Academic Research - Histories and Theories by Dorothy Hobson

Soap Opera – Chapter One

Histories & Theories by Dorothy Hobson

Soap Operas started out on radios in an effort to increase their listeners, soap operas then moved onto to the medium television, proving a massive hit causing soap operas to be broadcast all over the world. In our modern world today Soap Opera are necessary, being featured in many other mediums such as Newspapers, Radio, other television programs and products associated directly with the soap.

Soap Operas play on the natural emotions of their viewers to increase and keep their viewing figures constant, relying on their audience to speak about ‘their’ Soaps in everyday life;

“Soap operas create the illusion that the characters and the location exist and continue to operate whether the viewers are there or not. They invite viewers to drop in and see characters and share their lives, but the illusion depends on the credibility that life goes on when the viewers are not watching.” (Soap Opera by Dorothy Hobson, Histories and Theories) This is often the case with Soaps Operas as their viewers can travel lengths of the country to find the villages their favourite characters live in, some to London in search of the fictional Watford from Eastenders or Manchester in search of Coronation Street’s Weatherfield. The realism in Soap Operas is created via mis-en-scene and the simplistic camera angles such as, eye level mid-shots and natural sound such as diegetic dialogue.

 

Soap Operas have a knock on effect onto the lives of their audiences – if a storyline peaks then the audience will talk and refer to it in real life;

 ““Human beings make up stories and tell them to each other. They also listen, entranced, to stories they know are made up” Walton 1992 : 281” (Soap Opera by Dorothy Hobson, Histories and Theories) This quote is about an audiences relation to fiction and our desire to believe it as fact and relates as a parallel to an audiences ‘need’ for Soap Operas. It explains that even though the audiences of Soap Opera know their fictional they still refer to them as real life events, speaking about the characters as if they are friends or distant relatives. Soap Operas often offer their audience escapism, either to a more exciting ‘life’ or a distraction from their own lives. To keep audiences interested and the program running Soap Operas often shock their audiences by twisting plots and focusing on the controversial issues of real life; they know how emotionally involved their audiences become and play on this as a way of ‘promoting’ their soap.

Over time Soap Operas have grown to be an important part of British Culture, Coronation Street which has been broadcast for over 50 years now is still at large and one of the most watched and talked about soaps;

“Soap Opera is ubiquitous … Soap opera is always present, immediate, engaging with its audience, providing stories for newspapers and other television programs, leading its way into popular culture.” (Soap Opera by Dorothy Hobson, Histories and Theories) Soap Operas not only offer opportunities for other mediums such as Newspaper and Documentaries but rely on them for coverage to up their viewing figures. The murder of the character Archie Mitchell in Eastenders last Christmas left most of the country guessing who his killer was, it was often featured in newspapers, magazines and many competitions were run to guess the killer. In the case of big storylines such as the murder of Archie Mitchell viewing figures of can reach 10.9 million. On average, every week around 32 million people watch up to a total of 45 hours of soap opera proving that they are an extremely ‘important’ part of British life and culture. Soaps are stereotyped to be broadcast three times a week and upon big storylines can even run across a full week. A change in schedule can cause massive uproar with their audiences and may take awhile for the viewing figures to retain normality – Soap Operas are often considered as a tradition and once a viewer starts watching the Soap they will remain loyal for a long time.