Realism in British Soap Opera Essay -- essays papers

Realism in British sludge Opera Using a media text as a trace example, evaluate selected techniques of fictional production which contri scarcee to a sense of realness consistent with genre or format use.Many have delimitate the term realness but these definitions by Watt and Williams can be easily applied to my choice of media text, which is the British exclusive opera house. Fiske writes that Watt and Williams .tend to pay back it by its content. Watt traces its origins to the rise of the novel in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And Williams whose historical perspective c everyplaces the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, lists trio main characteristics of realism in drama he finds that it has a contemporary setting, that it concerns itself with secular save and that it is socially extended.( Television Culture, John Fiske, Routledge, 1997, P.21 22) To expand on Williams three characteristics, the contemporary setting means that the drama should b e set in the present day or at least modern times that the present audience be bidly to have lived in. When the drama concerns itself with secular action this means that the events that take place within the drama atomic number 18 about people and described in human terms. The term socially extended means that the events in the drama revolve around the lives of everyday people and not kings or social leaders. Williams definition can be seen to relate to the working class and their experience of subordination in industrial society. These are three of the generic characteristics found in the British scoop shovel opera. coronation road is one of Britains most successful whip operas where all of these characteristics can be seen clearly. The contemporary setting can be seen through the iconography used such as the modern cars, the clothes and issues that are discussed in the programme such as general elections. In pocket opera this contemporary setting goes further than j ust modern day, they like to appear as if to be on the same day as the audience watching. This is achieved by covering the general elections as mentioned and characters making seed to the weekend in a Friday episode. The Secular Action in Coronation Street is clear as the narrative is character driven and the events are always seen from the characters point of view. Secular Action is detailly prevalent in Corona... ... record 29 million people watched an episode of Coronation Street in which Alan Bradley who had been beating his wife Rita was run over by a tram. After he had been killed off Mark Eden, who played Alan, was hit over the head with an umbrella in a shop. Viewers have likewise been known to send wreaths to television companies after characters have died.( Alex Duval Smith, Guardian, Education, Nov1 1994) In conclusion, the techniques used to contribute to sense of realism in the British soap opera include the three characteristics that Williams outlines. T hese are the use of a contemporary setting, the soap must concern itself with secular action and the soap should be socially extended. Other techniques that soap opera makers employ are the use of reality in the sets and characters, the time paralleling real time, the coverage of everyday issues as fountainhead as the big issues which actually happen very rarely but are very real. However the programme makers occasionally fail in their attempts to portray the real with the omission of gay characters and the closeness of all the residents of their particular area, which in real life is virtually non-existent.