Eastenders is significant in terms of both the survival of the BBC and the history of British popular television drama. The programme is set in Walford, a fictitious borough of London’s East End. A lot of the action takes place in the Queen Vic that was originally run by the Watts family but now is owned by Phil Mitchell and managed by ex convict Alfie Moon. Like Coronation Street, Eastenders portrays women as being the dominant ones. The narrative structure invites the viewer’s involvement in the personal relationships and family lives of the characters. Eastenders has been described as the BBC’s most important piece of fiction.
The Australian soap Neighbours is quite different and as stated above is more glamorous. It tends to feature primarily physically attractive people and there is also a notable absence of people of colour. Neighbours move away from realism and it challenges the stereotypes presented in most British soaps, as the characters are not typical. They’re all attractive, white, middle class. The British audience uses this soap as escapism from their own life as for example housewives are gratified by watching the glamorised lives of the characters in Neighbours. British soaps moves away from these idealised representations and aims to present realism and also the audience relates to the characters as for example British soaps tend to aim mainly at working class and mainly women which means that this audience can relate to the characters that are presented in British soaps.
Coronation Street is a Granada production, which is, broadcast nationally in the UK on ITV. It was first shown in 1960 and it is the longest- running British TV soap opera. It is watched by about one-third of the British population, by more women than men, by older people, and also by people from lower socio- economic groups. It offers a perspective on northern industrial working- class life. Women in Coronation Street generate most of the action. Soaps do not treat women as comics or victims therefore it is pleasurable for women to watch and follow soaps. Women’s role in society has changed in relation to work and many of them hold high paid jobs but soaps tend to easily slip into the olden days. There are several female types that feature in Coronation Street and they are: Grandmother figures: marriageable characters (mature (Betty), sexy (Shelley), women; spinster types; young women). Other characters that it features are: the gossip, the tart as in the case of Tracey, the good girl, the good woman, the bitch and the career woman. As a result of the success of Coronation Street Granada has produced a wide range of other programmes and also a series of merchandising and promotional ventures.
Fiske argues that soaps in general have a predominantly female audience however soaps try to aim at a wider audience. The main interest for men are business relations and power and wealth shown on soap operas, whereas women are seen as being more interested in family issues and love affairs. It is argued that soap operas come from women’s experiences, out of popular culture, and are not a media form, which is simply imposed on the audience. Also putting working-class women celebrates their toughness and strength and this adds to soaps realism and naturalism.
Other reasons that soaps are argued to be a female genre is the fact that it’s a serial form that has no beginning or an end. However it can be argued that this is a form of stereotyping as it is trying to pin genres to feminine and masculine forms. In soaps female characters are portrayed as more central than in action drama, as ordinary people coping with everyday problems. Certainly soaps tend to appeal to those who value the personal and the domestic world. Therefore females are constructed through their emotional reading.
Christine Geraghty also argues that soaps appeal more to women as they address women in a particular way, that women are the skilled readers by whom the programmes are understood, however she also notes that soaps now tend to give different perspectives and have introduced different storylines that will appeal more to women. One example of this is sometimes soaps introduce the gangster genre as the recent example of Phil and Den’s armed robbery. However personal relationships are still at the heart of soaps but it also emphasizes the male grip on themes of business and work. So British soaps have adopted storylines, which allows them to move outside the domestic and personal sphere. In Eastenders narratives have been built around what are generally deemed to be male interest such as the rivalry between Phil and Den or even Den and Dennis (his son). In Eastenders Phil is regularly involved in petty crimes like stolen goods etc. The change in narrative organisation, and the reorientation towards the more masculine genres, has been accompanied by an extension in the range of masculine characters. Therefore the male audience can relate and identify to different male characters that are presented in soaps. Also other genres that soaps combine such as comedy, action, crime etc attracts a wider audience. Another reason of what draws men to soap operas is the fact that it more acceptable for men to watch soaps. They are no longer made to feel uncomfortable for watching soaps due to the range of storylines that are dealt within soaps that are appealing to them. So as Geraghty argues Eastenders is working within established soap conventions but they also intentionally try to challenge the assumptions that soaps were a secure and safe place for women viewers.
Looking at the active and passive audience of soaps, the active audience will presumably know that Eastenders does not really reflect east end life. Whereas the passive audience assume that what is shown in soaps reflect a certain place it is presenting as for example people from the east end will think that Coronation Street reflect northerners and northern life.
In various representations women are stereotypically expected to be bitchy, passionate, jealous, vindictive, etc. They also are expected to be good at the domestic side of life; they are also passionate and value family life. The audience for these soaps does include men, but theorists argue that that soaps tend to be traditionally typically aimed at females. As housewives and mothers, women need to be able to do several things at once, to switch from one task to another and to be interrupted and as Modleski argues that watching soap operas habituates women to distraction and fragmentation. Also women watch soap operas because they spend free time talking about soaps to each other and relating the events that happen in soaps to their own experiences. One theorist argues that women typically use soaps as a way of talking indirectly about their own attitude and behaviour.
In soap operas the percentage of women is nearly an even split between male and female main characters comparing it to other television fiction. It can be argued that this is because women are better suited to being emotional and domestic which are very much what soap operas concentrate on. When it comes to employment, a female character is less likely to have a very important job and is more likely to work under close supervision for example the Royal Family where women are represented mainly in the domestic way. So this shows that women are seen as being better suited to being married and keeping a home, rather than going out into the high-powered world.
In soaps women tend to be judged more on their appearance than their character and also women themselves credit and are far more involved with their appearance than male characters. In soap operas women can use their sexualities as a ‘positive source of pleasure…or as a means of her empowerment in a patriarchal world’ as Fiske suggests and he also goes on to say that ‘a woman’s power to influence and control the male can never be achieved but it is constantly in progress’. This could be at some level true however it does imply that women can’t be fully in control, which puts them in the subordinate group. Values are part of the female construct but it always has the effect of positioning them in socially and ideologically. So as stated previously they are represented as valuing beliefs and behaviours to do with motherhood, protectiveness, family. Even though this could be seen as a positive representation of women it denies them economic power, and generally affirms a subordinate position in the social hierarchy. However women in soap operas do centre mostly on powerful women for example taking the character of Sharon Watts from Eastenders whom owns a club and is very financially independent. This powerful image of women holds a special attraction for female viewers. However as her father turns up she delegates her business to him. Despite her being in power she is still desperate to have a family. As she cannot have children herself she fights to hold her immediate family together even though it is her adoptive family. Her reunion with her dad, brother and long lost sister brings happiness now she has a family, which holds great importance to her. So even though she could be seen as powerful as she owns her own business and is financially independent she still falls into the stereotype and values the domestic and family side more. Women who do not value these behaviours are as seen as bitches and represented as being cold-hearted and almost not women as in the case of Tracey Barlow in Coronation Street who is using her unborn child to manipulate and make herself rich. So on the one-hand soap narratives are dominated by powerful female characters but on the other hand female roles are still dominated by the domestic sphere.
The narrative structure of soaps is multistrand as it is challenging and each storyline can appeal to different member of the audience. It engages the audience’s interest, as there is a verity of characters and different storylines deal with different social issues for example it deals with HIV as in the case of Mark from Eastenders and bigamy as in the case of Lucy and Shelley in Coronation Street. There tends to be no answers or solutions for a period of time and this can create confusion for example in case of who shot Phil in Eastenders. In soaps there is always cliff-hangers and the effect this has is that the audience will want to know what happens next and will watch the next episode. Using the narrative theory of Todorovs five stages after a distraction a new equilibrium is always found. Following Barthes theory the narrative is linear which has the effect of creating dailiness and therefore there are not flashbacks. However this rule sometimes is broken as in the case of Phil telling his girlfriend at the time about his trip to find his ex girlfriend Lisa. Also there are plenty of enigmas on soaps and again this is a technique to maintain a high viewing. Propps function of characters is what makes the characters in soaps interesting as there are different types of characters like villains, heroes and so on. This helps to move the story along. The storylines take a long time to develop and characters change and our perception of certain characters changes with them as the narrative moves along as for example Phil is sometimes seen as the good guy and as the story develops the audience perception of him changes as he transforms into a villain. The storylines are very realistic and deal with social issues. As Propp argues each character is in the narrative purely to move the story along and to serve a function. Its hard to bring Todorov’s five stages as soaps have endless narratives.
The narrative structure is multi strand and there are many storylines, which are led by new or existing characters. There could be as many as 7 or 8 storylines running simultaneously. One or two storylines will be the focus and the others just happen in the background. Than the storylines in the background develop and become the main focus. The multistrand narrative construct the feeling of daily life and give the impression that life goes on off screen as well as on screen and that the characters lives are as ordinary as those of ordinary people. The open narrative structure leaves a sense of suspense with the use of cliff-hangers. These cliff-hangers create possibilities for storylines to develop and it will leave the audience to anticipate what is going to happen.
Implicitly values and ideologies of the soaps construct a sense of community and people sticking together. However it can be argued that characters spend too much time together and that so many tragedies and events can happen in one street. That moves away from the image of reality that soaps like to portray. Coronation Street and Eastenders represent a close-knit community that hardly exists anymore, either in Manchester or in London’s East End. Explicitly they represent the working class and therefore set in an urban environment for example, Coronation Street- northern culture and Eastenders- east end life. Within these soaps there is a definite feeling of community. It shoes a high degree of social realism. Also stereotypical characters are common in soaps, for example most corner shops are owned by Asian characters. Also the typical hard man of the east end like Phil Mitchell is another example.
Camerawork and editing is very natural, close-ups and tracking. The editing seeks to be ‘invisible’; the background sound is very naturalistic. Lighting is usually flat, with no harsh shadows. However there tends to be a lot of simultaneous storylines, more scenes, more meeting-places, more characters per episode, and faster pace than Coronation Street. Establishing sequences provide an overview of the location for example the opening sequence of Eastenders is a shot of the square. From the opening titles in Coronation Street we see the scenes of terraced houses, which brings a strong sense of regional and local identity.
Magazines help to promote soaps. The TV magazines provide the audience with a synopsis of what is going to happen. Also magazines give inside gossip to do with soap stars and who’s going out with whom or soap stars getting drunk. It is mostly women who buy these types of magazines as it gives them something to gossip about with their friends. It also helps the producers if the soap stars appear in newspapers as it promotes their programme.
So in conclusion soap operas tend to attract a more female audience but soaps try to attract a wider audience by introducing storylines that will appeal to a mass audience. Therefore it can be argued that soaps are moving away from being just a female genre. However the domestic and personal relationships are still the main focus.
