Soap Operas

There and various types and genres of long running soap operas available for regular/daily entertainment. Different soap operas appeal and are appropriate to different audiences. The most nationally recognised TV soap operas stereotypically are; Eastenders, Corination Street, Emmerdale, Holloaks, Doctors.

Why do people watch soap operas?

Most soap operas are designed to be able to relate to their target audiences life. In general society soaps are often seen as a comfort blanket to their audience as its a representation of reality. Most soap operas are set in a working class environment and are seen as an escape route out of their busy and possibly stressful lives and as they are screened so regularly the audience feel that they know the characters as if they are 'real'. Topics and issues that generally tend to fixate soap operas drug use, infidelity, child abuse, divorce, pregnancy, homosexuality, racism, education, bullying and relationships. They offer advise and to gain an understanding that a persons not alone in a situation and that their are other individuals going through the same thing. However some proportion of the audience simply enjoy the entertainment the soap genre offers. Soaps offer excitement and laughter for an audience. Someone once said that people watch soaps to feel better about their own lives.