Existing Media Texts - Stereotypes Within Coronation Street & Eastenders

Stereotypes within Coronation Street and Eastenders

Coronation Street and Eastenders are two of the longest standing popular in British television. Both have featured a diverse range of characters in their time, each characters representing stereotypes or countertypes associated with the time frame – as soap operas move forward with present time, so must their characters. Within British soaps links between stereotypes, characters and in turn storylines, can be drawn between each programme.

Liz McDonald from Coronation street (see picture one) and Peggy Mitchell from Eastenders (see picture two) both represent the stereotype of a strong, older female however this is not the only similarity that can be drawn between them. Although Peggy Mitchell has now left Eastenders, and there is an age gap between them, they both have dyed blonde hair, a loud booming voice - heavy with the accent from their soap and questionable dress-sense. Both are known to wear bright, block colours a parallel to their character, connoting their large personality and power. Furthermore, both characters have owned the main forums, the local pub; both take pride in their work place and Peggy Mitchell is commonly associated with the stock phrase “Get out my pub!”. The similarities also run within their relationships, both are mothers of two sons and have been unlucky in love throughout their time featuring in both soaps. Their strong female stereotype is often broken by love or family problems. Both McDonald and Mitchell have two sons constantly getting themselves into trouble and crime, although in recent years both sets of sons appear to be settling down and both have a son who is now a secondary character living in Spain. Surrounding the theme of love, both women have been primarily linked too one man, the one whom they both had the longest marriage with but since the end of that relationship have also been linked to other male characters and secondary ‘suitors’. This is such a popular stereotype as a large amount of the audience will be able to link this representation to a female they know who is hard-working for the sake of their family and pride, who may come across abrupt yet has a soft nature.

Another stereotype featured within soap operas is a ‘troubled young mother’. Sarah Platt from Coronation Street (see picture three) and Stacey Slater from Eastenders ( see picture four) were both portrayed as troubled teenagers, constantly getting themselves into awkward situations who finally matured after leaving their teens behind and motherhood. With Tina’s teenage years came her causing of trouble and disrespect, similar to Stacey’s entrance to the Eastenders. Both characters fell pregnant twice during their time on the soaps, Sarah Platt had two children by the age 17, fathered by two different men; her first child, Bethany, was mainly cared for by her grandma until Sarah was left for dead in a car accident, causing the realisation of how much she loved Bethany and her second child died premature. Stacey and on-off boyfriend Bradley fell pregnant yet had an abortion – a choice pushed by Bradley after, Stacey suffered depression. She then, some years after, fell pregnant again by street ‘newbie’ Ryan – she reconciled with Bradley and they agreed to bring the child-up as their own only for Bradley to die before Lilly was born. So both made their name in the soap as teenagers, both fell pregnant twice to only mother one child and both felt the need to constantly break-away from their dysfunctional family. This stereotype is very common within soaps, and troubled teenagers/ troubled young mums can be played in many different ways although, like with these two characters both mature eventually, coxed into it by their love for their children. This is a popular stereotype and constantly used within soap operas, the representations varying to fit desired storylines. Within our soap opera we have chosen to incorporate a troubled young woman as we feel it would be a strong opening storyline, taking influence from these two characters we created the character Charlotte. Charlotte is a pregnant teenagers who’s boyfriend, a drug dealer wants nothing to do with her or the baby; torn between what she wants and what will be accepted Charlotte commits suicide as she feels people will not let her keep her child but she cannot kill it. This is not the only trouble Charlotte has, to make her a more 3D character for the few episodes she stars in she has other issues with friends, school work and family.

Outcast School-Boy characters are often used in soap operas and two recent characters are Darren Miller from Eastenders (see picture five) and Chesney Battersby-Brown from Coronation Street (see picture six) are both representations of this stereotype. Both introduced on their soaps from a young age and commonly associated with broken family storylines, both characters have also featured in storylines about failing schoolwork. However, now in their late teens both characters are budding ‘entrepreneurs’, Darren running the car-lot and Chesney running his own market stall they are both driven by the determination to be someone, something unfamiliar to their families. Both characters are also used comically, mainly as they struggle in relationships due to their individual looks. Darren miller was featured in a relationship with Oxford-student Libby for over a year, this relationship was used by the soap to raise sexual awareness on virginity as they agreed to not have sex until after marriage. Following with the stereotype, in a recent storyline Chesney has become serious with girlfriend Katy – also to raise awareness about sex however, this time aiming it towards the parents and the idea that it is better to accept your child may be sexually active and warn them. Links are still constantly being drawn between the pair due to their age-gap and as both are still popular characters in the soaps the links will continue to form.

Another common stereotype featured in most British soap operas is a manipulative woman, commonly named ‘The Bitch’. Janine Malloy from Eastenders (see picture seven) and Tracy Barlow from Coronation street (see picture eight) have both played this stereotype from a young age, as their character grew, so did their hatred for everyone. Both characters have similar images, dark hair, pale skin and are commonly associated with wearing black or red, this image connotes the evil, dangerous and mysterious character they play. In similar storylines both have murdered a lover, both have turbulent relationships with men,  both use their femininity to get what they want, both use and manipulate their family and both have no concern for anyone except themselves. This stereotype is so common as it captures the audiences darker side of nature and plays upon the type of woman most of the audience could never imagine themselves. An audience enjoys watching these women on television because they are a stereotype uncommon in society and normality.

A more recent stereotype that is becoming continually present within soap operas is a gay man. Both Coronation Street and Eastenders have current characters representing this stereotype, Sean Tully (see picture nine) and Christian Clarke (see picture ten). Sean Tully has been a character in Coronation Street for over five years and has featured in various main storylines; like the stereotype commonly associated with gay men he has mainly women friends, looks after his appearance and is unlucky in love - unlike Christian he also has the stereotypical ‘gay accent. Christian’s character also follow the stereotype has mainly women friends (including a female best friend), religiously looks after his appearance and has been unlucky in love. However, recently Eastenders broadcast a storyline in which Christian struck a relationship with Syed with whom their relationship started unlucky but they finally live happily together. Syed could be interpreted as the countertype gay man, he comes from a heavily religious Muslim family who have now disowned him due to his homosexuality. In a move with modern society both soaps have also began to feature and include the theme of gay parenting as Sean wants to be reunited with a son he fathered and Christian suggests the idea of fatherhood to his partner Syed. This stereotype is becoming constantly present due to the absence presence theory, to not feature a gay male or lesbian would be an unfair look upon the realistic society soap operas aim to create. The inclusion of this stereotype echoes society and their acceptance of homosexuality. Twenty years ago featuring a homosexual within a popular, prime time programme would be considered taboo but as society modernises, as do soap operas. Similar to this is the inclusion of different races and religions to mimic the growing culture in Britain, it would be a unfair portrayal of society if soap operas were not to include these people.

Many other stereotypes are also featured in soaps, these may be stereotypes true to life,
stereotypes that have been exaggerated due to the soap opera or stereotypes that are mainly found within soap operas.  Both Coronation Street and Eastenders have featured a dog loved by the community - Shmicheal and Gumbo, both have currently featured a girl next door stereotype who’s character is now becoming more central – Sian Powers and Jodie Gold, both feature a young girl who is introduced with a father who later dies – Tina McIntyre and Ruby Allen, both feature pairs of sisters of whom the eldest is troublesome and the youngest becomes the kind, ‘good’ one – Rosie and Sophie Webster and Lauren and Abi Branning, both soaps have featured couples portraying domestic violence – Shelley Unwin and Charlie Stubbs and Little-Mo Slater and Trevor Morgan and both soaps features ‘hunky’ local doctors – Dr. Al Jenkins and Dr. Matt Carter. Stereotypes are a crucial part of soap operas in order for the audience to relate and connect to the characters, British soap operas are popular because they give their audience characters that are realistic and found in every-day life.

Not only do stereotypes reoccur across soap operas they also reoccur within soap operas, alerted to fit new storylines and match with the modern version of the representation. Coronations Street Chris Gray is a builder suspected of domestic violence currently making a name for himself amongst the females, similar to this Charlie Stubbs was a builder, featured in a domestic violence storyline and linked to most of the streets female population. Graeme Proctor is similar to the older character Kirk Sutherland, both bring comedy to the soap and represent a young male, not that bright and ‘not going anywhere’ – both characters worked alongside Ashley Peacock in the Butchers and have also been linked to many other jobs, both have comical one-liners due to their lack of intelligence and both are loved by the audience. Ashley Peacock and Tyrone Dobbs were both representations of kind-hearted family men, ruled by their wives. Katy Harris is another representation of a troubled young teenager whose storylines featured controversial issues such as abortion, murder, diabetes and a relationship with an older man. Craig Harris and Rosie Webster are another stereotype of a young teenage couple, similar to Chesney and Katy whose storylines all helped raise sexual awareness. Angela Harris and Anna Windass are both stereotypes of hardworking, working class mothers.

After looking in depth and researching stereotypes within soap operas it becomes clear that it is hard to fit soap opera characters into stereotypes because “soap opera characters have both histories and memories” (Imitations of Life : a Reader on Film and Television Drama – Marcia Landy). Although characters may be created with a certain stereotype in mind, once they become a central, 3D characters they become representations as they all have different stories to tell. A stereotype is a stock character, a person with a group of certain attributes created to help the audience understand the story; as this character grows there stereotype broadens and although they remain within that stereotype, they way they are represented differs. Within our trailer we introduce our potenial audience to a range of well known stereotypes, the main one being the introduction to a troubled young woman stereotype. Stereotypes are key within soap operas so that the audience can easily relate and follow the storylines, within our character breakdown we have included a range of modern and popular stereotypes whilst keeping them original with unique features such as builder stereotype who is 'kept in check' by his wife.