Analysis of Soaps: EastEnders

EastEnders is an award winning soap set in London,  or to be more specific in the East End of London, hence the title given 'EastEnders'. The Soap Opera first began production in 1984, after the initial concept was formulated into a series by Julia Smith and Tony Holland, the programmes creators. As any good writers do, they used what they knew in order to create an appealing Soap Opera, that still runs today; 25 years later. Tony Holland grew up in the East End of London, in much the same environment as EastEnders is set, and as such on many occasions explained that the characters represented within the Soap are based upon former neighbours, if not a slightly more dramatic representation. This is a perfect way in order to attract an audience, as a real life counterpart is someone that the audience can relate to as they may well know of similar people in their lives. When creating our Soap Opera, we will likewise use much the same format, as this has as previously mentioned worked very well for EastEnders over the last 25 years.

The set of EastEnders is of course in the East End, however internally, the show is based upon the fictional area of Walford. Although being a fictional location, the fact that the name sounds like an actual believable place creates a sense of realism that the audience can relate to, which is a highly important Code and Convention of Soap Operas that is essentially required for any Soap to become successful and for that matter, popular. Within Walford is Albert Square, another fictional location, however it has been given a good amount of back history, to once again connect the audience to the location. For example, Albert Square was named after Prince Albert and constructed in the early 20th Century as a tribute location. Coincidentally, Prince Alberts wife was Queen Victoria, which happens to also be the name of the local pub in the area. These perks of interest may well seem trivial, but they are essential in building a relationship with the audience, not to mention the fact that they are a major part of Codes and Conventions involving Soaps. There are also a number of other locations spread through Albert Square, most notably:

Minty's Car Garage,
The Queen Vic(toria),
The Minute Mart,
The Launderette
And the Café.

These locations all attribute to the Codes and Conventions of a Soap Opera in that the characters effectively need locations for them to meet, and therefore form relationships that the audience can relate to, thus creating a connection between the Show and the audience. Without these locations, the Soap would likely fail, as meeting between Characters would be simply by chance, rather than arranged meetings. When creating our Soap drama, it will essential for us to find an area which has a relatively similar layout to that of Albert Square so that we conform to the pre-established Codes and Conventions of Soap Operas.

Character wise, there are currently 48 active characters within EastEnders, with 10 characters considered as 'recurring'. Of course, the creation of our Soap will not require anywhere near this amount of characters, although there will be a need to create a good sense of diversity in order to create an interesting and watch-able show. For example, within EastEnders there are a range of races represented, and age groups, namely:

The Slater household, whom represent a typically non-nuclear family, in the sense that their are unique relationships between characters. For instance, Kat Slater, claims to be the sister of one character, although is revealed as the mother, due to child abuse when she was younger.

The Masoods however represent a typically Muslim culture within the soap. However, they do oppose this stereotype to an extent in the sense that although in Muslim culture Homosexuality is forbidden, one son, namely Syed Masood who is revealed to be homosexual following an an econuter with fellow character, caucasian Christian.