Coronation Street was the brainchild of writer Tony Warren, who produced the first episode with the working title, ‘Florizel Street.’ It was transmitted live. A year later, the programme was networked throughout the United Kingdom and topped the ratings.
Soaps often have a range of characters that are remarkably similar. These stereotypes are useful for developing story lines and they are easily recognised by the audience.
Take Coronation Street and Eastenders for instance, they both have a boss. The boss is usually male, usually wealthy and arrogant. His story lines can focus on how he is unfair to the people who work for him and money is more important than friends. In Coronation Street Mike Baldwin takes this role and in Eastenders Ian Beale used to take this role but he went bankrupt so now Phil Mitchell has taken that role. The next stereotype is the attractive young female, the purpose of her is to build a new male audience and for the feminine viewers to have a role model. She is often single, independent, strong principles and has an outspoken manner. She also offers potential for romance. In coronation street I think Toyah Battersby takes this role and for Eastenders Melanie Beale. On the other hand you have the attractive young male, he is used for the purpose of the feminine audience, he is used for romance and he is also trying to be independent. He is also very outspoken. In coronation street Tyrone takes this role and Jamie Mitchell for Eastenders. Another stereotype would be the wheeler-dealer, this is frequently a young male, he is normally ready to take advantage of any situation. He is quite often charming, often interesting for the audience to watch because of his ability to make trouble for the others. In Coronation Street I think we will all agree that it is Steve McDonald because he was always up to mischief. In Eastenders Phil Mitchell is that stereotype. The next stereotype would be the responsible professional; this can be male or female, usually educated, intelligent, often consulted by others for advice. This stereotype is liked by and respected by all the other characters but they are often boring for the audience to watch. In coronation street there is a male and female responsible professional, there is Ken Barlow, who has been in the programme from episode one, and there is Rita Sullivan. In Eastenders I would say Roy Evans would take this role. Next would be the Grandmother, elderly woman, always on hand to give advice whether it is wanted or not. Others often regard her as a busy body. In coronation street Blanche takes this role perfectly, and Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders. There is also the young couple and the older couple. The young couple struggle to make ends meet, where as the older couple are more settled, wealthier, also normally have a growing up family. In coronation street I think the young couple would be Tyrone and Maria and the older couple would be Maxine and Ashley. In Eastenders the young couple would be Sonia Jackson and Jamie Mitchell and the older couple would be Pat and Roy Evans. Another stereotype would be the strong woman. She is normally independent, experienced and self-confident. In Eastenders this would be Peggy Mitchell and in Coronation Street this would be Rita Sullivan. There is also the awkward oldie and the troubled teenager. The awkward oldie has an opinion and something to say about everything. The troubled teenager, the audience tends to like to watch them grow up. In coronation street the awkward oldie would be Blanche and Norris. In Eastenders Dot Cotton would take this role. In coronation street the troubled teenager would be Sarah-Lou and in Eastenders it would be Sonia Jackson. I think this because they have both have just had babies and are both having problems with there love lives.
Every soap uses lots of different camera shots and angles. First of all there is the reverse shot, this is used when two people are talking, tends to be head and shoulders shot. The second one is the medium shot; this is usually head, shoulders and half of a body on the shot. This is normally used when three people are talking, example, at the bar in the Rovers Return. The third shot is the tracking shot, this is used when the characters are moving, i.e. walking or running. This is usually a full body shot. It can be of more than one person. This was used on the live 40th anniversary episode when it first started. The fourth shot is the zoom, this is when the camera gets closer or further away from a character, e.g. when Sarah-Lou found out that she was pregnant. The fifth shot is called a pan; this is to ensure a long broad view of a whole area. It can also move side to side. This was used in the very first episode of Coronation Street. When Ken’s dad passed his wife a cup of tea, it didn’t just switch from one person to another. The fifth shot is called the tilt, this is when the camera tilts up and down.
In the 40th year episode of Coronation Street they did a live episode. The two main narrative strands were, “ Whether they were going to save the cobbles,” and “ Whether Vera was going to survive.” I think they used these storylines because the producers wanted the whole of the cast to appear in the episode. Some of the speeches had double meanings. When Ken said, “ Long live coronation street,” he is talking about the street but I know that he wants the programme to go on for another forty years. Also when the whole cast is singing, “We shall not, we shall not be moved,” they are trying to save the cobbles but also they want to stay in Coronation street as there characters. Ken Barlow’s son came and we know this is going to be the start of a new story line. Then Vera wakes, this is a storyline resolved. When Curly went into the pub to tell all the characters that Vera had woken up, they all cheered, this shows that Vera is a well-respected character. At the end of the episode, when Ken says, “ We did it,” he means that they have saved the cobbles, but also he means that they had finished the episode with success. The actors seemed genuinely happy, not acting.
For Australian soap operas, theme tunes are accompanied by lyrics. They have unrealistic storylines. Neighbours and Home and Away have lots of teenagers who do not seem to have parents.
For British soap operas the theme tune is easily recognisable type of music. This lets you know when the programme is on if you are in another room. The brass band type of music lets you know it is northern. Piano and drums let you know that it is cockney, i.e. Eastenders.
In every soap, which has, adverts every time before a break it has a question. E.g. when the break came on, on the live episode the question before the break was whether Vera was going to survive or not.
Advertisers like to put their adverts on during prime time television i.e. coronation street because they know that millions of people will be watching the programme. In coronation street the producers and directors deliberately uses the northern dialect. This makes it easily identifiable to a Lancashire place. Standard English is a way of speaking without using a regional accent or dialect. The reason we have Standard English is to make sure every country understands each other.
I have been looking at a 1995 coronation street script, and the differences in the language of the script compared with Standard English are completely different. The script is written in everyday speech for it to show that it is typical northern town talk. The unusual thing about the script is that it uses typical northern accent and dialect.
At the start of the script Vera says, “I could do with some crudities.” Then Jack says, “it’s a Christening not a flaming stag night.” Now Jack and Vera had a different meaning to the word crudities. Vera means raw vegetables but Jack thought she meant things like strippers. This shows that Jack is common because he misunderstood the word crudities. Also when Vera says, “ who were that on phone?” this shows a strong, northern phrase. This phrase is dramatically incorrect.
In the 1940’s films they used strong, sharp, clip Standard English. The queen, how she speaks now was old Standard English. Zoë Ball says, “Rilly Gid” instead of, “Really Good.” This is Received Pronunciation and this is starting to filter up throughout the country.
Despite soap operas being popular because it is centred on women, there is some evidence to show more, that soaps are focussing more frequently on storylines outside the domestic plots such as crime. Additionally the storylines have recently focused on male characters as in Eastenders, Ian Beale fought to get his children back and in Coronation Street Jim McDonald had to face the consequences when his son got in a lot of trouble with drug dealer, Jed Quigley.
Finally, other possible reasons for soap operas popularity could be escapism or relaxation. At the end of the day the viewer can sit down, relax and watch an episode of Coronation Street, and escape from the problems of reality, and think about characters problems instead. Most significantly though, soap operas concern with the everyday people and their problems, big and small, appears to be one of the main reasons why this genre is so popular.
By Kiera Brown
