Eastenders Analysis

I decided to analyse an episode of Eastenders in order to apply my knowledge of the Soap Opera genre from my previous research of conventions. Therefore focusing particularly on the multiple narratives which run parallel throughout the episode, there are 36 scenes in total and 5 different narratives within one episode thus having multiple storylines running concurrently. For example Charlie receiving a DUI, Roxy's naming her baby and Kat returning to the square. The return of Kat towards the end of the episode concludes the narrative on a cliff-hanger which is typical of the Soap Opera genre as it creates anticipation for viewers awaiting the outcome, thus watching the next episode. This keeps the audience hooked/addicted thus becoming habit forming for viewers, thus maintaining a strong audience as established Soap Opera's have consistent ratings for a significant amount of years. Also the fact that Kat is a returning character from the past makes the scene much more dramatic as it is conventional for Soap Opera characters to leave and return whenever necessary, even the death of characters cannot prevent them from returning. For example 'Dirty' Den returned to Albert Square after being killed off in Eastenders many years ago. However in Kats case, this creates realism as it creates the illusion that 'The Square' is a living breathing place and that life continues outside or off camera. In addition there is one main narrative within the episode which is focused on significantly more than others e.g. Roxy domestic issues such as renaming the baby, this usually happens in the cafe, pub and the square which are places where the multiple narratives can transition into one another this allows the storyline to branch out and create other storylines as they end on mini cliff-hangers, thus moving to the next scene and return further along allowing the narrative to flow. Therefore giving us a sense of real time as the world continues even if we leave the characters for a brief moment making Eastenders seem like a living, breathing place.

This leads onto the setting; Eastenders is based in a fictional town named Walford. Despite being a fictional location the setting is portrayed very realistically, for example the people populating the town are mainly of a working class background, multicultural society thus featuring ethnic variation and traditional terraced housing which is synonymous with these particular urban areas in East London. For example the characters are what we would refer to as archetypes e.g. the fiesty young female such as Stacy who is a strong willed girl, young thus desiring independence, usually argumentative and miserable. Therefore they are characters that are typical but in a positive way rather than a stereotype. The habit forming nature of Soap Opera's entices the viewer into the world of the soap opera, e.g. Eastenders thus making them zone out and become a member of The Square spectating other characters to which they empathise/sympathise with. Despite 'The Square' being portrayed realistically without anything out of the ordinary happening thus making it seem like a real location, the location is built with sets. The majority of storylines or narratives deal with current issues within the media, such as the significant rise in teenage pregnancy, in addition it highlights everyday occurrences individuals have to deal with such as DUI's (Charlie’s storyline), naming a baby (Roxy's storyline) etc. Although some storylines are exaggerated and sensationalised in order to be entertaining to maintain and attract more viewers, sometimes soap operas have been criticised for going over the top and have been very controversial in recent years such as they 'gay' storyline in Eastenders. Referring back to the habit forming nature of the soap opera, this is benefitted by the contribution of gossip. Gossip allows people who have left the soap opera for quite awhile to immediately ease into the habit forming viewing as it allows you to quickly catch up on the various narratives and characters. The people who are currently immersed into the Soap Opera such as Eastenders gossip about characters as if they were real, thus taking sides and having certain opinions about them.

To conclude I have analysed an episode of Eastenders and found that the conventions of soap operas are featured heavily within this particular soap opera. I have gathered through my analysis of an Eastenders episode that the fictional world of 'Albert Square' is portrayed in an extremely realist way in order to seem as normal as possible. The fictional world begins to become an alternate reality for the viewer based on the notion the characters are real people, hence the popular gossip within magazines. The characters within Eastenders are very diverse in terms of age, gender, class and ethnicity which adds to the realism. Overall Eastenders coincides with the conventions of the soap genre and it is therefore necessary for us to do the same in order to become successful.