Entry 10 - Lighter Moments

As well as dark traumatic moments, the lighter memories of East enders help to balance out the drama and  create a more realistic feel instead of the 'doom and gloom' aspect of the soap opera. Such moments include;

• Tamwar and his father
• Mo vs Pat

These relationships begin to show the nicer sides of the characters and how they support and encourage eachother. For instance, the incident that occured to the Masood family caused Tamwar to feel uncomfortable and a slight hint of anger towards his father, however, at the preparations for his wedding, they both open up and make amends as a very crucial life event is happening to Tamwar. This shows that with the incident that took place, the bond between the father and son is never truly broken, therefore being a light aspect of Eastenders and how it represents close relationships.

In this clip, the relationship between Mo and Pat is portrayed in a comedic way. This creates a better effect as the two characters are always at each others throats threatening or disrespecting each other. However, in this scene the music, camera angles and portrayal of the two characters helps to achieve this comedy.

Entry 9 - Dramatic Moments

Every episode in Eastenders have two different types of moments in them, being the light moments and the dark (dramatic) moments. The darker moments can be spotted in forms of tragedy and create an foul mood and atmosphere. This promotes the reality of Eastenders as most of the dilemma's encountered within the characters are dramatic and a part of reality. In order to see how this aspect takes affect throughout the series i have assessed two random episodes which show alot of dark moments within the episode.

To begin with, the dramatic moments mainly begun with these relationships:

• Little Mo and Trevor
• Seyed and Christian

Firstly, the relationship between little Mo and Trevor exposed the traumatic events experienced in domestic violence. This included physical, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as this, the key factor in domestic abuse which was nicely replicated was the manipulation of little Mo. Their sordid relationship was shown so realistically that the entire events almost seemed to of happened in reality, especially the repeated violence and betrayal shown from Trevor and how he kept Mo coming back to him. The video below is a near perfect example of how little Mo's behaviour has changed from Trevor's abuse and how she tries to escape him. Although fragile by nature, ever since she was a young child, the panic in little Mo's action clearly create a dramatic aura in the scene. especially when Trevor finds her, leaving the audience to feel like rescuing her from her torment, especially 7 minutes 49 seconds in the video where the drama escalates.  

Secondly, the gay relationship between Seyed and Christian sparked a whole uprising of either disagreement or support. The two characters have a very dramatic and hard time especially as the gay life style can be frowned upon and unaccepted in some older communities. As expected, most characters who are either elderly or old-fashioned would not approve of their relationship and cause family feud's. For example, the Masood's having some hatred against Christian especially since he had influenced Seyeds homosexual nature.

Although these stories have passed and been resolved, more modern stories are found all over the web and especially in magazines and on their websites. For example, the Whats on TV? magazine provides loads of gossip and spoilers for what happens in the next episode of all the soaps as well as Eastenders.

www.whatsontv.co.uk/soaps/eastenders/news

Entry 5 - The Issues

Eastenders touches the most broad range of issues ranging from alcoholism and bereavement all the way to cancer and mental health illnesses. As well as this, social dillemma's such as extra-marital affairs and also betrayal within friendships/relationships. A massive amount of charities are also linked to support anyone who phones their helpline after the show to help them with any issue's they have been affected by. Some of the major charities involved are;

This charity deal with mental illnesses which are brought up within the episodes. The most memorable is Stacey's breakdown where she was diagnosed with bi-polar from a genetic disorder from her mother, Jean. After a dramatic sequence of events starting from the confrontation with Bradley, where she steals the keys to make out that her and Max have a flat together in front of Tanya. These events cause her to get thrown out from Tanya, her stall closed down, Max throwing her out of his flat and Charlie getting frustrated and throwing her out of his house. The symptoms of bi-polar cause the sufferer to act in extremes and therefore causing distress to others. Lacey Turner (Stacey) performs so well that this issue has been a massive turn-a-bout for the series. In the following clip, it is noticeable to see the illness for itself and how the viewers at home may have been affected, especially those who have bi-polar, with which this organisation comes in to help support those viewers.

One of the biggest issues within soap opera's are usually deaths or terminal illnesses. These issue's are very deep and distressing for some viewers so the programme usually ends with the special theme and the number for the charity supporting these events are given. those who ring are given support and their call supports what the director and writers may put in their episodes later on to either increase the tension or decrease the amount of complaints. 

Entry 7 - Storylines

Story-lines are essential and are the most critical part of Eastenders, or indeed any soap opera. Especially since the programme exploits certain taboo's, these story-lines from small issues or incidents to massive illegal issues of all aspects, such as;

• hen nights and stag do's
• tragic weddings
• domestic abuse 
• rape 
• murder 
• immigrants
• child abuse
• mental illnesses
• terminal illnesses
• death of friends, lovers and family

As the stories progress the problems are first identified within the first few episodes, whereas as time moves on, these problems show how the characters deal with the problem and wherever they make the right or wrong choices. Therefore linking to the point where the drama escalates. These stories are carried out in real time, this is according to our reality, this means that when a story line is emerging it may happen at the end of one episode and continue half way through another episode. However, if the situation being highlighted is very dramatic and causes a change in the direction of Eastenders, for example, introducing a new character or getting rid of one, the storyline may continue at the beginning of the next episode.

Entry 8 - Heightened Drama Tension

The peek of the drama is known as the heightened tension within the Soap Opera. After a few episodes of the beginning of the dilemma, the story-line meets a final point where the characters either explode in anger or sadness, or conflict strongly emerges between the characters. Such story-lines with massive drama tension are those which every viewer can relate to and feel sympathy for. The progression of storylines is the most crucial part of a soap opera as it is the basic foundation of all reason for creating a soap opera, the influence of viewer gossip and the encouragement of other forms of media such as; magazines and websites.

Stages of a story e.g. an affair
1. Firstly, the introduction of a story can become noticed during a sudden incident. In many cases where characters have admitted affairs, the actual incident of having an affair is the point where a future plot is introduced, thereby developing the personality of the characters involved (the couple and the third party) and either twisting them to the other direction discovering the secret under public circumstances. A great example of this is Max and Stacey's affair where it started of as 'a bit of fun' but turned into an ugly christmas story towards the end of the year.

2. Secondly, the discovery of the secret is prolonged as the characters involved in the affair continue with the third party without the other partner knowing about their little secret. This stage shows a different side to people where in society, people are expected to be kind and loyal, whereas in the case of an affair the partner commiting the affair is seen as a traitor. As an audience member, two sides to the story are seen as even the partner who will become the sufferur (the person being cheated on) will have a different side to them after the events has been discovered.

3. Thirdly, in this case, the person committing the affair, Max Branning, may have a change of heart and double think about what they are doing. Regardless of the affair being thrilling and dangerous, which agrees with the characters personality, the fact that he is cheating on his wife, betraying his oaths and worrying about the consequences of his children if the secret is to be discovered is a massive burden to carry. For this reason, the affair may cease for a while and therefore decline slightly, even though the persistence of the third party, being Stacey Slater, may relight the desire to chear.

4. By this stage, the story may have prolonged for many months, by specific times of the year the secret is usually discovered in new dramatic ways to increase tension within the plot. The affair is about to reach its peak moment to when the whole family including Tanya Branning, the other partner will discover the secret and bring a new plot connecting to the harsh news awaiting her ever since the affair began. With Eastenders, these plots are usually exposed in very dramatic ways, as Stacey is preparing to get married to Bradley Branning, she is getting ready in a room where a camera was hidden by Lauren Branning to secure her suspicions. The wedding video was shown on christmas day where Max and Stacey kissed causing horror and a huge wave of tension of each family members face, specifically Stacey's, Bradley's, Max's, Tanya's and Lauren's face. However, this dramatic moment becomes the end of this plot and the introduction of another plot, this being the breakup of the family, which is what all affairs between married couples suffer from.


Stories such as this are reinforced with the two types of gossip. One being primary, the other being secondary. Firstly, primary gossip is the word of mouth from audience members as they discuss the stories shown on the soap. However this is not all, the gossip stretches out into the web were it is advertised. This makes the gossip secondary as it is a step above normal gossip.  Such magazines like TV Choice is loaded with a massive range of Tv drama's, soap opera's and other shows like The Apprentice. There website shows just how much of TV broadcasting they cover;


http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/
http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/soaps#4898

Entry 6 - Stereotypical Characters

characters who are a part of the Matriarch. These are mainly female characters such as Peggy Mitchell and Pat Butcher who take the role of controlling and protecting the family and looking out for their children. Such modern matriarchs like Tanya Branning have been introduced as the female head of the family is usually in their 50's or 60's. The matriarch character is a high earning, controlling and independent woman.

One of the biggest matriarchs is Peggy Mitchell as she has been involved with Eastenders by being one of the longest running female characters since 1991-2010. With family rivals such as Pat Butcher, who had cheated with Peggy's husband Frank. This type of rivalry brought many different elements to Eastenders, mainly violence towards each other with witty retorts and sharp come backs to keep the fury between them alive. However in some episodes where a big serious event happens, Peggy and Pat almost become sisters and can turn into a very nasty team once allied.

A part from this, Peggy's main concern are her boys, especially since they have had a rollercoaster of a life, from prison to drug addiction and even murder. One of Eastenders greatest 'whodunnits' being 'Who shot Phil?' where he had created so many enemies, it ended with his 'close demise'.

Another matriarch character is Pat Butcher, who has had many husbands and is seen as the strong and brassy character and is known as Peggy's nemesis. Her involvement with Frank (one of Peggy's husbands) caused such disrupt between these two characters, even though they were both very similar characters. almost at one point in a story line, regarding Franks disappearance, they began to share more warm and friendly emotions towards each other and discovered that the two feisty enemies make feisty allies, however this doesn't usually last a lot in Eastenders as something always happens to disrupt the peace.


As well as important female characters, known as the Matriarch, there are some typical male characters which are the 'hard nuts' of the programme. These characters are very threatening and send out dangerous vibes. The most popular male characters who have also been the long running are mainly the Mitchell brothers, Phil and Grant. These two brothers were always in and out of trouble and causing fights between other males in East enders.

Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) has been in many serious stories such as drug abuse, crime and even child abuse. His character is based on all the elements of a East-end man, which is to be; tough, strong and nobody's fool. Very similar characters such as Johnny Allen is a typical strong male characters with high status. These men can be seen as gangsters.





Johnny Allen

Entry 4 - Sense Of Community

This is one of the family tree's explaining the relations between the communities within Eastenders. Although difficult to understand, the main characters are shown and how they are linked to eachother. Community is a very important aspect within a soap opera as all the characters either conflict, ally or trade secrets about each other causing dilemma's and relationships to be built. This way the different families work together simultaneously in creating the effect that 'everybody knows everybodies business' which is needed within a soap opera in order to increase tension.


The first main family was the Beale and Fowler clan, the main characters being, her husband Arthur, and teenage children Mark and Michelle. Living nearby was Pauline's twin brother Pete Beale, his wife Kathy and their son Ian. Pauline and Pete's mother was the domineering Lou, who resided with Pauline and her family. This family is an example of how live together in the community of Albert Square. These relationships between these family members are twisted, sustained or broken and reconciled throughout the programme, causing the structure of Eastenders as most of its plots are created from the drama within the families. These plots also upset other families causing rivalry between them, depending on the issue. 

Entry 3 - Creator

The creator, Tony Holland had based the characters name on people he had known throughout his life. For example, the characters Lou, Pauline and Pete come from his own family. Hollands reason for this was to replicate his childhood and his past. His past experiences have become the storyline for some of the original characters in the programme, this promotes the aspect of 'taking a slice out of life' and recreating it. By doing so the reality of the programme increases as all the names created are very typical of an East-ender, such characters like Steve McFadden, Barbara Windsor, Wendy Richards and Jessie Wallace are very popular characters who are well-known due to their involvement and conflicts within the family.

Tony Holland made certain issue's which broke many taboo's in modern society, such as teenage pregnancy, AIDS, cancer, mental illnesses etc. This made eastenders very successful as it gripped and related to everybody who watched the programme, especially the less complex yet constant issues like a bad day at work or just daily irritating things that happen.

Entry 2 - Eastenders

When creating soap opera's the issue of families and community is something that must be thought about clearly. for example, the idea of having allies and enemies, wherever they will be loyal to each other or backstab eachother.

Throughout Eastenders the different families create the community through rivalry and allies. Certain families have existed since episode 1, these families are; the Beales, the Brannings and the Butchers. These families do not get on with each other and cause and create problems with each other. The positive side of having families as the main source of attention means that there is no main character which adds to the sense of community as all there stories are allowed to progress one by one.

These families also know alot of secrets about each other, which usually ruins the family life and social impacts of the suspected person and increases the tension between the different communities which help the progression of the dramatic plots that take place within the programme. This secret is also developed and new ways of releasing them can be invented to create bigger drama. The families also differ in terms of  'power', for example, the Mitchell's have the biggest characters which are long running and are linked with many progressing story lines. whereas the Beale's are a rivalry family which have had the same qualities and incidents to the Mitchell's.

Entry 1 - What makes a Soap Opera?

A soap opera has many elements of which reality is presented. For example, Eastenders is seen as a programme that 'takes a slice out of life' by using the array of characters and location settings to show what happens during the programme.

Such elements of a soap opera are:

• dramatic plots
• relation to real-life events
• cliffhangers
• no main character (most drama is shared within the community)
• romantic elements

These aspects show how our reality can be linked closely to the reality of the characters in the soap opera. Some situations such as murder, rape and abuse are problems which are tackled in many soap operas. This may cause a slight feel of escapism for some viewers, however the main focus is to create a sense of eavesdropping, almost as if the viewers are watching into the world of the soap and watching snippets of a characters story one by one and watching them merge into one final battle. This causes a sense of dramatic irony as well, especially since the viewers are aware what will happen to certain characters due to the foreshadowing events that may occur in some stories, however the characters themselves are unaware. 

Apart from the emotional aspects of a soap opera, the location and the shooting times are also very crucial explanations to what a soap opera is. The location is always the same, needless to say that the community living in that area are all connected via previous events or through the social meeting points in the area. In the case of Eastenders, the Queen Vic, the Cafe, the markets and the Launderette are the biggest meeting points in the area, which allow progression of the story line when characters meet up in these areas to move to private areas. Furthermore, the shooting times of most soap operas are usually a couple of times a week and run on the television for 30 minutes.

The music of the soap is another important aspect as it begins in the same way every time it is shown. The sound of this theme allows viewers to know when the programme has started if they are in another room. Almost as a calling to bring the people closer to the screens to watch the drama. 

Expectations of soap opera's

A main summary of the expectations of a soap opera is that there are many different views towards what a soap opera expects and what they have constantly seen therefore turning into a routine of how the events are to be played out.

To begin with, the first emotion in question is the viewers who are dismissive. Those who are dismissive regard the soap opera as entertainment instead of drama. However the soap operas constantly have dramatic story lines which portray life in the world, a dismissive viewer sees the soap opera as comical regardless of its drama especially since they are aware it isn't real. For this reason, their expectations are not as deep as those who are committed to the soap opera as the do not feel major emotions or create attachments to the program. Those who do are affected by the issue's tackled in the soap opera.

The second type of viewer is the fanatic fans who rush their errands to watch the soap opera, in shorter terms, the viewing times of the soap opera are included in their daily routine. The viewers who are fanatic gossip and really feel the emotion portrayed within the soap opera. For this reason their expectations are higher and require some more drama within the soap to fulfill their needs in television, making them harder to please if an event is too common. A reason for the attachment is escapism, where the viewer can relax and feel what the characters feel according to the course their lives have taken. This is an important aspect to the success of how the soap operas have pleased the viewers.

Those viewers who are not committed are less easy to please as they not care much for the program and could regard it as unrealistic and unbelievable, the main reason for this is because the show may contain too much doom and gloom, which is not possible in reality to such a small area of the country. Clearly, there expectations are very low. Most of these viewers would not even watch the soap opera in this case.

The expectations which are fulfilled within the drama cause gossip about the soap opera after the show is finished. The viewers who are fanatics or who tend to gossip more about the show. Some quotes show how this is achieved:

• 'Yes, at school every day...have you seen Eastenders? Did you watch Coronation Street last night? They're the main topic of the morning, or it could go on all day.'
• '...as soon as Eastenders is finished the phone will go and they'll be on the phone to discuss what happened.'
• 'I think its become alot more up to date. It used to be a bit of a woman's soap, but since its changed and has become more in line with most other's.'
• 'A lot of doom and gloom, they're not happy characters, some sort of problem, i don't expect them to be happy.'

These quotes show how different viewers perceive the show differently which affects how they react afterwards. Another point is where the viewers watch the soap. The main area being within the household and with family. This could increase the expectations as the whole family contribute to what they want to see from the soap opera. 

Conventions Of A Soap

The four most important conventions of a soap opera are as follows;

• Dramatic Plots
• Cliffhangers
• Dramatic Irony
• The fact that there is no main character
• Community
• The idea that the viewers are omniscient

Dramatic plots are a key element in soap opera's, as they establish the main issue's within the lives of the characters. This also relates to the viewers at home where they can escape.

Cliffhangers are another big convention of soap opera's, which are very essential and consistent. The use of cliffhangers causes suspense and tension, this also intrigues the viewer's to watch the next episode, although the time has passed since the last episode.

Dramatic irony is the situation where the audience realize what will happen next, yet the characters are unaware. These foreshadowing events allow the viewer's to express their emotion towards the drama and allow them to be involved.

The fact that there is no main character is very crucial. This allows many stories to develop and gain publicity, then fade out within a certain time. Furthermore, a sense of community is established when witnessing many different stories merged together.