All Aspects of Soap Operas

All Aspects of Soap Operas

A soap opera is a drama typically performed as a serial on daytime

television or radio. Soaps tend to be over dramatic and actors are

often over emotional, to provoke a reaction from viewers. Soap operas

got their names because they used to advertise soaps during the

breaks. These programmes were very popular with 'housewives' though

they now attract a much wider audience. Soap operas have dramatically

changed through the years, becoming more and more controversial, the

story lines have changed and matured in some ways to fit different

lifestyles, and the media.

The media has always been very influential on soap operas, because

they show a clear picture of current events which affects 'real

people', the kind of people they are trying to portray. The expression

'real people' refers to the working class masses, the main viewers of

soap operas. Viewers often get 'hooked' on soap operas, as they have

addictive, on going story lines. Usually, people latch onto a

character that has experienced similar problems to them and observes

how they deal with them. However, this is not always a good way to go

about your problem solving, considering that soap operas are notorious

for over dramatising situations, and giving most of their characters

the worst fate possible.

The media can also help soap operas increase their viewing audience,

for example, the viewing figures for the 'Eastenders' story line, "Who

Shot Phil Mitchell", was greatly influenced by newspaper speculation

of the culprit. It has been known to have been taken too far, for

example well known booking offices were taking bets on who had shot

Phil...

... middle of paper ...

...do in our society. I feel that out of the

two soap operas I have analysed, 'Emmerdale' is more convincing, but

'Eastenders' is more imaginative for these reasons. 'Emmerdale'

doesn't tackle as many hard-hitting story lines as 'Eastenders', which

is probably why it is more convincing to the viewers. However,

'Eastenders' is much more imaginative, because it finds unique plot

lines that nobody else has ever tried before. 'Emmerdale' is more

confined to the type of story lines it can use because of its viewing

time, this then allows them to concentrate on everyday issues, that

seem ordinary to some, yet refreshing to others. 'Eastenders' is free

to choose what kind of story line it wants because it is a lot closer

to the watershed. They can then grab people's attention by using

dramatics, rather than real life situations.