Soap Opera Key Terms

Audience - A group of people reading or consuming any media product.

Binary - Thinking in opposites. In digital coding, binary describes the coding of digits, we often find that meaning is constructed around binary opposites which are simplistic.

Catharsis - To purify or cleanse yourself by releasing emotions or feelings. In relation to video games, the question is whether playing a violent game releases pent-up anger and frudtration, which in turn make a person less likely to be violent or angry in the 'real world'.

Convention - The expected ingredients in a particular type of media text - usually associated with genre.

Effects - The idea that the media have influence over people and can play a role in changing behaviour. The suggestion that people's behaviour is influenced or altered as a result of exposure to media: direct and indirect, sgnificant to others or relatively unimportant are all described as 'media effects'.

Feminism - The belief that we should oppose media texts that represent women as unequal to men.

Gate keeping - The role played by editors, producers, owners and reulators in opening and closing to greater and lesser extents, the flow of media information, through selecting which information to provide and wjich to deny people access to.

Hybrid - A fusion of more than one media form or a mixing of global and local or a mixing of identities.

Hyperreality - A state in which images and simulatios take on more relaity than the state they represent so that the distinction between reality and representation is no longer sustainable.

Iconic - A sign which resembles directly what it represents.

Male gaze - From Lauren Mulvey (1975), an analysis of media images which suggest that the camera represents a male perspective and as such casts men as subjects and woment as objects.

Narrative - The way information is ordered or a story is told.

Pleasure - All forms of engagement with media texts.

Public Service - Founded on priciples of democract as opposed to profit. Funded through public taxation.

Realism - The degree and the variety of ways in which media text represent and fit with ideas about reality.

Reflective - Being relective is very difficult - it is to do with analysing yourself, your ways of understanding the world, your actions and the way you think.

Representation - A neutral, transparaetn view of reality but offer instead a mediated re- presentation or it. The processes by whihc audience members come to undersatand media texts in terms of how they seem to relate to people, ideas, events, themes and places.

Stereotype - A blunt, overstated representation of a type of person.

Text - All media products are texts but we can extend this term to include people, ourselves and others.

Theory/theories - Often described as the opposite of practice or practical theory is actually the understanding of how things work.

Verisimilitude - The logical, seemingly authentic world of a text. Not the same as 'realist' because every text has a logical, sensible world constructed through continuity, detail and recognition.

TV Listing Magazines

TV Listing Magazines 
Publishers of soaps publicies their soap opera through different media strategies, these include adverts,web pages but also magazines. Magazines are an easy way to grab the attention of the audiences eye and attract them to watching the show.

Similarities:

• Titles - Take up most of the page and are in big, bold and bright colours. For example "Max KILLED Lucy?" This is a question towards the audience suggesting he did kill Lucy. However, having the text in white with a purple edging really stands out from the other colours of the page like pink and yellow. Another techniques they used is having "KILLED" in capital letters really standing it out to the audience this is then also used in "MURDER! Tine left for dead..."
• Pictures - Pictures are used to show who may be involved with that particular heading, for example "Max confesses" is talking about Max who is in the picture but also to who he confesses it to which is Lauren. All magazine front covers use this colour and pictures to attract the audiences attention.
• Logo - The logo of the magazine is always in the top left hand corner of the page, it is big white writing on a red square shaped background which is the marketing logo for the magazine. 
• Barcodes - Barcodes are on every magazine usually with the pricing at the top of it, it also tells you the issue you have got making some people want to have every single issue wanting them to buy them all. 
• Smaller Stories- Every magazine has the smaller stories for those who watch Coronation Street or Emmerdale. These are for the viewers that enjoy those shows and want to know about them. However, if Coronation Street had the biggest story of the week they would be the bigger story which is shown in "Tina left for death" story whereas the others are Eastenders.
• Dates - There is always a date on the top left hand corner for the viewers to know they have bought this weeks magazine rather than last weeks.

Differences:

• Colours - Different colours are used every week in order to keep the audience attracted if they used the same people may think, "Oh that's the Eastenders magazine.. Who care" but if the colours are different it interests them more into looking at the magazine.
• Stories - Are used in different ways, even though they are all based around "Lucy's death" for example, they play with words and mix the story up. This is to make the audience thing oh is there something new when really there is not. This is shown in "Murder who kills Lucy" to then "Max confesses". The audience believe that that is it and Max confessed to Lucy's murder when really he is confessing to Lauren about the affair. This then makes the audience want to know what he confessed to and if it was Lucy's murder. 
• Other Stories - Some may include other things that are going on in the media and not just about Soap Operas, For example "X Factor vs Strictly" or "Meet the acts of Britain's got talent".

Genre Theory

Daniel Chandler

Introduced the Genre Theory by raising the questions of;

• "Do genres exist independently?"
• "Is there a infinite number of genres or are they potentially endless?"

Daniel Chandler believes the Genre Theory consisted on particular characteristics or conventions of the content in the media product, these include themes and settings. 

Genres tend to be fixed forms and the contemporary theory emphasised the form and functions.

Genre Theory recognised film as an industrial and commercial medium as well as an art form.  It also differs between difference things, these can be different forms of theatrical genres to the film genre.

Literature is also different from film and theatre but still has the same characteristics, e.g. a horror novel have different conventions to a horror film but will still be classed in the horror genre.

Linking this with our research and what we want to produce through the terms of what genre do we want to include in our production but also how are we going to show those characteristic and how we would portray them to the audience for them to understand that is what we are trying to do. For example, in EastEnders the murder of Lucy Beale there are many suspects for it to be and that continues to engage the audience into watching it all the time. If we were going to use this as a template we would have to define those characteristics throughout the production in order to keep the audience involved.

Barry-Keith Grant

Created the idea of sub genres as he believe these would aid the audience in identifying what is going on.

Linking this with our research and what we want to achieve, our overall genre would be a dramatic piece however we would want to add in other sub genres these could include; crime, death or romance. This would then aid us into taking the characteristics out of the sub genres and including them in our production.

Barry-Keith also used sub genres to portray a recognisable character; this in soap operas could be how the evil or sly characters are portrayed whether through non-diegetic music or those their appearance. This then gives them their own sub genre. For example Michael Moon in EastEnders and how he portrayed as the evil characters.

Through the use of lighting and the expression in Michael Moom's face shows he is not a nice character this then creates him a sub genre of him being evil and manipulative.

Linking with with our production we may want to use sub genres linked with characters to show the true characteristic of that character but not making it obvious and only using certain characteristics of that genre.

Rick Altman

Believed genres have particular genre characteristic features that are known and recognised by audiences which is; 

1. Emotional

2. Visceral -(Depth emotion)

3. Intellectual

These three characteristics are played with by genres in order to activate the audiences attention. Examples of all three;

1. Emotional - A well loved character is killed off and they show her funeral which is emotional for all the family of that character but also the audience gets involved with the emotional side of it.

2. Visceral - A gory scene is showed of someone being tortured or killed in different ways which creates a visceral atmosphere for the audience and they can 'feel' the pain that character is going through even though it is not happening to them.

3. Intellectual - Making the audience think and make their own interpretation of what they are seeing.

This theory links with our research and planning as we don't want the audience to be passive viewers we want them to be active and make their own interpretation of the soap opera trailer. 

Jason Mittell

Believed genres were made to sell products, he didn't want to isolate genres but created relationship with industries, audiences and producers.

He wanted to histories and contextualise genres into different categories;

1. TV differs from film

2. One specifically and one generally

3. Know about one well and the others in little depth.

4. Genres should be understood in cultural practices.

This theory links with our research due to soaps wanting to make the most money therefore use multiple sub genres to keep the audience involved and interested in the programme if the viewers get bored with the show they wont watch it therefore programmes may get cut therefore losing money. 

Denis Mcquall 

Came up with the uses and gratification theory, on how and why the audience use media. For example watch soaps for escapism/entertainment.

These were places into 4 categories;

1. Surveillance

2. Relationship

3. Identification

4. Entertainment

Linking with soap operas, it is clear when an audience watches this they are doing it for pleasure and entertainment but it also involves the other sections of this theory. For example Surveillance is used through watching other peoples lives and being a bystander to their problems, Relationship is used when two characters get together or break up which makes us more involved with the characters if we want them to be together or apart, making the audience active viewers.

David Buckingham

Believed that children and young adults have identities that don't exist at all of are constantly changing? He studied their interactions with electronic media and believe that due to the constant changing in media the identities are constantly changing.
He believed the more media changes the more identities of the younger generation will change.

This links with our research as when young people see things occur on TV which may use electronic devices and if not punished or seen to be doing wrong could influence the younger viewers of the audience to imitate that behaviour. For example in Hollyoaks when young Esther is bullied and attempts to commit suicide due to cyber-bullying which is done via the internet, phones and other electronic devices. 

Steve Neale
He believed that pleasure lies in the process of repetition and that familiar elements which are repeated in an unfamiliar way or new elements added is what keeps an audience interested in that genre.

"Genres are instances of repetition and differences"

Linking to our research on soap opera it is very common for soaps to reuse or recycle old strands and put them into different contents with different characters. For example in Eastenders Heather Trott was killed on the streets of Walford and left there to die and a recurrence of this is now when Lucy Beale was murdered on the streets of Walford but was dragged and moved to Walford Common. 

Christian Metz
Was a French film theorist who believe genres go through a cycle during their lifetime.
1. The Experimental Stage - Where foundations are built, generic codes and conventions are set.
2. The Classic Stage - Codes and conventions become iconic.
3. The Parody Stage - These codes and conventions are established, widely recognised and accepted.
4.The Deconstructive Stage - Genres begin to evolve and merge with others. For example Thriller and Horror genres are closely liked together. Therefore the genre becomes less clear cut.

Christian Metx applied Sigmund Freud's psychology and Jaque Lacan's Mirror theory which led him to the idea of why films are a popular art. He believes it is because they allow imperfect reflections of reality and a method to deliver and unconscious dream state.

Linking with our ideas of a soap opera we are aiming to give the audience and imperfect reflection of reality by using strands that may be unrealistic therefore creating illogical verisimilitude. To then deliver escapism which can be closely linked with Frued's unconscious dream state.

Minutes Record Sheet - Thursday 17th July 2014

Minutes Record Sheet
Date of Meeting: Thursday 17th July 2014
Held at G2 (for two lessons)
People Present: Sara

Matters Discussed	Action taken by Whom	When?
Finishing Genre Theory and linking to our research Tv Listings	Sara Sara	In Lesson Time In Lesson Time

Secondary Information - Neo Liberalism

The Citizenship concept

Livingstone (1998) researched what connects the audience with the textual analysis and the production studies and found to understand the complex dynamics between the communication policies and the way individuals interpret the media. Schiller, 1989 and Livingstone (1998) discovered the concept of resistance and having an active audience can be connected to an active citizenship.

This theory links with our research as we want our audience to either interpret our soap the way we want them to or to leave it to interpretation and whether the audience will understand the true meaning if it was left to interpretation.

Roland Barthes (1972) discovered the 'reader in the text' which reaches beyond the 'average reader' and challenges the audiences interpretation through its structural imperatives. Rather than what the audience does with the text they are give
n making it easier to make connections between the text and social issues. 

Linking with our research it could be used for controversial strands on how the audience the producers want the strand to be interpreted or are they opening it up to interpretation. For example EastEnders- Coming out as gay, his mother rejected him or was disappointed in him. Personally as a view I thought it was harsh she rejected him because of it but other viewers may have thought that is the best thing to do, all down to interpretation. 

Realism and Social Issues

Longhurst (1987) quoted "Realism is one of the most disrupt terms used in cultural analysis". Hull (2004) took this quote and researched into the criteria when evaluating the realism of television texts, whether they are plausible, typical, factual, emotionally involved, narrative is consistent and persuasiveness. 

After conducting an interview viewers were asked to judge Eastenders on whether it is realistic or unrealistic. Findings show they believed the programme was realistic or believable in most frequent terms used but it was also "exaggerated", "far fetched", "over the top", "Ridiculous" or "surreal".
This links into our research as we are looking to create a realistic soap opera trailer and to do this we need to research about illogical verisimilitude and how to overcome this when creating our piece. 

EastEnders a form of public service
Ofcom (2004) studied public service broadcasting in the UK showed that audiences took the view 'that some early-evening programmes, including soaps, these have an important social role to play in airing complex and controversial issues'. It is believed there is a wide spread view that soaps can be important social benefits through EastEnders being believ
ed to be classified as a public service.
Linking this research to our research creating a trailer which is linked closely to public services means there is more chance of the audience understanding and relating to certain situations. This then creates verisimilitude to our piece.

Minute Record Sheet - Tuesday 15th July 2014

Minutes Record Sheet
Date of Meeting: Tuesday 15th July 2014
Held at: G2
People Present: Annie, Lauren and Sara

Matters Discussed	Action taken by Whom	When?
Introduction to the blog Character study American case study Genre Theory Neo-liberalism - Secondary Information	Annie Annie Lauren Sara Sara	In Lesson Time In Lesson Time In Lesson Time In Lesson Time In Lesson Time

Introduction to the blog

This is a blog for three A-Level students, it is also where we will be posting our progress through the course as we research Soap Operas and theories.

It is necessary for us to research multiple Soap Operas and theories to be able to use this to create our own trailer for a Soap we have created, a magazine front cover which features our Soap Opera and a promotional poster.

Minutes Record Sheet - Monday 14th July 2014

Minutes Record Sheet
Date of Meeting: Monday 14th July 2014
Held at: C2
People Present: Annie, Lauren and Sara

Matters Discussed	Action taken by Whom	When?
Secondary information and linking to research already found. In depth character study American case study	Sara Annie Lauren	In Lesson Time In Lesson Time In Lesson Time

Minutes Record Sheet - Thursday 10th July 2014

Minutes Record Sheet
Date of Meeting: Thursday 10th July 2014
Held at: G2 and C2
People Present: Annie, Lauren and Sara

Matters Discussed	Action taken by Whom	When?
Genre Theory -  Daniel Chandler Rick Altman Barry Keith Grant Discussed other theories with the rest of the group.	Sara Lauren Annie All of us	In Lesson Time In Lesson Time In Lesson Time In Lesson Time

Illogical Verisimilitude - Coming back from the dead

Grant Mitchell – EastEnders

Grant (Ross Kemp) and his brother Phil, during the 90s, were the centre of everything in Walford but they also had an unusual relationship. In 1999 Phil found out that Grant had slept with his wife Kathy causing his brother to jump into the Thames after shooting at him with a handgun. However that wasn’t the end as he was seen to have survived when his brother Phil saw him board a plane with his daughter. Grant has since returned a few times, most notably to help free his brother from prison.

                                                      Kim Tate – Emmerdale

Kim (Claire King) had numerous enemies in Emmerdale due to her affairs with almost every man in the village. But the height of her maliciousness began to show throw during 1997 when she faked her own death and then made her husband Frank, who had served time in prison for her murder, to have a heart attack and she watched as he died. In 1999 she left the village and has not been seen again despite rumours of her making a future appearance.

 "Dirty” Den Watts – EastEnders

Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) is one of the most infamous characters on British TV after getting involved with gangsters, getting his teenage daughter’s friend pregnant and even divorced his wife Angie on Christmas Day. He was shot by the side of a canal and had supposedly died but had gone into hiding in Spain. He then returned to England in 2003 to the shock of everyone, especially daughter Sharon, but was dispatched a few years later by his wife Chrissie and buried under the well-known EastEnders pub, The Queen Vic.

                                                       Andy Holt – Hollyoaks

Andy (Warren Brown) serial rapist, was one of the most malevolent soap characters since Coronation Street’s Richard Hillman and EastEnders’ Trevor Morgan. He frequently spiked drinks and took advantage of many woman, and even encouraged his friend Sam to do the same. Viewers were directed to believe that Andy had died after being pushed off a quarry however he did not and he made his return months later to get revenge on the people who tried to kill him. Andy was soon killed after becoming impaled on an arrow during a confrontation in a warehouse.

Claude Levi Strauss

Claude Levi Strauss was a 20th Century French Anthropologist, born November 28th, 1908 - died October 31st, 2009 at the age of 100. 

Levi-Strauss showed the importance of structuring oppositions in myths and in language. He said "abiding structure of all meaning-making, not just narratives, was a dependence on binary oppositions or a conflict between two qualities or terms. He then created his theory "Binary Opposites".

Binary Opposites Theory:

Mid 20th Century Claude Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes two major European thinkers discovered the way we understand certain words rather than it depending on the meaning of the word it more depends on the difference between words. They called this "Binary Opposites".

Levi-Strauss believes that words purely act as a symbol for societies idea of the meaning of words, this then meant there was a relationship between opposing ideas. To this day Binary oppositions are found in a range of media products such as Films, Film Trailers and TV Programmes.

An Example of Binary Opposites would be;

Good vs Evil: Used in many films in order to attract the audience into hating the Villain who is evil and love the Hero who is kind and helpful. These are Binary Opposites because they are completely different and are opposite to each other. Relating to a film would be Batman and the Joker, the Joker always trying to cause chaos and Batman saving the day.

Human and Supernatural: Always seems to be a love story or connection between a human girl and a supernatural creature or man. These are Binary Opposites as they are different one is a supernatural creature with powers for example Spider man and the other is normal human being for example Mary Jane.



More about the Theory:
The idea of Binary Opposites also links in with the themes, different genres and the meaning behind a TV Programme or a Film. This is commonly used in Horror, Thriller and Action genres. In Actions pacifically where the main male character rescues the main female character from the danger of the Villain.
 For example:

Dark vs Light: Which is mainly used in Action, Thriller, Horror genres/themes of a media product. Dark vs Light is commonly used to show the evil in someone by having a dark light on them and the innocence of the light. It also represents freedom over imprisonment as the bright lgiht is associated with heaven or freedom whereas the darkness is associated with being trapped and not being able to see you way to the light.

Feminine vs Masculine: Which is mainly used in Horror or Thriller films as it is the stereotypical female who is seen as the victim through being kidnapped and tortured by the male characters this shows the male character in the bad light representing he is the killer. 

However, TV Programmes are moving away from this typical stereotype by showing the female as the killer or torturer and the males as the victims. Recently there has been a strand like this in Criminal Minds when a young girl was rapped and killed during a party, then her mother goes out and kidnaps all those who were involved in being with her daughter at the party. For example; Her best friend who took her there and the left her there. This shows how the female is the killer or torturer and then young girl and the boy she killed as the victim.

Linking with Vladimir Propp

Claude Levi Strauss linked in his idea of binary opposition with Vladimir Propps's ideas about Stock characters. He did this by showing the opposites of the stock characters making them Binary Opposites. 

For example;

The Villain being portrayed as evil and weak as he always loses and The Hero who is handsome and strong as he always wins and gets the princess.

Cinderella: The Two ugly step sisters and the wicked stepmother force Cinderella to do all the cleaning and work around the house creating them as the 'villains' by locking her away in her room when the Prince comes to visit. The Prince is the one who saves Cinderella from them living conditions and being treated like a slave and takes her to his kingdom creating him as the 'hero'.

Binary Opposites used in reality TV shows (Australia)

Beauty and the Geek was introduced to TV in the 2000s, it is seen as a reality show which brings Binary Opposites together to experience different lifestyles. 

The shows portrays the females as beauties and the males as Geeks due to their intelligence requiring their study skills to pass the different activities each week.