Simply soapy
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Transcript of Simply soapy
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Simply soapy
How to teach soaps
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What is a soap?
• Broadcast serial drama, characterized by a permanent cast of actors, a continuing story, tangled interpersonal situations, and a melodramatic or sentimental style.
• Feminised episode structure (open-ended episodes, cliffhangers) as opposed to formal closure. (masculinised structure)
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Origins
• Its name derived from the soap and detergent manufacturers who originally often sponsored such programs on radio.
• Credit for the first soap opera usually goes to Irna Phillips, who created Painted Dreams for WGN radio in Chicago in 1930. (Structure of popular serialised novels from C19.)
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US Soaps
• The Guiding Light (since 1937; on TV since 1952; longest story ever.)
• As the World Turns (ATWT) (since 1956; 13,000+ episodes)
• General Hospital (GH) (since 1963)
• Days of our Lives (since 1965)
• The Young and the Restless (since 1973)
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US Soaps (primetime serials)
• Peyton Place (1964-1969)
• Dallas (1978-1991)
• Dynasty (1981-1989)
• Falcon Crest (1981-1990)
• Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-2000)
• Melrose Place (1992-1999)
• Dawson's Creek (1998-2003)
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US Soaps (primetime serials)
• Alias (2001-2006)
• Desperate Housewives (2004-planned to 2011)
• Grey's Anatomy (2004-planned to 2008)
• Ugly Betty, October Road….
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UK Soaps
• The Archers (longest running radio soap; since 1951; 15000+ episodes)
• Coronation Street (GB since 1960)• Crossroads (1964-1988)• Emmerdale (since 1972)• Brookside (1982-2003)• EastEnders (since 1985)• Hollyoaks (since 1995)
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Forms and conventions 1
• Generic convention of soap
1. Themes (love, conflict, secrets, skeletons in the cupboard, family feuds, loyality; gossip & schadenfreude)
2. Melodrama
3. Characters (the gossip, the bastard, the tart; the decent husband, the villain, the bitch, the good woman…)
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Forms and conventions 2
• Generic convention of soap
4. Settings (recognizable environments)
5. Narrative pleasures (complex structure, feminised ending, cliffhangers)
6. Realism (surface, emotional, social)
7. Limits of realism (no links to wider world; individualization; mis/under-representation)
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Audiences
• Theories (hypodermic model, two-step flow model, uses and gratifications model)
• Soaps – peril or pleasure?
• Active fan behaviour
• Female genre?
• Ironic viewing!!!
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Representation & Ideology
• Stereoptypes and archetypes (prodigal son, vamp, victim…)
• Gender (powerful women?!)
• Class and community
• Race
• Messages and values (hegemonic model)
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Case study – Eastenders 1
• Check history, production, funding & costs
• Scheduling (hammocking, stripping)
• Marketing, press coverage, merchandising
• Locations
• Themes (melodramatic)
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Case study – Eastenders 2
• Representations– Class (working-class)– Extended family (backstories)– The matriarch (Pauline Fowler, 1985-2006)– Gender (women centre-stage)– Race (for a long time no black/ethnic c.)– Virtual community (nostalgic, mythologized)
• Realism, ideology&audience (violence)
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Case study – Eastenders 3
• Possible assignments- Students discuss the role of violence- Students discuss positive/negative
aspects of matriarch role - Students discuss whether the
representations are demeaning or empowering
- Students discuss the importance of locations
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References
• Alexander, Lou / Cousens, Alison (2004). Teaching TV Soaps. London: bfi education.
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders_in_popular_culture
• http://imdb.com/title/tt0088512/
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EastEnders, cast photo 2002