- The appearance of the object, place, idea or person.
- The context of the society in which the representation takes place.
- The reaction of the audience to the thing being represented.
The soap opera genre originated in American radio serials of the 1930s and the term soap is used for these programmes because major soap powder companies sponsored them. Television soap operas are long-running serials concerned with everyday life. The serial should not be confused with the series in which the main characters and format remain the same from programme to programme but each episode is a self-contained plot. In a serial at least one story line is carried over from one episode to the next. A series is advertised as having a specific number of episodes but serials are potentially endless. Successful soaps may continue for many years. So new viewers have to be able to join in at any stage in the serial. In serials the passage of time also appears to reflect real time for the viewers and in long-running soaps the characters age as the viewers do.
I will be using the three main soaps to discuss and compare the representation of ethnicity in these popular soaps:
Eastenders is set in the East End of London, which is a city of great ethnic diversity but Eastenders lacks this ethnic mix so it is not a true representation of east London. I can prove slightly that
Positive discrimination only achieves a false idea of equality
We pay the same taxes, pay for your royal family and as such we have earned the right to be represented in the media as much as the next person.
Ethnic diversity is not well represented on British television. Also, notice how the programme with an ethnic bias is poorly scheduled - both on BBC and C4. Yes, there are some 'ethnic' news presenters - but these are tokens. There are whole fields in TV Production where, I know for certain, minorities are under-represented
I agree ethnic minorities are under represented on television, my partner and I were trying to think of famous English black actors just the other night and I am sorry to say I couldn't name any, and could only think of a few
However what concerns me is the way ethnic minorities are portrayed in these programs. Stereotypes seem to be the norm when making TV.
Kat for example is shown as being a mother figure, and a good, caring person who is a victim of abuse in this episode. But in previous episodes she has been represented as a bad person who sleeps around and doesn’t do any work. Therefore she cannot be classified as occupying a specific role. It is also difficult to classify characters because of the frequent changes in story lines and their prominence within them. This highlights one of Mary Ellen Brown’s points that soap operas portray strong women outside the domestic setting.
For example, eastenders has very few black and asian characters. although the quantity has increased recently, it is not a true representation of east london.
Brookie offers plenty of gripping storylines and they've managed to incorporate these into the characters of the Johnson family for years, and avoided making them the token Black family on the Close. Storylines revolving around the Johnson's have focused on euthanasia, drugs, and date rape - and perhaps surprisingly, none of them have focused on the usual stereotypes you'd expect a soap to focus on. The Johnson's are a normal family and have to cope with the same things any other family on the close may have to cope with.
Coronation Street: "We are not an issue-led show"
Pressure groups want Britain's soaps to change the way they portray black and Asian people in the wake of a row over a new Coronation Street character.
The ITV soap this week introduced black teenager Marcus Wrigley into the storyline - but has been condemned for showing him help another character break into a house.
Granada Television has denied the storyline was racist, but the Commission for Racial Equality has said Britain's soaps need to improve the way black and Asian characters are portrayed.
"The soaps need to move on," said a CRE spokeswoman.
"Soaps like Coronation Street need to relect life as it is now, especially as it is set in Manchester, which has a high ethnic population.
"Yet black characters are featured very infrequently, and then when you see one, he's a burglar."
She added that when soaps do feature non-white characters, they are often portrayed stereotypically.
Gita and Sanjay: A string of misfortunes
"People from ethnic minorities are not a separate species from white people, they live in the same country as white people and do the same things as them," she said.
"Yet - for example - if there's an Asian family featured, it seems they must have problems with arranged marriages."
Jude Woodford, co-ordinator of the National Assembly Against Racism pressure group, said: "Writers have to ensure black people are fully represented in the programmes they produce, and to show the the full range of things they do - you never see a black person in a position of authority, for example.
"We have to stop recycling racist stereotypes."
Despite the programmes' determination to reflect real life, very few black characters in soap operas become long-term fixtures of their programmes.
Asian EastEnders characters Saeed and Naima Jaffrey's arranged marriage caused them problems, while Gita and Sanjay Kapoor have recently been written out following a series of misfortunes including infidelity and infertility
