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Soap Operas: Useful social documents or Couch potato fodder?
Being as popular as they are today, one would expect Soap Operas to rank highly in television critics minds, but, soaps are still often seen as being a second class genre, and far more trivial then more masculine targeted programs such as news broadcasts or documentaries.
Indeed, from the very start, when soap operas were first introduced to daytime radio, they were seen as cheap, mediocre entertainment that was mass-produced just to sell products, and not for the sole creation of high class, life-enhancing or educational quality programs.
The 'Soap' part of the name links to the fact that they were created to market products, such as soap powder and detergents to housewives, who were the target-audience. The 'Opera' element was consequential of the fact that soaps were often melodramatic and had exaggerated storylines, much like the characteristics of an Opera.
The fact that soap operas were aimed at housewives meant that the spent a lot of time focusing on family issues and gossip, so from the start they were un-appealing to men. In recent years, modern-day soaps have tried to include more masculine storylines, therefore trying to broaden their viewing audience.
Being that they are so melodramatic leads to realism issues, because as most soaps are based around the idea of one particular street or group, it is extremely unlikely that there would be such a diverse mix of people in that one particular area, with so many different storylines taking place at one given time.
The collective name 'Soap opera' suggests there is just one type of soap, and all soaps are classed in the same group, but the fact is there are many different types of soap; for example, daytime and primetime; daytime soaps often being targeted at a younger audience, like those who come home from school and watch them, daytime soaps are generally idealistic and a lot less ‘dark' then primetime, or evening soaps. Evening soaps on the other hand are targeted at a wider audience, and the storylines are by and large more complicated and deal with a wider range of issues than daytime soaps.
Another set of differences is between British soaps, which have a reputation of being very realistic and represent the real world as it is, and between American soap operas, such as Dallas or Dynasty (classic American soaps of the 1980s) is that American soaps often dealt with enormously wealthy families who had extremely idealistic lifestyles, this is in stark contrast to the gritty British soap, which promote a pragmatic existence.
Neighbours, which was first aired in 1985, is a classic example of a typical Australian soap as it gives off the image of a very joyful, positive life. While the cheerful look that the soap gives off is uplifting for the viewer, it can lead to realism concerns, due to the lack of real-life situations. Saying this, although Neighbours isn't exactly a realistic view on Australian life in 2006, it does show some of the stereotypes we, as British, associate with Australians, such as them having lots of barbeques, eating outside and loving cricket. All of these stereotypes shown in Neighbors are very buoyant, fitting in with the whole ethos that the program promotes.
The optimistic ethos is backed up with the title music, which repeats the line ‘Neighbours become good friends'. This reflects that the program was not created to show real life, but just to demonstrate a cheerful group of people having a good time, and to make the viewer of the soap feel happy about their life, as to provide an entertaining and uplifting source of escapism for the viewer.
Certainly, Neighbours makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is a soap opera, and even goes as far as to include a re-cap at the beginning. This is linked to the fact that he soap has a younger target audience, who may need reminding of the storylines. Neighbours also uses non-digetic sound to heighten emotional intensity in key scenes. The lyrics of the music are often related to the scene going on, for example if someone is feeling happy, they will play cheerful music, with jolly-sounding lyrics, that reflect the action of the scene.
Neighbours is also known for its use of a high-proportion of young, attractive actors. This is because young people can relate to people around their own age group better, and it gives viewers something to aspire too, and to provide a rose-tinted view of life. This is unrealistic, as it is unlikely that the entire group of people featured in the soap would all be good looking, but this is what the audience wants to see.
Neighbours is often looked down on by critics for the fact it is seen as a starting point for many young actors, who then go on to become singers. A prime example of this is Kylie Minogue who started off on Neighbours then began her singing career, giving the impression that she, or any other person starting a career this way, doesn't really want to be on Neighbours for any reason other than the fact that they want to become famous.
Another unrealistic section of Neighbours is its use of lighting and style of the houses. Inside the characters home, nothing really seems to reflect the person, and everything is very minimalist, with no personal touches. The lighting is very dark, which in Australia, a hot country, people are likely to have windows open, so therefore in real life the setting would be a lot brighter.
In contrast to this, the British soap, EastEnders, which was also first broadcast in 1985, is a lot more realistic, with homes that look lived in and reflect the character being portrayed, for example, Pauline Fowler, who's house looks lived-in and the type of place that she as a character could afford. The characters in EastEnders wear clothes that the producers think that type of person would wear, so for example, if someone does not have a lot of money, they would shop in cheaper stores, and wear clothes actually available on the high street, so its entirely believable. This also shows realism in the fact that people have money issues and really have to work hard to get money, and its not just there , as it is in Neighbours, where money is no object. Another realistic aspect of EastEnders is that it only ever uses digetic sound, such as sound from a radio or television, which adds to the realism and general feel of a scene.
In my opinion, EastEnders is seen as a superior social document then neighbours as it reflects the views of society and raises issues, such as lesbianism, rape and child abuse. This is shown in the storyline when Mark Fowler was deemed HIV Positive; EastEnders showed a variety of reactions from the group, and demonstrated how real people would respond in such a situation. This storyline raised awareness of HIV and made people realize that it was not the end of the world or certain death. This shows what a huge influence soaps have on people, so even if they are not entirely accurate, in the future, people would be able to look back on them to see societies views at the time.
In conclusion, I would suggest that the title is not quite as black and white as it may have at first appeared, but really leaves a margin for discussion. While soap operas are not exactly accurate and completely useful as social documents, they were not created to be so. All in all, soaps are just pure escapism, used as a way to relax. Soap Operas are produced to be aspirational, not to be exact.
Another issue is with the title question and the idea of 'couch potato fodder', which suggests that anyone who watches soap operas is lazy and will simply sit in front of a television and watch anything that is on, no matter what quality the program may be. The term 'couch potato fodder' also implies that soaps are all the same low-quality rubbish and have no relevant documentation in them at all, which I deem un-true, as while some soaps may be less relevant that others, all do provide a insight into the views of society in the present day, and show how we as a nation like to depict our modern-day life on television.