Academic Research - Women and Soap Operas by Christine Geraghty

Women and Soap Operas – A Study of Prime Time Soap
Soap Stories, Pages 9 – 21

Soap operas work so well because the time and date that they are set in relate directly to the time and date the audience view the program, in keeping with the main objective for Soap Operas, realism. For example in Eastenders “plastic daffodils are planted in the square when the filming takes place in early march to ensure the flowers will be correctly in bloom for April”. It is the little things like this that the viewers pick up on without necessarily realising. These, like many other props similar to this context, are used because they are a representation of Britain and realistic to the time of year, around April time Daffodils would be blooming; it is similar to the absent presence theory but on a smaller scale – if props like this were not carefully considered and used their absence would be noticed. Other important world events are also commonly referred to within soap operas, these would be edited/added in closer to the time to make sure the subject fits with the happenings in the ‘real world’ such as the recent announcement of the marriage of Prince William. By paying close attention to the time of year that the soap episode will be broadcast and including important topics and events the Soap’s realism is once again heightened and the audience kept interested.

It is noticed by Robert Allen that “the world of Soap Opera is spatially through the close-up and the two shot”, although he is referring to the US daytime soaps this also in appropriate when looking at British Soap Operas. These shots are often used, along with mid-shots and establishing shots – mostly all at eye level, because they are realistic. They emphasise the characters facial expressions, body language and relationships helping the audience to follow the narratives more easily. They are also used to create or develop certain moods that the producers might want to make obvious such as tension. This is something, when analysing episodes and trailers, you immediate notice more flashy and expensive camera shots and angles are not used because they don’t fit with the ‘pedestrian’ everyday-life a Soap Opera tries to portray.

Within Soap Operas the main focus is always the characters and the lives they lead, the audience become familiar with each character, their personality traits and story: “the audience may be aware for instance of the traumatic events in a character’s past which affect how they are currently behaving…”. Regular and dedicated viewers will know almost everything there is to know about characters and their past, they will have in some cases followed the characters grow up or establish their role within the Soap community. They begin to view the characters as friends, analysing, sympathising and empathising with their problems. Soap Operas are often used as a form of escapism to regular viewers, a chance to escape their problems and indulge in those of others; this makes it easier to analyse why a character may be acting ‘different’ when another characters enters the room. Dramatic irony is often seen on Soap Operas as the audience will always have knowledge that some of the other characters may not. It makes the audience feel in control, therefore making the experience more enjoyable.

The careful time framing and focus on the characters means the producers are able to “run two or three stories together … [making] it quite natural for characters to come and go”. This, like everything else used in a Soap Opera contributes to the realism of the soap and differentiates it from a serial or series. Within a serial or series the storyline would be based around one main family with one main setting and one main theme/storyline – although others would be apparent they would not take away the focus from the main aspects. Soap Operas have no main characters or storylines – they are constantly changing and running parallel to each other, as they would in real life. For example, just because one family has problems in an episode does not mean the whole episode would be focused on this one family, there would be other characters suffering their own problems shown parallel to this family. This means it is natural for the characters to come and go, the characters leave for holidays, visits with family or to travel with work and the Soap still carries on without them; this makes it much more realistic to the viewers. The other advantage Soap Operas not having a main character/ family is the soap will appeal to a more diverse audience as viewers can pick their own favourite characters without being guided to watch one certain character; this increases viewing figures as different stereotypes of character attract a larger, more diverse audience.

Absence presence is a theory that the writers and producers of Soap Operas must constantly have in their mind; it can gain and lose them viewing figures if not considered carefully. As discussed within the text, the roles of female characters in British Soaps are thus separated into categories that represent a realistic view of British Women – a wide variety of age, occupation, and lifestyle must be portrayed for the soap to be realistic. In many ways soaps are relied on as a microcosm of modern Britain as they are expected to include diverse characters from a range of ages and backgrounds that move with the times. As Britain becomes more racially diverse the Soap Operas are expected to portray that, as ‘scandals’ such as teenage pregnancy become more mediated Soap Operas are expected to include these storylines. Although Soap Opera characters are portrayed in stereotypes they are expected to also include a wide range of countertypes. As stereotypes can often be seen as a negative grouping such as ‘hoodies’, countertypes are used to make sure the Soap Opera remains realistic and non-judgemental so that the audience are able to relate and ‘bond’ with the characters easily.