. The writers wrote the plots for the radio soaps were now writing the television soaps. Television soap operas revolutionized the soap, as we know it. Soaps could be set in new exotic locations, and characters could be picked because of beauty, as well as talent. Even though the target audience remained mostly women at home, they no longer had o use their imagination; the advertisers could decide what the viewer saw. This made advertising much more effective. The first of these television soap operas was Peyton Place, which ran from 1964-69, the first of many.

Over time soap operas have created in the characters. All soap operas have different character types, i.e. reckless teenagers, rebelling children, drug addicts etc. For example 'Peggy Mitchell' is the matriarch figure in Eastenders, and 'Grant Mitchell' is the thug. This helps viewers identify the program as a soap opera, and added predictability to the show. This helps as the viewers will know what a character may do next which may add tension. This also helps the shows creators shock the audience by having a character doing the opposite of what's expected.

Over time soap operas have evolved from radio stories listened to by housewives, to being viewed by all. Ever since television soap opera companies have been using the same ingredients and basic storylines to keep up with society, and even though there are few housewives in this era, soap operas still manage to keep their audiences entertained.

Steven Anglin 11CP

3/11/2003

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