Soap Operas

Soaps - An Historical Overview

The term 'soap opera' was first used in the American Depression of the 1930's to describe radio serials sponsored by soap powder manufacturers such as Proctor and Gamble. These 15-minute serials, such as Ma Perkins and Just Plain Jane, were about women and concentrated on emotional dilemmas (the term 'opera' suggested the melodrama of the highbrow musical genre). It was hoped that by sponsoring radio programmes about women, their families and domestic affairs during the day, advertisers could reach an audience of housewives who would add soap powder to their shopping lists.

These 'never ending' stories became very popular and the format switched successfully to television in the 1950's, expanding in length to 25 then 60 minutes. The Guiding Light, which started on US radio in 1937, was the first to switch to television in 1952, and is still running. The term 'soap' in America still refers to daytime television dramas, which dominate the late morning and early afternoon slot (11am - 2pm). Weekly higher-budget shows such as Dallas, Dynasty, Knot's Landing and The Colby's were known by Americans as prime time serials (as they were screened between 6.30pm and 10.30pm).

Soap Opera is an international phenomenon. Almost every country with a television station has its own soap opera, because they are cheap to produce and are popular with large audiences:

'The soap-opera formula - the serial drama with a small cast and limited studio sets - was an almost inevitable choice for any television service aiming to attract large audiences with low-cost programming. Latin American soap operas called 'telenovelas', originated in Mexico and Cuba in the 1950 and were later also produced in Brazil and Puerto Rico. Daniel Filho, Brazil's most prolific maker of popular drama, suggested that under military rule in the 1970s, his soap operas provided, with football, the only permitted topics of conversation: "In Brazil we believe in miracles, and all soap operas have a character who is going up in the world, making it." Like their Indian and Chinese equivalents, these variation on the basic American formula could easily accomodate local cultural requirements. However, the telenovela formula was devised to fill time cheaply - and this need itself arose from the adoption of the values of the multi-channel all-day commercial television, suitable for a rich country, by a much poorer one.' (Maltby 1989)

In fact, locally produced soap operas are almost always more popular than even the most successful imports. Some countries other than Americas have tried, successfully, to export their home grown soaps. These include Britain (Coronation Street), Australia (The Sullivans, Neighbours), Germany (Schwarzwaldklinik - 'Black Forest Clinic'), France (Chateauvallon) and Brazil (Malu Muher). No country, however, has been as successful as exporting its serials as the United States. (Alvarado 1987)

In Britain, these American 'soaps' gained popularity in the 1980's and were partly responsible for renewed interest in the form by British producers . It is interesting to note that an obsession with ratings led these previously successful American programmes into increasingly sensationalist and far fetched plot territory that eventually alienated their national and international audiences. It is a lesson that British producers should heed..

Currently, in Britain, the genre is enjoying an unprecedented combination of mass appeal, cult status and academic respectability. Britain's longest running and most popular television soap is Coronation Street, which started in 1960. Eastenders, a close contender for highest ratings has, like its other rivals Brookside, and Emmerdale Farm, been running for well over a decade. Not all soaps, however, are without end. Crossroads, which ran from 1964 to 1988 was finally pulled from the screens despite high viewing figures and extremely low costs because the audience it drew was considered too old (and poor) to be of interest to advertisers. Eldorado (1992-93), the BBC's soap set in Spain, is thought to have suffered from a poorly timed launch and was dumped despite widely acknowledged improvements and slowly rising audience figures.

The television industry is particularly keen on hooking younger audiences into their soaps. The remarkable popularity of Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away (originally imported as daytime fillers) with school ages led British soap producers to bring younger characters into their serials. As a result, a new generation of soap viewers with disposable income and undetermined buying patterns are delivered to advertisers on a regular basis. The 1950's vision of selling soap powder to housewives through continuous serials has extended to include a much wider range of products to men and women of various age groups and status.

What is Soap ?

A soap opera is a serialised drama which runs for 52 weeks of the year with continuous storylines dealing with domestic themes, personal or family relationships and a limited number of running characters. Soap operas or serials are open ended: several stories are interweaved over a sequence of episodes so that, unlike series, no single episode stands by itself . In serials then, there is no point where all the elements of the story are neatly tied up, no 'moment of formal closure' as in traditional plays, novels and series. Soap operas are one of the few genres where weddings, for instance, are not a happy ending: but the beginning of a marriage that may be troubled or even doomed to failure.

Narrative Organisation in the Serial

In 'The Continuous Serial - A Definition' Christine Geraghty suggests some other characteristics of the genre. Where soaps begin with a 'hook', in which the threads of the storyline from the previous episode are taken up they also end with a 'cliffhanger', in which one or more dramatic situations are left in suspense, encouraging us to view the next episode to see what happens. These cliffhangers vary, '...in intensity and importance. It is not necessary therefore to produce moments of high drama at the end of every episode, and a potentially rigid device is made more flexible by using it comically or for minor events'.

Use of the cliffhanger is balanced by moments of 'temporary resolution' in the serial. These can occur, for example, at Christmas or at communal occassions like weddings or funerals:

' Such moments are marked by the suppression of other stories, even though they will be picked up in the next episode. For once, the harmony within the group of characters will be stressed so that quarrels and differences which would threaten the equilibrium are temporarily suspended.'

These occasions, however, are far less common than episodes which deal with several stories. Normally there are two or three stories which, within a single episode, are 'given approximately equal time...and very often reflect on and play off each other. As one story finishes, another is begun so that at least two stories are always in progress.'

Finally, the serial has a distinctive relationship to its own past. While soaps can, and do, run for decades accumulating complex storylines and histories for their characters, they must appeal to both old and new viewers. 'Thus the past can be actively used within a story, be fleetingly referred to, or remain a potential resource for the audience' but, 'the ability to 'forget' what has happened in a serials past is equally crucial.' (Geraghty 1991)

'Flexibility' and 'variation' then, - characteristics which define a serial's relationship to its own past - are key terms that Gerraghty uses to distinguish the narrative strategies of soap opera. Thus the serial may break at a point of unfinished action or high tension, at moments of no particular dramatic importance or at moments of temporary resolution. These strategies prevent a sense of complete repetition and are backed up by similar variation at the level of characterisation and plot.

Scheduling

Like series, serials are screened at regular timeslots in the schedules. However, where successful series tend, in Britain, to be transmitted in 'blocks ' of thirteen episodes or so, with breaks in between blocks of weeks, or even months and years; soaps continue week in, week out, without a break, until the (very rare) time that the producers decide to discontinue them.

Serials v Series

The major reason why even the most popular series eventually come to an end is that the script-writers simply run out of ideas. The demands of producing a continual stream of original, self contained storylines eventually exhaust the imaginations of even the most talented writers. This is particularly true of British series which, unlike American series, are rarely written by large teams. John Cleese and Connie Booth, who created the classic comedy series Fawlty Towers (1975), recognized this fact when they turned down a lucrative offer to write 42 further episodes on top of the original 12. They knew only too well that they would never be able to maintain the inspired lunacy of the originals over such an extended period.

Soaps do not, by and large, suffer from this problem, for a number of reasons:

1) The continuous, open-ended nature of the programmes (the serial form 'resists narrative closure') means that in any particular episode, solutions do not have to be found for every situation.

2) Story-lines tend to be developed by a group of several writers, who take it in turns to write the script for different episodes. This takes the creative pressure off the individual.

This means that:

3) The action of a particular story-line does not have to conform to the demands of a rigid 30, 40 or 50 minute time slot.

4) Storylines can be developed slowly over several hours of programme-time, and can, if necessary, be altered as they go along.

The Importance of Soap

As Clarke (1987) notes soap operas should not, as they often are, be dismissed as unimportant. They are important because of:

1) The sheer volume of output.

2) Their large audiences

3) Their importance as revenue earners

The Attraction of Soap for Television Institutions

This can be explained by the relative cheapness of production budgets compared to the substantial revenue soaps can generate because of their high ratings . Clarke (1987) explains how budgets are worked out according to 'above the line' (direct) and 'below the line' (indirect) costs.

Above the line costs are those incurred directly by the programme or episode, including script, cast, set, costumes, travel etc.

Below the line costs cover everything which is there anyway such as studios, equipment, salaries of technicians and production staff.

In both these areas soap is cheap. Soap sets are re-used week in and week out. They use everyday costumes and little or no location work. In terms of below the line costs, the routine of soap opera production is perfectly suited to the demands of the television industry.

Soap's large audiences enable lucrative rates to be charged for advertising. For non-commercial television the genre is now equally important. It is claimed that the large audiences that Eastenders guaranteed for the BBC saved it from privatisation.

British Soaps

It is interesting to note that American soaps tend to deal with the rich, Australian soaps concentrate on their middle class while British soaps have predominantly working class characters (Alvarado 1987). The first British television soap was The Groves (1954-57). Britain's longest running and most popular television soap is Coronation Street, which started in 1960. There have been others along the way , including Compact (1962-65), United (1965-67),The Newcomers (1965-69), Crossroads (1964-1988), General Hospital (1972-79) and Eldorado (1992-93).

British soaps tend to have a strong regional identity and are clearly located in a particular geographical area. The characters of American daytime soaps such as the Bold and the Beautiful are, by contrast, virtual prisoners of indoor sets - invariably darkened, claustrophobic rooms. Even in those American soaps that have a real location in their title such as Santa Barbara, we have no sense of a real place as a background to the emotional drama. No doubt the pressures of producing daily episodes on tiny budgets is largely responsible, and bigger budget serials like Dallas do include outdoor sequences shot on film. British soaps until the 1980's however, were largely produced by one of the regional ITV companies, part of whose remit was to reflect their regions and concerns to the rest of the country. Programmes like Coronation Street set in Salford, Crossroads set in the Midlands and Emmerdale Farm set in Yorkshire allowed the companies concerned (Granada, Central and Yorkshire Television) to justify they were fulfilling their franchise obligations.

This tradition was continued by Phil Redmond's Brookside, set in Liverpool, which is produced for Channel 4 and the BBC soap opera Eastenders set in the East End of London. All these serials are filmed in the areas they refer to and attempt to reflect something of the nature, accent and locations of their settings. They are all, unlike American soap, committed to ideas of community - with regular public meeting points for all the characters such as The Queen Vic in 'Eastenders' or The Rovers Return in Coronation Street.

Finally, British Soaps, particularly in recent years, can be distinguished from their American and Australian counterparts by a willingness to engage in 'social issues' such as unemployment, drugs, race and sexuality. This is not equally true of all British soap, but even Coronation Street, probably the most 'domestically centred' of the peak time serials deals with contentious issues, albeit solely in terms of their effects on the personal emotions of the characters involved.

Coronation Street

Coronation Street, Britain's longest running soap opera, draws almost as much hyperbole as it does ratings for the ITV networks. Britain's 'best-loved soap' is descibed by Roy Hattersley as, a 'chronical of our times' which '..now reflects the complicated class and racial stucture that characterises British society'. A more sober analysis of the programme would admit that the serial is as much of a fairy tale representation of Salford today as it was when it began in 1960. Massive unemployment, social deprivation and inequality, organised crime, drugs, alcoholism and violence are glossed over in favour of 'rose tinted nostalgia' for a close knit community of all ages meeting at the pub to discuss their problems. It is also difficult to see how a soap that managed, in over 35 years (until 1995), to avoid having a major black or Asian character - could be said to be a fair racial representation of the North West, or of Britain itself.

Many people enjoy the fictional drama and humour of stereotyped characters and sit-com scenarios as escapist entertainment. The quality of the acting , scriptwriting and production is usually high, and Coronation Street is rightly praised for these qualities. However, when a major politician claims it 'is the story...of the people who watch it' or that 'it deals with real characters and real emotions' the potential dangers of soap's realist style become apparent. Neither the producers, nor its audience have been keen for the programme to stray into the territory of 'documentary'. The exception to this rule was Susie Hush, producer of the serial in the early 1970's, who was removed after two years because her policy of dealing with 'live' social issues such as drugs in the programme resulted in viewing figures dropping from between 16-20 million to below 10 million an episode.

Since that time, those involved in its production have never pretended that the serial is anything more than 'light entertainment' . Bill Podmore who helped restore the programme to its number one position in the TV ratings is quite explicit about his distaste for controversy:

'Although 'Coronation Street' has touched on social comment, I never allowed the programme to become a platform for debate, moral or otherwise'.

Furthermore, Podmore is critical of those soaps that do: ' 'East Enders' took up the cudgels for just about every controversial issue, from homosexuality and AIDS to drug addiction. The series seems to plunge from one depression to the next.' (Coronation Street - The Inside Story). Coronation Street remains the market leader of British Soap due to a skillful, if cosy, blend of romance, drama and comedy. It is this flexible combination that may yet see it outlive its rivals.

Brookside

Less than 50 miles away geographically, but a world away in terms of the picture it presents of modern life in Britain is Phil Redmond's Brookside. His Liverpool based soap opera, first screened in November 1982, positively relishes taking up issues, using the format unashamedly as a 'platform for debate'. As with his earlier comprehensive school series Grange Hill , Redmond uses the 'light' TV formula to investigate serious, topical concerns: unemployment, industrial relations, drug misuse, the state of the National Health Service, child and wife abuse, rape, petty crime, homosexuality, incest. It is the reason, he claims, that he was drawn to the soap opera format: 'I always wanted to do contemporary drama that, while it would entertain, would raise people's awareness of contemporary issues'. (Independent on Sunday 1995)

It is a goal Brookside's makers are proud to advertise. And, unlike Coronation Street whose publicists refer to the serial as a 'folk opera' , they do not fight shy of the term 'soap opera' . In the words of its own publicity in 'Brookside:The Official Companion':

'Pre-dating the BBC's 'Eastenders' by more than two years, 'Brookside' is frequently referred to alongside its rival as helping to create a new breed of British soap opera, shot with new technology in 'real' locations and with a 'new passion' which facilitates a more authentic and socially relevant representation of contemporary British life. But even as 'Brookside' announces itself as unmistakably different, at the same time the programme offers the viewer more traditional pleasures, playing upon the idea of 'similarity' and 'familiarity' by willingly conforming to the recognizable conventions and characteristics of the established soap opera genre. For many viewers it is this co-presence of similarity and difference and the ongoing tension between these two elements which is the programmes greatest strength and which marks it out from other continuous television fictions.'

The stereotyped view of Liverpool as a heavy drinking working class city that laughs in the face of high unemployment, decay and deprivation has been turned on its head. The serial is set in a modern suburb without a 'pub', features successful yuppies as well as working class characters and lacks the self congratulatory tone of so much previous drama based in Liverpool. The danger for Brookside arises not so much from complacency, as from charges of sensationalism . Three armed sieges, as many murders, rapes and car accidents, countless heterosexual and homosexual affairs, cases of drug addiction, AIDS, religious fundamentalism and domestic violence make Brookside look like the most dangerous close in Britain.

Eastenders

The same charges of sensationalism are often levelled at the BBC's Eastenders, first launched in February 1985. The decision to launch a soap opera was first taken by the BBC in 1981. Andy Medhurst argues that the hospital serial Angels only broadcast for part of the year in the early 1980s, 'had not only shown a public appetite for BBC soap, but had demonstrated that the generic essentials of archetype, cliffhangers and vigorous emotionality could happily co-exist with an exploration of social issues and an unblinking vision of the complications of contemporary Britain.'

Ironically, it was precisely this approach of gritty, 'realistic' portrayals of social problems tried out by Susi Hush ten years earlier to such disastrous effect in Coronation Street which contributed to the success of Brookside and Eastenders. Clearly, what audiences found acceptable in the content of soap had changed significantly in that period, making it possible for producers of soap to be more adventurous and controversial.

At its launch Eastenders attracted 13 million viewers, but in the first summer this dropped to 7 million. Rescheduling at 7.30 to avoid a clash with Emmerdale, meatier storylines and press attention drawn by Mary Whitehouse all contributed to the soap bouncing back to audiences of 20 million by its first anniversary. Putting the weekend omnibus aside, Eastenders has trailed just behind Coronation Street in the ratings ever since.

Tony McHale, a writer and director of Eastenders, sees the programme, 'as heir to the radical values of the social-realism single drama of the Sixties'. He describes Eastenders as 'storytelling that engages on a social level'. He also recognizes the danger of writing for ratings:

'I've seen the show veer from sitcom to total melodrama,' he says. 'But it works best when it seems real. People can relate to stories about abortion, adultery, rape. What they can't relate to is the sensationalist elements. To me, it becomes a different programme when there's an armed siege in the Queen Vic. It should be about page ten news, not page one.'

Production

In a British soap such as Brookside or Coronation Street the production process begins between three and five months before screening. A team of about twelve writers, a story editor, storyline writers or script assistants and the producer plan a block of nine episodes at a story conference which can last up to two days. Initially an agenda is distributed with questions about the characters for consideration. Gradually a rough storyline is agreed. There are usually around three stories in an episode which may include a balance of drama, romance and comedy.

After the conference the rough storylines are developed into detailed synopses by the storyline writers. Each of the twelve writers is then commissioned by the producer to turn these synopses into a complete episode. After reading the synopses the writers attend a commissioning conference to discuss the finer details of plot and continuity. The writers then go away to work on their episodes alone, although they may call on the the programme's researchers to make sure any factual information is correct.

When the script is delivered the producer and story editor or script assistant will read through them and discuss any changes necessary with the writer. Complete rewrites are rarely required, but if necessary the producer can commission another writer to do so. The producer will then hand the scripts over to the director.

A director will receive three scripts, a weeks worth of episodes and s/he will have a month to produce them. (There are up to four directors working on the serial in a four week cycle). In the first week the director will study the scripts and show them to other departments, such as casting, costume or design. With the production assistant s/he will discuss the administration for rehearsal and recording and mark up the hundreds of shots to be taken on a camera script. Scripts are then printed for cast and crew. The second week may involve rehearsals in addition to any of the preparations mentioned above. The third week is for rehearsing and recording. Every minute of recording takes up to an hour to complete, which is in fact very fast for television. Detailed production techniques vary somewhat: Brookside, for instance, works with only one camera , while Coronation Street has more than one camera filming each scene. Each episode is timed to last twenty four and a half minutes approximately and last minute changes are sometimes necessary to fit this time slot. After a weeks work the episode is 'in the can' and ready for editing.

In the fourth week the director and the production assistant move into the edit suite to produce a rough cut. This may be viewed by the producer before the director puts together a 'fine cut', the version which we see on our screens some months later.

Criticisms of the Genre

In assessing soap it is important to remember its original (and continuing) function - to deliver mass audiences to advertisers, or, in the case of public service television, to justify continued public subsidy. In this sense soap opera - a story without end, broadcast regularly (on a daily basis if possible) to large and loyal audiences - is the perfect TV format.

'It helps me to relax.'

The language of drug-abuse is often used to stigmatise the enjoyment of soap opera. Its appeal is frequently dismissed as 'escapist' and 'addictive'. Fans who spend hours each day watching serials are derided as 'soap fiends'. Cooperation between channels - for whom a ratings war on soaps would be self destructive - allows viewers to get several uninterrupted 'fixes'. Effectively such guaranteed, massive daily 'doses' offer an escape from the viewers own 'life' and worries through the problems and 'lives' of fictional characters, no matter how vacuous these may be. Fiske's (1987) criticism of the indefinitely deferred narrative structure of soap is suggestive of this view:

'..soap operas teach women by example to forgo the real, final satisfaction of desire in favour of a series of unreal, minor pleasures. These minor pleasures "buy" the viewer, and win their apparently willing consent to the system that subordinates them. Women, this argument runs, harm themselves as a class by their pleasure as individuals.'

There is no doubt that even the cheapest and 'trashiest' examples of the genre (Prisoner Cell Block H, The Bold and the Beautiful'?) draw large, regular audiences, many of whom claim a perverse pleasure in laughing at the inanity of a particular soap: 'I only watch it because it's so bad' is a common response to queries about soap's pleasures. It is often this 'ironic' enjoyment of a (melo)drama and its crude emotionalism which can result in a more permanent commitment to a serial. The predictable nature of the genre offers security, even a sense of superiority, and this may be its greatest appeal.

Certainly, the task of bringing anything fresh to a product created under assembly line conditions is exceptionally difficult, and it seems miraculous that many productions have, in fact, managed to do so. Frequently, however, the range and complexity of contemporary human experience is reduced to a series of cliches and stock scenarios. Television, as Graham Murdock argues, should '..engage with the greatest possible range of contemporary experience, both personal and collective, and interrogate the historical roots of present conditions. It must attack stereotypes and encourage viewers to make imaginative leaps into the world of the 'other' '. Soap's appeal to a mass audience is, its critics argue, too often maintained by insisting on the obvious, the bland, the grindingly unoriginal. At its worst, soap deadens the mind to any sense of possibility.

Another charge is that by picking up certain issues as dramatic or controversial storylines, soap opera can, in the process, trivialise these issues. British soap, in particular, adopts issues with political significance to generate storylines and the 'realist' style of British productions lends even greater impact to the representation of these social ills. In 1995 the real life wife of the Leader of the Opposition, a practicing magistrate, gave her support to a condemnatory statement attacking a judges verdict on a case of murder in an episode of Brookside . Should it be a matter of concern that a fictional court case created far more press and public interest than any of the real cases of wife abuse and self-defence/murder that occur every year ? Nevertheless, the writers and actors involved in this production felt responsible and concerned at the outcome of the case. What if this concern and responsibility were lacking ? How do we to react, for instance, to an unemployed Derek Wilton in Coronation Street ? Does his irritating and idiotic characterisation help shed any light on unemployment ? To what extent did this storyline 'attack stereotypes' ?

Finally, soap can also be accused of dividing people from each other for hours of viewing time, even in their own homes. By providing simple minded, vicarious emotional experiences and the comfort of an ersatz community life soap, it is suggested, becomes less a communal talking point than the only common reference point in a lifestyle dominated by television. To use Richard Hoggart's phrase in relation to 'bad populist programmes' as opposed to 'good popular programmes', serial dramas often, 'treat us like dimwits'. Writers such as Noam Chomsky would go so far as to claim that this is no accident but part of the 'military-industrial complex's' wider strategy of 'dumbing down' , manipulating and pacifying national populations. As those who subscribe to the 'mass culture' debate argue, soap, as with other populist forms:

'..is fabricated by technicians hired by businessmen; its audiences are passive consumers, their participation limited to the choice between buying and not buying..' (MacDonald quoted in Strinati 1995)

A Woman's Genre ? Defending 'Soap'.

It has been argued that traditional narrative closure (as found in novels, plays, series etc) places the viewer/reader in a position of omniscience. This reinforces the illusion of the individual as powerful and in control of events and stresses the role played by (usually) male heroes. Some feminist writers claim that the open-endedness of soap may be thought of as a more feminine type of narrative structure. A form in which things are never finally completed, where there are only moments of temporary resolution is seen as being closer to life, especially women's lives which are dominated by tasks that are never ending such as housework and child rearing. Fiske (1987) also sees the 'endless deferment' of soap as 'an articulation of a specific feminine definition of desire and pleasure that is contrasted with the masculine pleasure of the final success':

Geraghty (1981) notes an ambivalent attitude to gender representation in soap opera. A range of female types are presented in soap opera of various ages, classes and status.' A progressive aspect of many soap operas is their sexualisation of older women. Soaps are almost the only television programmes which allow women who do not fit the stereotypes of slim, youthful beauty to have a romantic or sexual existence.' However while for women over forty having sex 'may be thinkable... it is certainly not watchable' in soap, or on television generally, unlike physical relations involving younger women.

Almost uniquely on television, soap opera consistently includes strong, independent women, but Clarke (1987) asks, 'how rarely do such charismatic figures succeed in breaking out of their humdrum, frequently downtrodden situations ?' To be fair, the same could also be argued for male characters and may be explained by the highly conventional and parochial 'world view' that soap opera allows. Just as the pub's name' 'The Rover's Return' in Coronation Street suggests: all those who wander from the tight knit, community of Weatherby are bound to return - soap demands its characters make the best of their restrictingly small confines.

In 'On the Box' , Jane Root argues that the more traditional soap operas, such as Crossroads, portrayed, ' a women's world, dealing almost exclusively with women's problems and women's stories. Most of the stories are about domestic life, families and unrequited female passion for unattainable (or impossibly flawed) men.' They had come to be marketed at, and associated with, women. As such, the genre, 'suffered from the (low) status of its viewers' with the term 'soap' frequently used as a catch all phrase for the 'worst' of televsion.

Soap Opera's newfound respectability, Root suggests, came with Brookside's widening of the format, 'from its original, mainly domestic and female concerns'. Brookside broke new ground by including much stronger male characters and masculine stories. This 'defeminisation' of the genre, Root claims, may explain why Eastenders was given the status, facilities and massive backing of the BBC.

Brookside's regeneration of soap - particularly the sense of social awareness it encouraged - has forced a critical reconsideration of the genre. Eastenders and Brookside continue to raise issues and reflect something of the cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary Britain. Neither is afraid of provoking a degree of controversy, whether it be stories of lesbianism, domestic violence or heroin addiction and AIDS. They address problems which other television forms ignore and allow time and space to explore the complexities and repercussions that such problems can involve. Soap is, therefore, at least potentially, a progressive television form. It will be interesting to see if this recent tradition is continued.

Exercises

Ways of Looking at Characters

Christine Geraghty (1981) suggests three ways of looking at characters:

1) As individuated characters: based on the common sense notion that characters should be seen as unique and distinct from other characters.

2) As serial types: where a pattern seems to emerge in the kinds of characters found in soaps e.g. J.R. , 'Dirty Den', Grant Mitchell, Mike Baldwin (?) Other characters may be defined as similar to, or different from, these types.

3) As holders of status positions: e.g. grandmother figures, marriageable men and women, married couples, businessmen and women etc.

These concepts are useful if they help us to see some of the structural possibilities of a particular cast list. For example, if certain characters are written out they may have to be replaced by similar types.

Task:

Find examples or arguments for one of these ways of looking at character. For example draw up a list of 'serial types' (2) or 'holders of status position' (3). Or examine why these categories can be seen to be inadequate on closer examination (1).

Task:

'A woman's sexuality does not, in soap opera, result in her objectification for the male. Rather it is a positive source of pleasure in a relationship, or a means of her empowerment in a patriarchal world. The woman's power to influence and control the male can never be finally achieved but is constantly in process. It is a form of power not legitimated by the dominant ideology, and can thus exist only in the continuous struggle to exercise it. A man's "conquest" of a woman, his possession of her, may be said to have been achieved at the moment of sexual climax: a woman's contol over a man, however, has no such final achievement. The emphasis on seduction and on its continuous pleasure and power is appropriate to a contemporary feminine subjectivity, for that subjectivity has necessarily been formed through a constant experience of powerlessness and subordination.' Fiske (1987)

From any of the soaps you have watched list any examples of:

1) a woman's sexuality being used as 'a means of empowerment'

2) 'seduction and its continuous pleasure' being emphasised

Group Exercise

Day 1

Look at the following scene from an episode of Coronation Street. This is the script as the director and actors received it (including non-standard spelling). The space next to the script is for the director's notes - which detail how the scene will be shot: the result is a camera script. Prepare a camera script for the scene. (It will help if you look at how similar scenes are shot in a soap you are studying.) You have two cameras available. Mark each section of script indicating shot number, camera 1 or 2, camera position and shot type (LS, MS, CU, ECU). Choose a location to film your script. Decide on props, costume, lighting (if available), actors, camera operators and director. Divide these tasks amongst you as a group. Draw up a floor plan and indicate the positions of the cameras and any changes during the scene. You should plan for as few breaks in continuity as possible as this will make editing much easier. For the same reason the actors should rehearse and know their lines before the next session.

1. INT. WEBSTERS' LIVING

ROOM. 9.45PM.

KEVIN, SALLY.

MUCH AS THEY WERE AT THE END OF

THE LAST EP. IT'S CONTINUOUS

TIME MORE OR LESS.

KEVIN IS SITTING AT THE TABLE,

LOOKING AT SALLY.

KEVIN

How sure are you ?

SALLY

Two tests. I did me own and had

one at Doctor's . It's definite,

Kev, I'm pregnant .

KEVIN

(BEAT) Why din't you tell me

before ?

SALLY

I'd to wait to be sure . And

anyway, you wittered on about

this holiday and I never got a

chance.

KEVIN

(TWIGGING) That's why you

weren't keen ?

SALLY

I din't want us spending money we

might not be able to afford.

Money we might need to set up for

the baby.

PAUSE

What're you thinking ?

KEVIN

(SHRUGS) Don't know to be

honest . I suppose I can't really

believe it . What about you ?

SALLY

Had to happen sooner or later,

din't it ? I mean, we always said

we would...

KEVIN

Yeh, we did . (BEAT) It's

just ... talking about it now, you

don't see it from the same angle, do

you. "You'd make a lovely dad,

Kev" , "We'll probably have at

least two , Kev..." Planning . That

feels different.

SALLY

But we din't want to be old

parents , did we ? Rate we were

going , we'd have been talking and

planning till we were fifty.

The it'd have been too late .

(SITS OPPOSITE TO MONITOR HIS

FACE) What are you thinking ?

KEVIN

Bit frightened , that's all .

SALLY

Whether you want it , or whether

we'll cope ?

KEVIN

Responsibility .

SALLY

(INCREASINGLY UNCOMFORTABLE) But

you do want it ?

HE STARES AT HER FOR A MOMENT.

HIS HAND SLIDES ACROSS THE TABLE,

TAKES HER'S , AND HIS FACE BREAKS

INTO A GRIN .

Day 2

Film the scene.

Remember that in the industry every minute of soap takes about an hour to complete. This is about how long you will have, so you will have to be well organised. The production assistant or director should log any problems.

Lesson 3

Edit the sequence.

Log and discuss any problems you had with meeting the deadlines - check the production assistant's notes from the previous lesson. These problems can be of many sorts: (eg. lack of experience with the technology, poor organisation, unavailability of cast, crew, location, props, production facilities etc) Log what worked and what did not work. Note any suggestions for the next production to avoid the problems you experienced this time.

Group Exercise

Task:

Prepare three minutes of a soap opera. This could be made up of three scenes. Reread the section on production and work in groups of nine to write, act, produce and edit the sequence.

Suggested scheme for production

Day 1.

Story Conference. It may be quicker to base your characters on types in the soaps you are studying. Outline the three scenes as a group of nine. Write a brief description of the characters and synopsis of one of these scenes in groups of three. The scenes should be simple and brief. All three people in the group should have their own copy of this work.

Ideas for scenes:

Scene 1. a job offer.

Scene 2. someone causes offence unintentionally.(possibly humorous)

Scene 3. a romantic proposal.

Lesson 2.

Commissioning Conference. Briefly discuss your three stories. If possible organise matching cuts from one scene to the next - these may be simple visual links such as a closing door at the end of one scene and an opening door at the beginning of another. They provide some form of continuity between scenes where there may be none .

Scriptwriting. In groups of three write up your one minute scene in full. Each scene should be no longer than the sample script from Coronation Street. Type the scene in the same format as the sample script. The same characters may appear in more than one scene - but this may cause continuity problems.

Lesson 3.

Preproduction. Prepare a camera script for your scene. Discuss and organise all aspects of production.

Lesson 4.

Rehearsal and Production : Scene 1.

Lesson 5.

Rehearsal and Production : Scene 2. Post Production: Scene 1.

Lesson 6.

Rehearsal and Production : Scene 3. Post Production : Scene 2

Lesson 7.

Post Production: Scene 3. Edit the sequence together. Write up an assessment of the finished product.

Essay

What are the major conventions of soap opera ?

(or)

What are the distinctive narrative qualities of soap opera ?

Essay

How is marriage represented in continuous serials ?

Essay

'The soap opera villainess is the negative image of the viewer's ideal self , which is constructed by the soaps as the ideal mother.' (Modleski) Discuss this view with reference to soap operas you have watched.

Essay

'Soaps are historically and culturally produced, which means that the feminine readings they offer are within and against patriarchy.' Illustrate this argument with examples you have studied.

Essay

'A defining characteristic of soap opera is its denial of a unified reading position and of a coherent meaning of the text.' (Fiske) Explain this position. Do you agree with it ?

Sources

Alvarado, M. (1987) 'Television and Video' Wayland

Brookside The Official Companion *

Coronation Street The Story *

Murdoch, G. Sight and Sound*

Root, J. (1984) Open the Box Comedia

Smith, J. and Holland, T. (1987) Eastenders the Inside Story BBC Books

Masterman, L. (1980) Teaching About Television Macmillan

Andy Beckett 'Scouse Sultan of Soap' A Profile of Phil Redmond The Independent on Sunday May 95

Medhurst, A. Risen From The East profile of Eastenders in The Observer Review Feb 95

Hattersley, R. Coronation Street reviewed for TV Quick 1990

Medhurst, A. Letting Them Watch Soap The Observer April 94

Dyer, R et al. (1981) Coronation Street BFI

Clarke, M. (1987) Teaching Popular Television Heinemann Educational in association with the BFI check that quotes are from Clarke !

Christine, G (1991) 'Women and Soap Opera' Polity Press

Bazalgette, C. et al. (1983) Teaching Coronation Street BFI Education

Fiske, J. (1987) Television Culture Routledge

Strinati, D. (1995) An Introduction to the Theories of Popular Culture Routledge

Maltby, R. ed (1989) 'Dreams for Sale - Popular Culture in the 20th Century' Equinox Ltd