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1、THE MEANING OF SOAP OPERAFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Soap opera (disambiguation).A soap opera, sometimes called soap for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming.
2、The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers, as sponsors1 and producers.2 These early radio series were broadcast in weekday daytime slots when most listeners would be hous
3、ewives; thus the shows were aimed at and consumed by a predominantly female audience.1The term soap opera has at times been generally applied to any romantic serial,1 but it is also used to describe the more naturalistic, unglamorous UK primetime drama serials such as Coronation Street.3 A crucial e
4、lement that defines soap opera is the open-ended nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. The defining feature that makes a television program a soap opera, according to Albert Moran, is that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends wi
5、th a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode.4Soap opera stories run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several different concurrent story threads that may at times interconnect and
6、affect one another or may run entirely independent of each other. Each episode may feature some of the shows current storylines but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are screened each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyli
7、ne or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a weeks worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely bring all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. When one storyline ends there are several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end
8、on some sort of cliffhanger, and the Season Finale ends in the same way, only to be resolved when the show returns for the start of a new yearly broadcast.Evening soap operas and those that screen at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode, and to re
9、present all current storylines in each episode. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger.In 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as TVs richest market, noting the loyalty of the soap opera fan
10、 base and the expansion of several half-hour series to a full hour in order to maximize ad revenues.5 The article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs.5 The issues cover notably featured it
11、s first daytime soap stars, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of our Lives,67 a couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press.8PLOTS AND STORYLINESThe main characteristics that define soap operas are an emphasis on
12、family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations.3 Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of character
13、s who live or work in a particular place, or focus on a large extended family. The storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by what Steve Neale has described as chance meetings, coincidences
14、, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings. These elements may be found across the gamut of soap operas, from EastEnders to Dallas.9In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the United States, the characters are frequently attracti
15、ve, seductive, glamorous and wealthy. Soap operas from Australia and the United Kingdom tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working class environments.10 Many Australian and UK soap operas explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marri
16、age breakdown, or financial problems. Both UK and Australian soap operas feature comedy elements, often by way of affectionate comic stereotypes such as the gossip or the grumpy old man, presented as a sort of comic foil to the emotional turmoil that surrounds them. This diverges from US soap operas
17、 where such comedy is rare.4 UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting reality or purport to have a realistic style.11 UK soap operas also frequently foreground their geographic location as a key defining feature of the show while depicting and capitalising on the exotic appeal of the ste
18、reotypes connected to the location. So EastEnders focuses on the tough and grim life in Londons east end; Coronation Street invokes Manchester and its characters exhibit the stereotypical characteristic of Northern straight talking.12Romance, secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine l
19、ove have been the basis for many soap opera storylines. In US daytime serials the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels. Soap opera storylines sometimes weave intricate, convoluted, and sometime
20、s confusing tales of characters who have affairs, meet mysterious strangers and fall in love, and who commit adultery, all of which keeps audiences hooked on the unfolding story twists. Crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ong
21、oing story.Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the romantic quality of criminal and/or oligarch life.In soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings, and twins (including the evil variety)
22、of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series. Unexpected calamities disrupt weddings, childbirths, and other major life events with unusual frequency.Much like comic booksanother popular form of linear storytelling pioneered in the
23、US during the 20th Centurya characters death is not guaranteed to be permanent. On The Bold and the Beautiful, Taylor Forrester (Hunter Tylo) was shown to flatline and have a funeral. When Tylo reprised the character in 2005 a retcon explained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma.Stunts and com
24、plex physical action are largely absent, especially from daytime serials. Such story events often take place offscreen and are referred to in dialogue instead of being shown. This is because stunts or action scenes are difficult to adequately depict visually without complex action, multiple takes, a
25、nd post production editing. When episodes were broadcast live, post production work was impossible. Though all serials have long switched to being taped, extensive post production work and multiple takes, while possible, are not feasible due to the tight taping schedules and low budgets.UNITED KINGD
26、OMSee List of longest-serving soap opera actorsIn the United Kingdom, soap operas are one of the most popular genres, most being broadcast during prime time. In comparison to US serials which frequently portray romantic storylines in sumptuous and glamorous locales, most UK soap operas focus on more
27、 everyday, working-class communities.The most popular soaps are Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Doctors, and the Australian produced Neighbours and Home and Away. The first three of these are consistently among the highest-rated shows on British television.The 1986 Christmas Day
28、 episode of EastEnders is often given as the highest-rated UK soap opera episode ever, with 30.15 million viewers (in 2007, the UK had approximately 54 million viewers). The figure of 30.15 million was actually a combination of the original broadcast which had just over 19 million viewers, and the S
29、unday omnibus edition with 10 million viewers. The combined 30.15 million audience figure often sees it attributed as the highest-rated program in UK television for the 1980s, comparable to the records set by the 1970 splashdown of Apollo 13 (28.6 million viewers), and Princess Dianas funeral in 199
30、7 (32.1 million viewers).22Coronation Street and EastEnders are popularly known as the flagship soaps, as they are the highest rating programmes for ITV and the BBC respectively. Poor ratings for a UK flagship serial sometimes brings with it questions about the associated channel. The soaps are so p
31、opular they are not routinely scheduled against each other. Episodes of serials have clashed only on isolated occasions when extended episodes have been screened.ORIGINSSoap operas in the U.K. began on radio and consequently were associated with the BBC. The BBC continues to broadcast the worlds lon
32、gest-running radio soap, The Archers, which has been running nationally since 1951. It is currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and continues to attract over five million listeners, or roughly 25% of the radio listening population of the UK at that time of the evening.An early television serial was The
33、 Grove Family on the BBC. 148 episodes were produced from 1954 to 1957. The series was broadcast live and only a handful of recordings were retained in the archives.In the 1960s Coronation Street revolutionised UK television and quickly became a British institution. Another of the 1960s was Emergenc
34、y Ward 10, on ITV. The BBC also produced several serials. Compact was about the staff of a womens magazine. The Newcomers was about the upheaval caused by a large firm setting up a plant in a small town. United! ran for 147 episodes and focused on a football team. 199 Park Lane was an upper class se
35、rial that ran for just 18 episodes in 1965. None of these serials came close to making the same impact as Coronation Street. Indeed most of the 1960s BBC serials were largely wiped.During the 1960s Coronation Streets main rival was Crossroads, a daily serial that began in 1964 and was broadcast by I
36、TV in the early evening. Crossroads was set in a Birmingham motel and, although the series was popular, its purported low technical standard and bad acting were much mocked. By the 1980s its ratings had begun to decline. Several attempts to revamp the series through cast changes and, later, expandin
37、g the focus from the motel to the surrounding community were unsuccessful. Crossroads was cancelled in 1988. (A new version of Crossroads was later produced, running from 2001 until 2003.)A later rival to Coronation Street was ITVs Emmerdale Farm (later renamed Emmerdale) which began in 1972 in a da
38、ytime slot and had a rural Yorkshire setting. Increased viewing figures saw Emmerdale being moved to a prime-time slot in the 1980s.Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley) is a Welsh language serial produced by the BBC since October 1974. It is the longest-running television soap opera produced by the BB
39、C. Pobol y Cwm was originally transmitted on BBC Wales television between 1974 and 1982. It then transferred to the Welsh-language television station S4C when it opened in the November 1982. The series was occasionally shown on BBC1 in London during periods of regional optout in the mid-late 1970s.
40、Pobol y Cwm was briefly shown in the rest of the UK in 1994 on BBC2, with English subtitles. It is consistently the most watched programme of the week on S4C.23THE 1980SDaytime soap operas were non-existent until the 1970s because there was virtually no daytime television in the UK. ITV introduced G
41、eneral Hospital, which later transferred to a prime time slot, and Scottish Television had Take the High Road, which lasted for over twenty years. Later, daytime slots were filled with an influx of older Australian soap operas such as The Young Doctors, The Sullivans, Sons and Daughters, A Country P
42、ractice, Richmond Hill and eventually, Neighbours and Home and Away. These achieved significant levels of popularity. Neighbours and Home and Away were moved to early-evening slots and the UK soap opera boom began in the late 1980s.When Channel 4 began in 1982 it launched its own soap, the Liverpool
43、 based Brookside, on its first day. Over the next decade Brookside re-defined soap. The focus of Brookside was different to previous soaps. The setting was a middle-class new-build cul-de-sac, unlike Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm which were set in established working-class communities. The ch
44、aracters in Brookside were generally either people who had advanced themselves from inner-city council estates, or the upper middle-class who had fallen on hard times. Though Brookside was still broadcast in a pre-watershed slot (8pm and 8.30pm on weekdays, around 5pm for the omnibus on Saturdays),
45、it was more liberal than other soaps of the time: the dialogue regularly included expletives. This stemmed from the overall more liberal policy of the channel in that period. The soap was also heavily politicised. Bobby Grant (Ricky Tomlinson), a militant trade-unionist anti-hero, was the most overt
46、ly political character. Storylines were often more sensationalist than on other soaps (in the soaps history there were two armed sieges on the street) and were staged more graphically with violence (particularly, rape) being often used.In 1985, the BBCs London based soap opera EastEnders debuted and
47、 was a near instant success with viewers and critics alike, with the first episode attracting over 17 million viewers. Critics talked about the downfall of Coronation Streetcitation needed, but Coronation Street continued successfully. In 1994 when the two serials were scheduled opposite each other,
48、 and Corrie won the slot. For the better part of ten yearswhen?, the show has shared the number one position with Coronation Street, with varying degrees of difference between the two.In the late 1980s Central TV acquired the Australian soap opera Prisoner, which was produced between 1979 and 1986.
49、It was eventually screened around the country in differing slots usually around 11pm, under the title Prisoner: Cell Block H. Its airing in the UK was staggered, so different regions of the country saw it at a different pace. The series was immensely successful which led to it being repeated after the series had reached its conclusion in the Midlands. Rival network Five also acquired repeat rights for a full rerun of the series, starting in 1997.
