In this essay I am going to investigate the feminist approach to the representation of women in the soap opera.

Television soap operas are long-running serials traditionally based on the close study of personal relationships within the everyday life of its characters. Soaps are a consistent set of values based on personal relationships and on women's responsibility for the maintenance of these relationships.

The modern feminist approach to this predictable "role" of female characters, is that it is a way of perpetuating the patriarchal ideology into its largely female unquestioning audience. Feminist, Deborah Rogers wrote, " ...I argue that the fragmentation of soap narrative form reinforces the status quo with respect to the nature of sex roles and of interpersonal relationships in a patriarchal culture." She goes on to discuss the unquestioning audience, " Although the mixed messages of soap operas allow scholars to construct subversive readings, actual viewers fail to respond in this manner." (p325)

Rogers also discusses the difficulty feminists have in agreeing whether or no

Pauline's character is an interesting one to look at with a feminist approach. She has led the life of the perfect wife and mother, which is highly regarded in the strongly patriarchal soap land. She has sacrificed personal happiness for that of her children and lived in the same house in the same low class area for most of her life. As all Eastenders viewers well know, Pauline is very rarely seen to be happy even though she has achieved the 'goal' that many female soap characters aim for. I think this is because she is widowed and her life is now incomplete without a man. Rogers argues that in soap land children are the ultimate achievement for women. She gives the example of an episode of "The Young and the Restless" when a character, Nikki, tells her husband Victor , "I am so lucky. I have everything a woman could want...I have a beautiful daughter, and a loving husband, and a wonderful marriage..."1(p327)

The female viewer both loves and hates this character, sides with her, yet at the same time, desires her downfall. As John Fiske argues, " The contradictions in the text and its reading position reflect the contradictions inherent in the attempt to assert feminine values within and against a patriarchal society." So the villainess is portrayed in both a positive and negative light at the same time; positive because she does things for herself rather than for men, and negative because she is shown to ultimately fail, which can be seen as a warning not to follow this example.

Another of these stereotypes that feminists tend to discuss is the villainess. This is usually a woman who is in a position of power who is invariably aggressive. She uses her sexuality for herself, and not for the pleasure of men. An example of this character is Natalie, when she first appeared in Coronation Street. She began life on the street owning her own business, after buying one of the local residents out as well as having an affair with one of the married men on the street. In soaps the more positive features that the villainess possesses are portrayed in a morally disapproving manner, and so ultimately, success is denied. This was proved in Coronation Street when the business Natalie owned lost her money.

"Soap opera has a rather ambiguous relationship to patriarchal ideology: it provides a context in which women can express both good humoured acceptance of their

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Approximate Word count = 1599
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)