Emma Jackson

Media Coursework

For my GCSE media coursework I have been asked to write about a television soap or series. I have chosen to write about the popular soap, Eastenders. Eastenders is a fictional drama soap about a small community living in East London. First I shall explain what a soap is.

A soap is a television program that is all about peoples daily lives and the events that happen. Soaps are ongoing, contemporary dramas. Contemporary means that the plots and storylines are all based on on real – life events that can and do happen to real people. Ongoing means the plot of the soap is held out over the episodes. Soaps can be split into different categories such as, countryside soaps, city soaps, or police soaps. Emmerdale is an example of countryside soap, Coronation Street, Eastenders, as city soaps, and The Bill as a police soap. The reason television soaps are called soaps is because the soap used to be advertised on the side of soap packets. Soaps always end with a cliffhanger. When I say cliffhanger, I mean that at the end of the episode the main plot finishes half way through. This leaves the viewers wondering what will happen next, so they watch the next episode.

On the other hand, series have a different way of keeping the viewers interested. At the end of the episode they show you a sneak preview of what will be happening in the next episode. I don’t think this is a good way to make sure you keep your viewers because its spoils the surprise. A series has a new main plot for every episode, the plot is introduced as the episode begins and finishes as it ends. Series always have smaller plots. The idea for these is for you to keep in the back of your mind, so you keep watching. The smaller plots are carried on over two or three episodes, like in soap.

Another way they keep people watching is by letting newspapers and magazines inform their readers of the future storylines. I don’t think they should be allowed to do this because most people would rather watch the soap without knowing what will happen next. It makes the soap or series more enjoyable. By doing this, it means more people watch so they get more money. Another Eastender makes its money is by merchandising. In other words, Eastenders produce product which have a connection to Eastenders and try to sell them. On the Eastenders website () they sell items such as, mugs, T-shirt, books etc. All of which have some connection to Eastenders. They may have a picture of a character of “Eastenders” written across it.

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Series are not ongoing. They usually have about 12 episodes, then switch with a different series. Series also have different categories, such as, city and countryside series, relationship series, police, crime and prison series, comedy series, and hospital series.

Both soaps and series exaggerate the plot to make it more interesting and attract more viewers. We know that it doesn’t really happen like that in life but we except and believe it to make the soap work, if we didn’t they would be no point in watching. Like in Eastenders, the characters live in a fictional city ...

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