Older People, Sexualities and Soap Operas: Representations Of
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Middlesex University Research Repository Older People, Sexualities and Soap Operas: Representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual sexualities and transgender identity in television soap operas, and older audiences’ responses. A study submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Nicola Humberstone School of Health and Social Science Middlesex University July, 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my supervisors Dr. Lon Fleming and Dr. Merja Makinen for their unfailing support, encouragement and enthusiasm. Margaret Davis was extremely helpful in responding to requests with support and practical help. Thank you to the five groups who participated with good will and humour and made the project so enjoyable. Contents Page Abstract 1 Introduction 3 Context of social research in literature and policy 4 Aims of the research 5 Day centres as a site for exploration 7 Television soap operas as a site for exploration 7 Methodology 9 Structure of thesis 10 Questions 11 Chapter 1. Older Audiences: Contexts and Discourses 14 Basis for literature review 14 Consumers 18 Dominant discourses and the popular imagination 19 Gender and sexuality 26 Older lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people 28 Sexualities, legislation and politics: significance for this research 35 Chapter 2. Theories of Soap Opera: Issues and Contexts 37 Multi narrrative text 39 The text and construction of femininity 46 Intertextuality, melodrama, audience identification and resistance 49 Production values 53 Discursive social audiences 55 Gender in the soap opera text 56 Talk generated by soap opera 63 Conclusion 72 Chapter 3. Close readings of key LGBT representations 74 Lesbians in British prime time soap operas 75 Previews 75 The ‘lesbian’ scenes in relation to the episode 79 Analysis of close reading 80 Reviews and intertextuality 83 Arguments 92 Conclusion 97 Gay men in British prime-time soaps 100 Previews 100 Analysis of close reading 103 Reviews and intertextuality 107 Arguments 115 Older gay men 116 Conclusion 117 The transgender representation in Coronation Street 122 Previews 124 Analysis of close reading 127 Reviews and intertextuality 129 Conclusion 138 Overall conclusions 140 Chapter 4. Cultural and Social Research 145 Cultural and social research methodologies 146 Themes and issues 148 Social research methodology 150 Sites for investigation 150 The East London group 151 The South London outer suburb group 153 Campaigning groups 155 The Older lesbian group 155 The Older gay men’s group 156 The Transgender group 156 Table of participants in discussion groups 157 Coding 158 Gender, class, age and ethnicity 158 Class and age 159 Research methods 161 Recruitment and sampling 164 Access and gatekeeping 164 Rationale for questions structuring the group discussions 166 Narrative analysis 169 Paralinguists 170 Transcribing from voice to text 170 Presentation codes 171 Ethical issues, research governance and reflexivity 171 Ethical issues 171 Reflexivity 173 Chapter 5. Analysis of Older Audiences’ Responses to Television Soap representations and narratives 175 Older audiences 175 Group responses to memories of campaigns 176 Responses to representations of sexualities in soaps 179 Active engagement with the text 179 Intertextuality 187 Recognition of melodramatic imagination 198 Compulsory heterosexuality 201 Encoding, decoding 203 The carnivalesque in group discussions 208 Intensity of feeling in group discussions 211 Contradictions and change of views 213 Language use: gaps, silences and talk ing at once 224 Soap talk 227 Conclusion 232 Chapter 6. Conclusion 239 Theories of soap opera and audiences 239 Soap opera and talk 241 Unexpected outcomes 243 Limitations of the research 243 Significance for research on older people 244 Appendices 1.1. State Pension and pension credits 246 2.1. Close Reading Lesbian Representation 247 2.2. Close Reading Gay Men Representation 253 2.3. Close Reading Transgender Representation 256 3.1. Interview Transcript East London Group 259 3.2. One to One Interview East London Group 284 3.3. Interview Transcript SL. Suburb Group 297 3.4. One to One Interview SL. Suburb Group 329 3.5. Interview Transcript Older Lesbian Group 337 3.6. One to One Interview Older Lesbian Group 380 3.7. Interview Transcript Older Gay Men’s Group 395 3.8. Interview Transcript Transgender Group 441 3.9. Interview Questions 469 Bibliography 470 ABSTRACT The thesis investigates the responses of older audiences to representations of lesbian, gay, and bisexual sexualities and transgender identities in British prime time television soap operas between1986 and 2002. It combines cultural research, in relation to theories of soap opera and audience engagement and social research into the responses and views of older audiences to such representations and the life experiences of the participants which inform their views. The thesis recognises that the voices of older people are under- represented in socio-cultural research, especially when investigating sexuality. Soap opera constitutes a genre which functions as a vehicle for social issues, including sexualities. Soap operas draw large audiences across generations and gender; they have high profile publicity and intertextual material to engage viewers’ interests, and broadly accessible scheduling. They therefore provide an accessible means of engagement with these issues with older people. Chapter 1 outlines the social context of the research and reviews selected discourses and research, noting that much recent research is directed to issues of care and therefore tends to address the needs and preferences of older people rather than their active engagement with,and potential contribution, to popular culture and issues of sexualities and gender identity. Chapter 2 identifies and evaluates cultural theories and issues around textual analysis. The relevance and validity of these general themes are examined in Chapter 3 by means of ‘close readings’ of two selected episodes with relevant narratives and representations through textual analysis and in relation to everyday social interaction. 1 Chapter 4 addresses the epistemological issues involved in combining cultural research into the meanings and significance of these representations and narratives with social research into the meanings, associations and value derived from them by older audiences. The methodological framework for social research and the qualitative research methods are discussed and evaluated. The research focuses upon five groups of older people, two from an Inner London Drop- in Centre and an Outer London Day Centre and three from Campaign groups who identify as members of a London based Older Lesbian Group, Older Gay Men’s Group and Male to Female Transgender Group. More self-conscious readings of the narratives and representations could be expected from groups with a campaigning history or trans-gender identity than the other two groups. Differences and commonalities between and within groups are noted and analysed in Chapter 5 and the analysis of the data is structured by the theories and themes identified and demonstrated in Chapters 2 and 3. The thesis supports and develops recent research which recognises that older people are diverse and demonstrate strong opinions. It also shows that as television audiences and in conversation older people actively engage with issues of non-normative sexualities which are too frequently regarded as peripheral for older people, if not taboo. This could usefully be further investigated. 2 INTRODUCTION The thesis builds on emerging research which recognises the diversity of older people and uses both cultural and social analysis to investigate older people’s diverse responses, perceptions and attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representations in British prime time television soap operas from 1986-2002. Chapter 1 examines traditional, emerging and recent research on older people and outlines the context of this research. Chapters 2 and 3 examine how LGBTs are represented in soap operas and related texts and the extent to which the theories provide effective tools for analysis. Epistemological issues of combining social and cultural analysis are developed in Chapter 4, linking the section which identifies a set of themes which are applied in the close readings of selected episodes of soap operas and their use in the analysis of data from the social research. This chapter also describes the methodologies, addresses ethical issues and research methods. In Chapter 5 the responses and interpretive repertoires of older audiences are investigated in relation to representations of LGBTs in soap operas. These are analysed through responses of different Groups of older people who have been selected for interviews. Focus Groups and one to one follow up interviews are used where original Group discussion shows that participants have more relevant experience to offer. Television soaps are chosen as an ideal site as they have large audiences, and are accessible in relation to scheduling (early or mid evening) and publicity in the form of previews reviews and articles. They also have diverse points for identification, are narrative based and have multiple points of investigation. They span decades and hence generations and are available to all the audiences under investigation. British soaps are ‘social realist’ and encourage identification with characters; they generate