Eastenders dealt with the issue of euthanasia in a past show where Dot is the permanent carer for Ethel who has lung cancer.
Extracts from this document...
Introduction
Soaps have two main roles, which are to entertain and to inform people of issues that arise in everyday modern life but religious issues are often avoided as they are very sensitive and can be taken offensively. This is a problem because it means that important areas of social life, religion and culture are not covered but are replaced by sometimes inappropriate subjects. Soaps are a 'moral universe' because they provide us with help lines e.g. after most soaps, they offer a helpline to people who have queries or are suffering from the same problem dealt with in the soap. There is one main problem with soaps however, which is that they have a tendency to normalise rare events (such as gay weddings, teenage pregnancies etc.), which can promote a cynical view of reality. If they didn't have a 'heightened reality' though, they would be boring and there would definitely not be 6 million children tuning into soaps. ...read more.
Middle
People are kept alive often just on life support machines and given medication to keep them alive when they would have once died without the life support machines. So one could argue that we are giving them a poor quality of life. Sanctity of life also teaches that life is worthy of the highest respect, as it is sacred and holy. It also backs up the idea that life is a gift from God, therefore it belongs to God and he will take life from you when your time has come. This is supported by all religions. Euthanasia was used as explained above in Eastenders and was also linked to Dot's religious beliefs and morals as a Christian, as she didn't believe it was right to take a life away. Dot was torn between her love and care for Ethel and her morals but she couldn't bear to see Ethel in pain for any longer and decided to give her the extra morphine pills that killed her. ...read more.
Conclusion
This makes Pauline come to terms with the situation and Dot was in a difficult situation and couldn't let someone she cared continue to suffer in agony and hold on for dear life. I thought Eastenders dealt with the situation of euthanasia very well, as they portrayed the difficulties that come with it, which were what Dot had to face but also Pauline's reaction to Dot's 'sin' made people realise that it is a serious issue and different people react to if very differently and have views as to whether it is totally wrong or not. They showed all sides of the religious arguments as well as the moral aspects; but they also highlighted how very often people act differently when they are in a particular situation. They were also very sensitive about the issue in my opinion but the only thing I would say is that they based the issue of euthanasia around the Christian beliefs and morals, which would not interest all viewers. ?? ?? ?? ?? a (ii) Vikki Charalambous ...read more.
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