Soap Operas

A detailed Summary of Soap Operas

The soap opera genre originated from American radio in the 1930's, and owes its name to the sponsorship of the programs by large soap powder companies. They were targeted at women, particularly housewives, and designed to entertain, without distracting them from there daily chores while their husband was out working.

They were formulated to be "easy listening" and numerous Storylines woven into one episode. Basically unlike radio plays or melodramas, there were no ending points only ending storylines.

Part of this assignment is to review modern day Soap operas, which have now evolved to Television and to examine the ideolology and certain traditions behind them.

I included a recording of Eastenders, which was taken from UK Gold. It was interesting to breakdown the Scene and analyze the technical details as well as the subtext of the program.

The title sequence, is very simple, it began in the river Thames, for about half a second the screen is completely green, then very quickly, accompanied by the familiar theme, the camera zoomed out, whilst rotating clockwise to revel a colour map of London ( Interestingly not just of the East end of London). The River Thames remaining cen

It also proves to be the case with the Characters, all the time they are present they serve to entertain us, and in extreme cases maybe part of our lives. When that character leaves the series, our attention is all to quickly diverted elsewhere, to the next big scandal. It gets to the point when you simply forget that character even contributed to the Show, a case I discovered when watching my recorded episode. Many a time did I think " oh I forgot he used to be in it etc". Also giving a certain amount of evidence that there is any leading or anchor member of the cast, who is not disposable.

Dallas and Dynasty, American 1980's soaps, took a whole different approach on how to hook the audience. It offered exotic locations and dealt with issues of high power business dealings, giving the audience a fantasy world, as opposed to the constructs of realism which British soaps try to focus on.

tral and the main focal point within "the golden triangle" of the frame. The primary meaning of the map is nothing more than a map of London, a nice pictorial, aerial view.

Previous to what I suggested that each, Soap Opera chooses its individual way to represent, The Characters there is a common element that has to apply to all. In order to create the tension and drama the soap "needs" to offer certain types of conflicting Characters must be present. " The Bastard", "The Tart", " The Good Moral

The advantage with stereotyping characters in this way, is that they can be developed depending on the storylines they are involved in, then when this has ended return to their usual status until another situation arises. When a character on occasion may act out of context, the audience is more "willing to suspend their disbelief" because, they know very little about the characters in the first place. It has been suggested that the Characters are purposely kept very "one dimensional" so when a topical or controversial subject arrives, the audience has the advantage of feeling they would be able to deal with that easier or in a more responsible way, therefore giving the viewer "that feel good factor".

Some common words found in the essay are:
Scene Eastenders, Dynasty American, Julia Smith, Eastenders Involved, UK Gold, Brief History, Entertainment Scandal, Villain Bitch, Soap Operas, River Thames, soap opera, soap operas, soap opera genre, british soaps, coronation street, opera genre, map london, camera angles, uk gold, river thames, responsible manner, applied british soap,

Approximate Word count = 1952
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Movies