Soap Opera Basics

• UK soaps contain more realism than US and Spanish soaps
• Traditional soap operas run contiuously – character storylines overlap
• Can have 10 – 15 main characters a range of ages, gender, sexualities, races, to appeal to as large an audience as possible
• Soap operas become part of the national phyche – they weave into our culture
• Characters become “people”, they are spoken of as if they are family
• Audience – Soaps tend to be aimed at female audiences. This affects scheduling, storylines, characters, narrative perspective
• Story – Events from A to B, events unfolding
• Narrative perspective – The point of view a story is told from
• Catharsis – Emotional cleansing. Watching someone go through the same as you makes you feel better