Henderson, Lesley M. (2002) Social issue story lines in British soap opera. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6541/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] SOCIAL ISSUE STORY LINES IN BRITISH SOAP OPERA Lesley M. Henderson A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy . University of Glasgow Department of Sociology & Anthropology May 2002 2 Abstract This thesis examines the factors which influenced how social issue story lines were developed in the areas of sexual violence, breast cancer and mental distress in British soap opera in the mid to late 1990's. The soap opera production process was examined by conducting interviews with members of production teams from different programmes. This core study was contextualised by additional interviews with production personnel working in other areas of television (e.g. documentary). Spokespeople from different organisations who consulted on story lines or lobbied around different issues were also interviewed. In total, 64 interviews were conducted. The influence of soap story lines on public understandings of an issue was explored in an audience reception study of sexual violence in Brookside (12 focus groups). The soap opera production study identified a number of factors which influence story line development (socio - cultural positioning of the substantive topic, broadcast hierarchy and commercial imperatives). The comparative study of mental distress identified some cross genre constraints (narrative pace, commercial imperatives) and some genre specific issues (access to people with mental health problems). The audience study revealed that people bring their social knowledge of an issue to their viewing experience. Research participants . 'read' the meanings of Brookside's story line in remarkably uniform ways however some participants responded differently to certain elements of the story (rejecting empathy with the 'collusive' mother). The story line was demonstrated to have made a lasting impact on Brookside viewers (in relation to the conflicting emotions of the abused child). There were also identifiable links between the intentions of the production team, the nature of representation and audiences responses. The thesis argues that the soap format has the potential to influence public understandings in different ways from other media but this should not be . uncritically celebrated. The television soap story line should be viewed as a social product, made for specific purposes which constrain its' development and how it may be used. 3 Abstract. ..............................................................................................................2 Acknowledgements ........................ ; ............................................................. :...... 7 Author's Declaration ............................................................................................7 Chapter 1: Introduction: "why study social issue story lines in television soap opera?" ........................................- ....................................................................... 8 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 8 Why studying social issues in soaps is important.. ........................................ 11 "Everyone's talking about it": the reach of soap opera ............................... 12 Soap infiltration .......................................................................................... 13 The blurring of 'hard' and 'soft' in TV genres ............................................. 15 The Soap as Social Education ................................................................... 18 The increase in controversial story lines .................................................... 20 The debate about controversial story lines: soap as a site of struggle ....... 21 Studying the soap opera ................................................................................ 23 An overview of the structure of the thesis ...................................................... 25 Chapter Two: Media production and soap opera literature ............................... 29 Introduction .................................................................................................... 29 Studying the news ......................................................................................... 29 Some key findings in sociological studies of news ..................................... 33 The news organization and how news is bureacratically managed ........... 35 Studying the soap opera .................... : ........................................................... 39 The feminist tradition in soap opera research ........................................... .40 Key studies in gender and genre research ................................................ 41 The Production Context of Soap Opera .................................................... .46 A note on text and audience ...................................................................... 53 Conclusions ...................................................................................................,. 55 Chapter three: The Research Design and Methodology ................................... 58 Introduction .................................................................................................... 58 Research design around diverse soaps and issues ...................................... 58 The substantive research topics in their socio-cultural context .................. 60 Main questions to be discussed ................................................................. 62 The empirical data .........................................................................................63 The Production Interviews: the Sample ..................................................... 65 The conduct of the interviews .................................................................... 67 . Questions of access and confidentiality ..................................................... 68 Source Organisation Interviews ................................................................. 70 Additional interviews on producing programmes on mental distress ......... 71 Analysis of the interviews ........................................................................... 72 Audience responses to social issues in TV soaps: the case study of sexual violence in Brookside ................................................................................. 72 Aims of the Audience Reception Study ...................................................... 73 4 The Use of Focus Groups as a research tool ............................................ 73 The audience sample: negotiating access ................................................. 74 Special interest groups ...........................................................................· .... 75 General population groups ......................................................................... 75 Running the sessions ................................................................................ 77 The soap script writing group -exercise ....................................................... 77 Analysing the focus group data .................................................................. 79 Ethical considerations in running the groups ............................................. 80 Chapter Four: programme and genre diversity ................................................. 82 Introduction .................................................................................................... 82 A profile of diverse soaps on british television ............................................... 83 The importance of production philosophies ................................................... 83 Coronation Street: Family Entertainment.. ................................................. 83 Brookside: Programming for Change ......................................................... 85 EastEnders: Reflecting 'Reality' ................................................................. 88 Emmerdale: Taking the Production in a new direction ............................... 89 Neighbours: A sanitised world in the imported soap .................................. 91 Television soap opera and the commercial imperative .................................. 96 The soap story line as a mediated product.. .................................................. 99 The soap production team: A microcosm of society? .............................. 100 Chapter Five: case studies of diverse social issue story lines in different soap opera programmes .......................................................................................... 105 Introduction .................................................................................................. 105 The breast cancer stories ...........................................................................