TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Media Studies > Soaps - Settings
First episode of a new soap=all characters and settings must be est.
- First episode of Enders when the houses, the square, the pub, the market, the shop, the doctor’s surgery, the café and the laundrette are all shown.
- Neighbours first episode in 1986 showed shots of suburban houses that looked like “real estate” advertisements and showed businesses, the bar, boutique and engineering company, showing different culture.
- Usually take place in small confined area within a community
- The characters have to co-exist and don’t tend to go away from surroundings. Although we are increasingly seeing characters away from home, (Such as Phil and Lisa on cliff tops and Sonia at Jamie’s grave)
- Golden age-everyone knows each other, important for soaps.
- Modern soaps aspire to retrieve this collective atmosphere again and experience of valuing belonging to a community (could be criticised and argued that soaps don’t reflect contemporary life in this sense) (first episode of enders the characters directly refer to this Pauline says “nice to know a bit of community feeling left” and Nick Cotton says “being neighbours like the good old days”)
Although, (Brookie broke this convention and when Jonathon had a party his neighbours the corkhills were parodying them over the fence in the garden)
- Environment is always friendly and inviting to the characters, which makes the soap inviting for the audience (Sally in H+A inviting Tasha, Rik and Cassie to live with her family and Irene inviting Kirsty Kim, Shane and Tasha to live with her)
To make the setting seem more realistic to the audience:
- In Eastenders, Albert Square is located in Walford (the main reason they decided to set Enders in London was because of the press attention and it suited BBC’s view of “popular culture”)
- In Neighbours, Ramsey Street is located in Erinsborough < (which could be argued that it has been created as an anagram of the word neighbours)
- Credits in Brookie draws audience by showing Liverpool’s most characteristic buildings and landscapes and Enders shows the feature map of London’s East End and River Thames.
Comments
These notes are based on the requirements for AQA A2 Media Studies, though will be relevant for other boards too.
Some of the examples may need updating for current exams (though still valid, there are more recent examples you could use).
