Journal of Health Communication - 2006
University of California
"The article concludes that there is a need for the mental health sector and the film and television industries to collaborate to counter negative portrayals of mental illness, and to explore the potential for positive portrayals to educate and inform, as well as to entertain."
University of California
When considering Representation we are often referring to the construction within any medium about the aspects of 'reality' which can include places, people, objects and cultural identities as well as other abstract concepts. These representations may be in either the form of speech or writing and even sometimes moving or still images.
Layers of Representation
2. The director/editor of media text – tweaks and edits the character slightly so that they have a marginally different image to what the writer formed.
3. Different audiences, from different groups, at different times – perceives a specific character in a certain way, this can even be sometimes in a way that was entirely unintended by the Creator. A writer can have no depth of control over the audience.
Cage of Identity
Class - Social status; standing within society. Based on career and monetry values.
Age - How old someone is can often affect who they’re friends/acquaintances with.
Gender – Often effects sexual preference, personality traits and wants/need within life.
Ethnicity – Religion or regional identity.
Soap Operas embody everything that a broadcaster wants/requires; this namely includes generating revenue, controversy and discussion from their audience. They are furthermore considered an important part of the economy and purveyor of ideological messages. The genre's importance was initially highlighted via radio transmissions and the need to convert this to television series' became even vaster. Viewers immerse themselves in the view that life for the characters and setting continues, even if the soap is not showing.
Whilst Soap Operas often contain numerous story lines interlinking with each other, they are often not so complicated that new viewers can't easily catch up with the particular soap. These characters then gain a place in the consumers conscience mind becoming 'real people' and entering real life discussions of the entire country. It's often hard to escape the clutches of Soap Opera as it's something that any generation can relate to.
Dorothy Hobson describes how Soap Operas are the most "moral of genres" exploring the idea that "ultimately justice will always be done". This furthermore leads her to go on and relate morals to the creation of soaps and how they will more often then not "evil and misendeavours will always be punished" and lead to the demise of the character. People enjoy justice and seeing people going against the ideals of society meet their comeuppance. Eastenders for example used this idea via placing a two foot square poster saying "MATTHEW IS INNOCENT - STEVE IS GUILTY" within a house; this also shows a blur between reality and soap.
The feeling of unknown is also something that production teams consider when creating their episodes. Hobson, for example mentions the episode where Grant Mitchell crashes his car into the River Thames and the mystery surrounding whether he had "drowned or would survive". She even mentions a conversation between 2 students presumably talking about a mutual friend and then suddenly, without warning or any prior signals that the conversation was going to change said "I think Grant may be doing a Harold Bishop". Analysing this conversation is extremely interesting, it highlights again the blurs that often appear between reality and soaps yet also how story lines can linger in someones subconscious mind all day - as if it is a real problem that they themselves are in/aware of.
The genre has rapidly gained and captivated audiences with "every week in Britain around 32 million soap opera fans... (watching) up to a total fourty-five hours of soaps". Audiences are described to be so glued to their soaps that the only thing that can interrupt a viewing on a certain night would be a "major international football match". Due to such popularity in 1998 Coronation Street added a Sunday episode to their schedule, Hobson however mentions how she felt it was "not a natural time for soap operas" and how it has a "different 'feel'". Perhaps this could be linked to religious roots in the sense of Sunday's are meant to be a moral day of rest; showing controversial story lines on a Sunday night would be totally going against this view.
In terms of our own soap we found it vital to interlink storylines. The downfall and turbelant times of two sisters would obviously affect future storylines regarding their family. The community shown on the trailer is so close knit and tight that afflictions with each member pass on to the town's overall morale.
Rober Clyde Allen focuses greatly on controversay within soaps. He states that soaps such as Coronation street focus much more on "the drama of human relationships" rather than "social issues". He proclaims that capturing realism is not the only thing vital to a soaps success, "strong female characters, the emphasis on comedy and sense of nostalgia" are equally important.
Dorothy Hobson describes how Soap Operas are the most "moral of genres" exploring the idea that "ultimately justice will always be done". This furthermore leads her to go on and relate morals to the creation of soaps and how they will more often then not "evil and misendeavours will always be punished" and lead to the demise of the character. People enjoy justice and seeing people going against the ideals of society meet their comeuppance. Eastenders for example used this idea via placing a two foot square poster saying "MATTHEW IS INNOCENT - STEVE IS GUILTY" within a house; this also shows a blur between reality and soap.
The feeling of unknown is also something that production teams consider when creating their episodes. Hobson, for example mentions the episode where Grant Mitchell crashes his car into the River Thames and the mystery surrounding whether he had "drowned or would survive". She even mentions a conversation between 2 students presumably talking about a mutual friend and then suddenly, without warning or any prior signals that the conversation was going to change said "I think Grant may be doing a Harold Bishop". Analysing this conversation is extremely interesting, it highlights again the blurs that often appear between reality and soaps yet also how story lines can linger in someones subconscious mind all day - as if it is a real problem that they themselves are in/aware of.
The genre has rapidly gained and captivated audiences with "every week in Britain around 32 million soap opera fans... (watching) up to a total fourty-five hours of soaps". Audiences are described to be so glued to their soaps that the only thing that can interrupt a viewing on a certain night would be a "major international football match". Due to such popularity in 1998 Coronation Street added a Sunday episode to their schedule, Hobson however mentions how she felt it was "not a natural time for soap operas" and how it has a "different 'feel'". Perhaps this could be linked to religious roots in the sense of Sunday's are meant to be a moral day of rest; showing controversial story lines on a Sunday night would be totally going against this view.
In terms of our own soap we found it vital to interlink storylines. The downfall and turbelant times of two sisters would obviously affect future storylines regarding their family. The community shown on the trailer is so close knit and tight that afflictions with each member pass on to the town's overall morale.
Rober Clyde Allen focuses greatly on controversay within soaps. He states that soaps such as Coronation street focus much more on "the drama of human relationships" rather than "social issues". He proclaims that capturing realism is not the only thing vital to a soaps success, "strong female characters, the emphasis on comedy and sense of nostalgia" are equally important.
Establishing a sense of location is Paramount to the soaps Brookside and Eastenders as it enables the audience to connect with their own location, or even explore ones that they have pre-conceived conceptions of. Brookside is noted to start with images of the "most characteristics buildings and landscapes" of Liverpool. Eastenders however shows the setting through a "map of London's East End" and "great curve of the River Thames marking out the boundary".
Transition, however, was made during the 80's. As well as looking at issues such as "class and community" they also started looking at other problems within society, "rape and sexuality" which would have previously been seen as quite 'taboo'. Representatives of groups such as the "Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers" feared the "power of popular television" and how it could influence people and society, they thought of it as "evil" and "the whole nation is being drugged by Eastenders". On the flip side Channel 4 received complaints off the gay and lesbian community for not accurately representing them, they felt "many gay people find it hard to identify with any of the three gay characters currently seen in British soaps." and questioned "why are the gays in these series shown as bland and two dimensional characters?".
However, it isn't just the gay population that soaps have upset in the past. Merele Amory a "black London labour local counceillor" was interviewed about her political career, she stated that "she is a fan of Eastenders" but feels that a character called Kelvin's rebellious nature was played down, she said: "in politics, when black people are seen to be achieving something that's recieved positively then people get scared" she then procedded to further reinforce this with another point, she also doesn't like the way Naima's character has become "the stereotypical hardened Asian business-woman with a scheming cousin".
Soaps have even been accused of "raising the suicide rate" such as when in Eastenders "Angie attempted to overdose" and when in Brookside "wrong information about the HIV virus" was given out "increasing anxiety about AIDS". Robert Allen feels that the quotes above arise due to soaps competing to higlight issues in a positive light however they still have a duty of providing sensationalism similar to tabloids. He then goes on to detail: "The HVA, it would appear, want Carmel to be a model health visitor, demonstarting a wide range of skills in a professional manner. But the crdibility of Carmel's character in the soap depends on her being a character who is part of th elife of the square, a professional who makes mistakes and whose personal life is a source of interest".
Our own soap was influenced by these themes as we have 'controversal' storylines such as: suicide, murder, lesbianism. We believe that by including this we're being far more innovative and would interest a untapped young-adult audience.
Transition, however, was made during the 80's. As well as looking at issues such as "class and community" they also started looking at other problems within society, "rape and sexuality" which would have previously been seen as quite 'taboo'. Representatives of groups such as the "Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers" feared the "power of popular television" and how it could influence people and society, they thought of it as "evil" and "the whole nation is being drugged by Eastenders". On the flip side Channel 4 received complaints off the gay and lesbian community for not accurately representing them, they felt "many gay people find it hard to identify with any of the three gay characters currently seen in British soaps." and questioned "why are the gays in these series shown as bland and two dimensional characters?".
However, it isn't just the gay population that soaps have upset in the past. Merele Amory a "black London labour local counceillor" was interviewed about her political career, she stated that "she is a fan of Eastenders" but feels that a character called Kelvin's rebellious nature was played down, she said: "in politics, when black people are seen to be achieving something that's recieved positively then people get scared" she then procedded to further reinforce this with another point, she also doesn't like the way Naima's character has become "the stereotypical hardened Asian business-woman with a scheming cousin".
Soaps have even been accused of "raising the suicide rate" such as when in Eastenders "Angie attempted to overdose" and when in Brookside "wrong information about the HIV virus" was given out "increasing anxiety about AIDS". Robert Allen feels that the quotes above arise due to soaps competing to higlight issues in a positive light however they still have a duty of providing sensationalism similar to tabloids. He then goes on to detail: "The HVA, it would appear, want Carmel to be a model health visitor, demonstarting a wide range of skills in a professional manner. But the crdibility of Carmel's character in the soap depends on her being a character who is part of th elife of the square, a professional who makes mistakes and whose personal life is a source of interest".
Our own soap was influenced by these themes as we have 'controversal' storylines such as: suicide, murder, lesbianism. We believe that by including this we're being far more innovative and would interest a untapped young-adult audience.
“Not another death. I don’t believe this place. There’ll be none of you left by Christmas” a quote famously said by Lisa Lancaster of the soap Crossroads. The quote’s significant impact was layered with various ulterior meanings; namely the audience receiving the comment as some form of “bitter joke”. For a longstanding soap that was due to meet its comeuppance during the follow Easter, a comment such as Lancaster’s appeared to reinforce the happenings outside of “Crossroads Motel” and prompted viewers who have been avidly addicted to the soap since its initial origins to be prompted with grief - namely due to the doting relations built up between audience and character over the years.
Christine Geraghty explores the three soap format varieties; serial, series, as well as clean cut soap operas. “A serial tells a complete story but spreads it over a number of episodes, often using the device of a cliff hanger to pick up from one episode to another”. Series, on the other hand “is like the soap in that it offers the audience a set of characters and very often a place… with what we become familiar”. Finally soap leads to stories that “are never fully resolved and even soaps which cease to be made project themselves into a non-existent future”.
A quote which I found intriguing by Geraghty “soaps are introduced by the announcer inviting us to ‘drop in on the square’ or ‘find out what’s been happening in the Street’ as if life has been going on there without us.” In my opinion highlighted the real life parallels that producers like to display to their audience. Furthermore, even seasonal characteristics are considered such as in Eastenders where “plastic daffodils are planted in the square when filming takes place in early March to ensure that the flowers will be correctly in bloom in April when the episode is shown”. “Appropriate festivals are marked; Sheila Grant visits Rome at Easter for the pope’s blessing; school holidays are discussed…” etc.
All of this is done to form this sense of realism which is constantly in conflict with the emergence of ‘real life soap’ programmes such as Laguna Beach.
“Soaps can run (potentially) forever and their lack of resolution can make them aimless and boring” and this therefore means that building the foundations for a viewer-character affection is all the more important. If viewers cannot find recognizable traits within staple personas that match common real world stereotypes, then soaps run the risk of transitioning into a far more atypical state in which lacklustre public feedback and ratings slumps are undoubtedly forged.
