Eastenders success was therefore also popular as in its pre-production stage the producers found from their market research that “viewers had a number of familiar stereotypes in their heads” (14)and Eastenders fulfilled this by not only illustrating the above examples but also fulfilled viewers prediction that the serial would feature,
“ large, matriarchal extended families living in a run down and overcrowded accommodation, that it would be based in a small enclosed community, thereby providing a considerable potential for conflict, intrigue and gossip, and that it would make a great play of Cockney humour.” (15)
The Slaters family is good example of this in Eastenders. Granada television produces Coronation Street, which first appeared in 1960 and through this soap it also established its own regional identity and satisfied viewers assumptions. As Richard Dyer points out in his introduction to the BFI monograph, “Coronation Street is the product of the same historical moment as Richard Hoggarts The Uses Of Literacy.” (16)This book was concerned to “reveal and legitimise working-class culture”(17) and was influenced by a great degree of “nostalgia.”(18) Similarly, Coronation Street “while celebrating and validating aspects of working-class culture and everyday life tended to locate its image of this world in nostalgic terms.” (19)Therefore, it was the illustration of the “recovery of the predominantly white working- class”(20) that was a significant element in its appeal. Coronation Street‘s culture was also popular as it illustrated Hoggarts account on the “emphasis on home, everyday, common sense and the lives of women.”(21) The communal gatherings in social locations, such as the pub and café initiated this. According to Verina Glaessener , one of the most appealing characteristics of Coronation Street is its “privileging of the social and communal over the familial.” (22)Here the characters “focus more on community rather then family relationships”(23) and this is what marks its appeal as it illustrates regional identity that the viewers can identify with.
“Another reason for the Eastenders’ eventual success in the ratings was its careful scheduling.” (24) Eastenders is broadcasted at seven-thirty or eight ‘o clock, which is either after or before other successful soap opera’s such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm so that the ratings would increase and not be threatened by them. This watershed played an important part in terms of “family viewing” (25)as it enforced the pleasure of erasing the worry element for parents as the soaps consisted of no swearing. The omnibus edition of Eastenders on a Sunday, where most people were on their day off provided those who had not seen Eastenders offers the ensurance that they could see it on their day off. This fixed scheduling format evoked the pleasure of continuing involvement, the anticipation that at a set time and regular basis one will be invited into a world about which one has acquired-often a long period of time and had a considerable fund of knowledge. Being a new early evening package, its audience this time of day tended to be predominantly middle-aged and middle class.(26) To broaden that audience, Eastenders would have to appeal to all age ranges of viewers, thus, the choice of the working class setting also made a good account in terms of its ratings. Coronation Street fulfilled these requirements and therefore is also known to be one of the major British soap operas.
Also, as soap operas traditionally appealed to women, Eastenders developed strong male characters, such as Phil Mitchell, to encourage its continuing popularity with male viewers who were “traditionally suspicious of the genre.” (27)Evidence of an increase in audience was indicated by the studies of the demographic profile of the audience that displayed that the programme was successfully reaching a genuine cross-section of the population in a way that no soap opera had previously managed to do and that it was particularly popular with ethnic minorities and teenagers, traditionally the “least captive”(28) section of the television audience. Furthermore, ironically qualitative research suggested that it was “precisely those features which had initially been found alienating and in particular abrasive treatment of social issues, which viewers were now ready to praise.”(29) Eastenders “extraordinary popularity nevertheless means that it enjoys a relationship with the official Reithian definition of public service broadcasting.”(30)
From this, it is popular as it is seen as a tool for “educating its audience”(31) by the means of providing both entertainment and “exploring dramatic conflict”(32) and raising consciousness about issues like HIV (the character Mark displayed this), homosexuality and crucial social issues. However, it can be criticised that at the same time soaps generally tend to restrict them to their personal effects rather than to a need for wider social change-in other words, “they tend to maintain the status quo rather than encourage political action.”(33) However, it could also be this aspect that actually influences soap’s continuing popularity as it satisfies the norms and values of that particular region of society. Eastenders therefore could be associated with the notion of being a “flagship programme” (34) as it also creates a regional identity for the BBC.
Therefore, soap operas possess the significant function for creating an identity for television institutions, as by building a large and loyal audience over a number of years, “they can become a highly significant element in the way viewers perceive the institutions themselves.”(35)
Overall, in terms of realism, it was the “credibility in the form of true to life characters and realistic plots and storylines,” (36) which was found to be the main ingredient British soaps continuing popularity. They offered people the pleasure of being a part of the wider audience involved in viewing and thus offered the enjoyment of being able to “eavesdrop on the characters lives and gossip about them without having to suffer “(37) any of the consequences or difficulties of being involved in real relationships. They offered the opportunity of therefore also discussing issues which might otherwise be hard to talk about openly and provided a space to explore ideas and values and to compare the dilemmas facing soap characters with those in their own lives. They also offered pleasure in terms of offering a sense of companionship. For many people isolated in their homes, soap offers characters the audience can relate to like members of a family and a reassurance that they are not alone in the world. Most viewers admit to forming relationships with soap characters and identifying with individual personalities over a long period of time. In the words of the observer,
“ for the committed viewer, part of the enjoyment is the assimilation of the fictional world into everyday life…There is special in letting the ephemera of other communities spill into our own homes…Soaps are tailor-made for gossip because of the accessibility of their worlds.” (38)
However, others debate on this notion of “realism” (39) being illustrated in this particular way. According to James Thurber, the notion of “escapism” (40)is vital in determining a soaps continuing popularity in terms of how realistic they appear to be. Therefore, for many viewers, soap can provide an escape route from a dreary routine existence into a fictional world and therefore “seeks to create the illusion of a reality.”(41) Media theorist and Film Studies Professor Richard Dyer also analysed this concept of what he calls “the aesthetics of escape”(42) and suggested in 1997, “escapism” (43) however is an important concept because it acknowledges the limitations and problems of real life and recognises that there are things that we do justifiably need to escape from. In an influential essay called “Entertainment and Utopia” he argues that entertainment, including soap opera, offers,
“ the image of something better to escape into, or something that we want deeply that our day to day lives don’t provide.” (44)
Therefore, British Soaps according to Dyer present us with the everyday problems that he initiates are the problems that need to be escaped from which are, “Scarcity, Exhaustion, Dreariness, Manipulation and Isolation.”(45) The “utopian solutions” or “escapist pleasures” (46) that the soaps provide to these problems in the correct order, in his words are “Abundance, Energy, Intensity, Transparency (honest) and Community.” (47) For example, the experience of “Community” (48)resolves the problem of “Isolation” (49)in the British soaps and is offered to the audience most explicitly in the rituals which mark their major events. According to Christine Geraghty it is the “women characters who embody the function of community in the form of the matriarchs who hold the community together.”(50) For example, Peggy Mitchell provides a pleasure of community by organising certain events in the Queen Vic, where all members of the community can come together and celebrate, mourn and provide support and friendship to one another. From this it is clear that the ideal community only functions if women are in control as they are the ones that bring “isolated and disparate individuals in to the community or family; they organise its rituals; they transmit its values and spin the web of gossip through which is continually renewed.”(51) It is this constant sense of community that British soaps evoke that justify their popularity.
However, according to Christine Geraghty the sense of community is not simply present internally in soaps but is also experienced “in the interaction between the programmes and their audience.”(52) Both British soaps develop the concept of the power of gossip in this sense between all the viewers which is pleasurable as it functions to “unite disparate audiences” (53) and allow the pleasure of a “common participation”(54) for the audience in the problems that are being portrayed by the soap and the variety of solutions on offer to discuss among their friends in a variety of different places for when not viewing the soap in their own homes. Therefore, the notion of “voyeurism”(55) is crucial in identifying a soaps continuing popularity.
The definition of a soap opera in terms of its narrative structure is one of the aspects of the genre that also explains the continuing popularity of soaps. As Verina Glassener states,
“Soap opera is an indefinate serial that in theory can continue forever. Commonly soap opera feature multiple interlocking narratives, some of which may be short lived, while others go on for months and years. Ultimate narrative closure is indefinitely postponed, in this sense soap opera is open-ended.” (56)
If one of the pleasures of soap watching derives from a strong sense of involvement, a further source of enjoyment is the endless speculation. It is this unresolved resolution and the postponement of closure at the end of an episode that sustains an audience’s attention and derives from Barthes work on narrative serials. It is stated:
“ Barthes work in s/z has alerted us to the way in which narratives work by posing enigma’s and questions which draw the reader through the text in search for an answer. The reader is kept involved through this pursuit which is in fact a pursuit of resolution.” (57)
The audience are typically left with a “cliffhanger”(58) at the end of the episode which is classified as the traditional hallmark of the serial as it conforms to Barthes code of working through an enigma in order to sustain the viewers’ engagement. It enforces a dramatic effect in terms of initiating suspense for the viewer as the tension arises form the sudden break in the narrative so that the “different directions which the story could take are frozen until the next episode and the viewer is cut of from the created world of the serial.” (59)The notions of “restricted knowledge”(60) and “unrestricted knowledge” (61) are also significant components in determining the degree of suspense and engagement evoked by the cliffhanger. The continuing popularity of a soap opera in terms of engagement is therefore, marked by its appeal of creating “a sense of future.”(62) The promise that next week’s episode will go some way towards resolving these uncertainties is “part of the contract between the product and the audience.” (63)
With soap opera the “teasing component”(64) is quite often pronounced. It offers the viewer the enjoyment of the opportunity of participating in an elaborate guessing game as to which of the several available routes the narrative will take. The twist in the narrative sustains viewer’s engagement as the element of surprise is increased when the “opposite transpires”(65) in terms of what the viewer is led to predict during the episode. It is through these conventions that the audience is rewarded with an entertaining experience.
The closing of the serial is also impossible as there are “multiple narrative strands”(66) that cannot be tied up altogether as they are at different times in their narrative. The viewer inherits a viewing commitment to the “unchronicled growth”(67) of narrative strands, which the viewer is determined to find the resolution to. The “awareness of the history of the characters”(68) through this constant viewing is also a major source of pleasure as it offers the viewer the a sense of predictability, in terms of both sharing and exchanging information about the past and on the basis of this knowledge, to “anticipate the future, to read ahead of the narrative.” (69) “Gossip”(70) in the serial itself performs this function as it “constitutes a commentary on the action.” (71) And therefore acts a device for engaging the audience by giving them new information and detail about their enigmas. Gossip becomes then not just a running commentary but an “important part of driving forward the narrative action”, (72) which sustains the popularity of the soap.
The “very slow pace of soap operas.” (73) also maintains audience engagement. Because the soaps were traditionally developed for women at home, some have argued that the slow pace evolved to suit the needs of these women and focused more on dialogue and gossip or the “paucity of action” (74)so that women viewers were able to concentrate on their traditional role housework. As now social conditions have changed for women, the narrative slowness in prime time soaps therefore ensures that everyone in the audience understands the plot and many fans are able to be occasional viewers and still understand what is happening even after several weeks away from their television sets.
The notion of “real-time”(75) in British soaps, also both enforces both this and a sense of reality. Soaps run “parallel to real time.”(76) For example, soaps continue from the cliffhanger left in the previous episode until the next day and give indication of leaving a “literal”(77) time between episodes. Significant days in the outside world, such as Bank Holidays, special anniversaries are refereed to and celebrated on the correct day. For example, this Christmas what marked the popularity of Eastenders, was the episode of Kat Slaters and Alfie Moon’s wedding on Christmas day. Events are discussed in the programme as they are occurring in the outside world.
Serial form plays on the audiences’ desire and engagement of what happened in the “past.” (78) The use of the past such as someone coming back from the dead, for example, one of the popular characters “dirty” Den in Eastenders, was appealing to its viewers as there was a sudden twist in the narrative as they thought he was dead. Therefore, evoking this sense of surprise could also be an element, and was an element in Eastenders that enhanced its continuing popularity immediately. The marketing device of pre-printing this information in magazines also performed this function.
In terms of narrative and social issues, soaps offer pleasure as they illustrate a “heightened reality”(79) in soap for entertainment. For example, although soap elements are realistic, the frequency of the crisis in one’s life is not, as this does not usually happen in real-life. If soaps were presented as purely real, the soap world would be uninteresting. More crisis therefore results is a soap’s popularity increasing, in terms of audience engagement. Therefore Eastenders and Coronation Street are both a,“blend of entertainment and public service.”(80)
While audiences consist of both men and women, some writers have argued that the soap opera genre speaks specifically to women as a way of continuing their popularity with the audience it was traditionally catered for. Soaps offer both “escapist”(81) and “utopian” (82) possibilities for the women. For example, the female viewer is presented with a certain type of character at offers her with a “position of mastery” (83)and an opportunity for expressing her “repressed fantasies.” (84) According to Tania Modleski, the female “villainess” (85)character is able to subvert “feminine weakness”(86) which normally consists of aspects of her life which she is most helpless, and tries to turn them into “sources of her strength”(87) by “turning them into weapons for manipulating other characters.” (88)
For example, the “villainous” (89)character will be good at “manipulating pregnancy” (90)for her own benefit. She will subvert the female image and take advantage of the man when he is feeling vulnerable and seduce him. If the “hoped-for pregnancy”(91) is not achieved, she will lie about being pregnant in order for it to suit her needs. This initiates pleasure for the female viewer as she is offered the spectacle of the woman gaining power over the man. For example both the characters Laura Beale and Tracy Barlow illustrate this in Eastenders and Coronation Street to a certain extent. Laura lies to Gary that it his baby and uses this to her advantage as he begins to support her. Tracy on the other hand manipulates her pregnancy in order to get money from Roy Cropper.
The popularity of the “villainess”(92) would seem to be explained in part by the theory of “repetition compulsion, which Freud saw as resulting from the individuals attempt to become an active manipulator of her own powerlessness.”(93) This marks the continuing popularity of soaps amongst women, as they continually tune into soap operas to watch the villainess as “she tries to gain control over her feminine passivity, thereby acting out the spectator’s fantasies of power.” (94) Therefore, the appeal is further reinforced as the female villainess character does not illustrate the traditional notion of the “gaze” (95)for the male observer as being passive or nude. The body is presented therefore, quite different from the “bourgeois ego.”(96)
According to Mary Ellen Brown, “the power of talk in and about soaps as uttererance”(97) also provides pleasure for the women viewers. For example, if a female character does not talk traditionally, this will too subvert the image of a woman and offer pleasure to the female viewer. Gossiping about this amongst other female viewers will too offer them a sense of power in terms of female “solidarity.”(98)
However, it has been argued that the continuing popularity of the soaps is not due to this but due in Ien Ang words, “the patriarchal status quo remaining intact.” (99)Laura Mulvey’s ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’, supports this and argues that still, “a system of visual pleasure is set up according to a particular masculine point of view.” (100)Women therefore “receive similar kinds of punishment for their transgressions.”(101) For example, Laura in Eastenders is thrown out by her husband Ian. It is this appeal that can be used to explain British soaps continuing popularity with both male and female audiences.
In conclusion, the concept of accessibility is vital in explaining the continuing popularity of British soaps such as Eastenders and Coronation Street, in terms of providing the audience with a wide range of characters that they are able to identify with. Also the concept of voyeurism is also a another crucial element in marking the continuing popularity as the audience are able to gain the pleasure of looking into other people’s lives without being condemned for it. They also gain the pleasure of observing a heightened version of reality that the soap world offers. The notion of “escapism” (102)and “realism” (103)and the preservation of the “status quo”(104) are also crucial in illustrating a British soaps continuing popularity.
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