LIIAR- Soap Operas

LIIAR -Soap Operas

In the UK Soap Opera’s began on the radio on the BBC. In 1951 the BBC brought the public the radio soap opera The Archers, which is now the world’s longest running soap opera.

Soap Opera’s on the TV did not begin until 1960, when Coronation Street was first broadcasted. TV Soap Opera’s have now been around for 49 years ranging from teenage soaps to family soaps.

Language

The language of Soap Opera’s consists of the mise-en-scene, cinematography, Editing Sound, and Narrative. The mise-en-scene is the familiar settings such as a street, the homes, the workplace, and social meeting places such as pubs. This creates verisimilitude which is how close to reality it really is. Iconography within the mise-en-scene immediately identifies the sub-genre, for example blue lights, scalpels, plasters identify the sub-genre is medical. Cinematography ensures the continuity. The Camera angles show character interactions and emotions which creates empathy with the audience. The sound is diegetic and non-diegetic. The diegetic sound is dialogue and sounds which are coming from within the scene. The dialogue tells the storyline in the soap opera. The non-diegetic sound is the theme tune of the soap opera. The sound and dialogue creates a balance between the verisimilitude and the drama. The music is used to punctuate the action, create effects and underline the emotions in the scene. The Narrative is visually presented and needs the audience’s understanding of the story/plot. The stories on a soap opera involve, crime, romance, disabilities, teenage issues, contemporary social issues which are in society today.

Ideology

The ideology in a Soap Opera is communicated through the narrative. The Narrative is the storyline which is told through the characters communicating. The storyline usually involves money issue, health issues and love issues which the audience can empathize with. The idea behind a soap opera is to create an understanding to different issues which are around today.

Institution

The institution is the production company which produce the Soap Opera. For examples Granada Television produce Coronation Street. The institution have to do a good job of producing a quality soap opera which audiences can relate to.

Audience

The audience of soap opera’s is the societies which are around today. Everyone of all ages watch soap operas. I looked on the internet at well known soap operas and the amount of people they get viewing the soap opera, I looked at families and teenagers. The Soap Operas I looked at were Coronation Street, and Eastenders for families. I found that in early 2009 on average 9.41 million people tuned in to watch Coronation Street, whilst on average 9.36 million people tuned in to watch Eastenders. In early 2009 on average 1.79 million teenagers tuned in to Hollyoaks. These audience ratings gave me an idea of the popularity of these TV Soap Opera’s and the sort of audiences they attract.

The website where I got the figures from was:

http://www.free-satellite-tv.co.uk/tv-ratings/uk-tv-ratings-260409.htm

Representation

The Soap Operas or Representing the people which are in society today, the characters in soap operas are stereotypical of the people in society.