British TV soap operas Essay Example for Free

British TV soap operas Essay How would you account for the continuing fascination that British TV soap operas have for such a large and diverse audience? (30 mks) Soap opera is the most popular form of television programming in the world, being the most popular genre in Britain for 35 years, since the very first episode of Coronation Street was screened in 1960. The phenomenon evolved from the radio soap operas of the 1930s and 40s, emerging initially in the United States, and attracting a large following of predominantly female listeners. The name soap opera is so called because of the soap commercials that accompanied the episodes originally on American commercial radio by companies such as Proctor and Gambol. Soap operas differ from other TV genres in that they carry on showing up to 5 episodes a week, in comparison to super soaps which come in series these include programmes such as Casualty, Londons burning and footballers wives. Coronation Street was the first majorly popular soap opera in Britain. Tracking the lives of the people living on a street in central Manchester. Many more came over the years with the BBC trying to challenge ITVs dominating grip on the audience with attempts such as Compact (1962-65) and United set in a football team. Finally in 1975 Eastenders appeared tracking the lives of people living in a square in a fictitious suburb of London called Walford. Eastenders challenged Coronation Street and the two have gone head to head over the years for the Crown of Top soap. In 1982 Channel 4 a new channel tried their hand at the soap game with Brookside, set in a housing estate in Liverpool with the only communal point being the post box. Brookside never challenged Coronation Street or Eastenders for the soap crown but got close, due to its radical and inventive story lines such as Lesbianism, murder and teenage drug abuse, which none of the other soaps had dare tackled. Many more came and fell probably the biggest known flop being Eldorado only lasting between 1992 and 93. More are bound to come and go, but why do TV companies strive so hard to have a percentage of the soap market? Soap Operas are basically addictive, people get a buzz out of them. The way they are written and filmed makes the viewer feel like they are part of the story, it is a type of escapism for many. Looking in on other peoples lives gives the viewer a sense of voyeuristic pleasure, some people build emotional links with the characters. E. g. the death of Jamie in Eastenders on Christmas day had some people in tears, the characters are made to be so that people can relate to them like they know them. In all truth every character in the soap probably has similar traits to various people known by the viewer. Such as Phil Mitchell in Eastenders everyone knows someone who is a bit of a rouge slightly evil, even if not on personal terms. The reason people like the characters are because of the love hate relationship the viewer builds up inside of them. Ian Beale again from Eastenders is a perfect example when things are not going his way you feel slightly sorry for him but when he is successful he rubs it in everyones nose and seems like an annoying character. Some people can hold to high an opinion of the characters and even confuse reality with the soap world. E. g. Release Deirdre from prison actually campaigned by the sun newspaper. There have been reports of people hitting soap actors for the dirty deeds their characters had done. The world created in the soaps is very different to the real world, I believe this adds to their popularity even more. There always seems to be constant bad feelings which ever story line the soap is following, be it adultery, paedophilia, death or even marriage, doom and gloom is never far away. The fact that these events occur is not unrealistic as they happen every day to people all over the world, but it is the concentration of these bad feelings, in such a small area. The soaps always try and take on real life relevant social issues, and the audience feed off of it. I believe that humans enjoy seeing others fail and how they cope with it. The main draw to these soaps I believe is the sense of community, over many years the feeling of community within the areas that people live has been lost with crime on the rise and more reason to stay in, with multi-channel TV. It is ironic then, that TV programmes that hold such a sense of community in their main conventions such as soaps, are the things that distance people from their neighbours. People who watch soaps probably know more about who lives at number 5 on Coronation Street than who lives at number 5 on their road. The audience of soaps differs extremely even though the characters are nearly all working class, with some exceptions, the audience spreads across all classes, ages and sex. Although sometimes soaps are frowned upon as being a lesser genre, and low culture. Even though some may think soaps have no cultural relevance, they are still the most popular type of programming available, and probably the most culturally relevant in terms of the issues they tackle, they are also the flagship programmes for BBC and ITV at the very least. With 100s of channels and TV figures declining, soaps audiences continue to grow showing that soaps are around to stay. Theo Leeds.

Names and Titles in Gloria Naylors novel, Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean

Names and Titles in Gloria Naylor's novel, Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean    "Words themselves are innocuous; it is the consensus that gives them true power." (Naylor 344) A name is a mark of classification, a basis for self identity. Able to elevate or annihilate a persons' perception of herself and the surrounding society, these designations can uplift, joke, chide, mock, insult, degrade. "Society" implies the people and the atmosphere encompassing an individual in her daily life. "Culture" is closely tied to the society of a person--it is the aspects of her life which are directly influenced by such issues as race, color, nationality, religion, sexuality, and any other number of things that mark a person as distinct. Culture, though an integral part of everyone's lives, is frequently misunderstood or seen as threatening by people outside of the group in question. This ignorance of other people leads to judgments and assumptions, which frequently cloud daily issues. The most ignorant people stoop to name-calling, a painful slap of hatred. Stereotypical, racist, religious, and sexist name calling, especially, can affect the victim's views and opinions for life. Most vulnerable to these taunts are children, innocent and uncallused, who hear these names and know neither their true meanings nor the depth of senseless hatred behind them. As shown by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Gloria Naylor, these labels can be taken in and their meanings rendered harmless. By seizing and possessing these hateful words, a group can reshape the meaning of the slurs once wielded so forcefully against them. In Gloria Naylor's novel, "Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?" she tells of her experience as a young child called a "ni... ...round the family. While terms such as "nigger" remain excruciatingly prevalent in today's society, victims of racist slurs have found healthy ways of dealing with the abuse. By projecting new meanings onto old words and focusing on the ever-changing names for African Americans for reassurance, the victims' strengths allow them to reroute hate, instead creating a more positive recognition of intelligence, beauty, and individuality. Works Cited Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. " 'What's in a Name?' Some Meanings of Blackness." American Mosaics: Multicultural Readings in Context. Eds. Barabara Roche and Sandra Mano. Boston: Houghton Milfflin. 1996. 424-38. Naylor, Gloria. "Mommy, What Does 'Nigger' Mean?" New World of Literature: Writings from America's Many Cultures, second edition. Eds. Jerome Beatty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton. 1994. 344-7.

Rebellion in Catching Fire

The Start of the Rebellion ?Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark’s stunt to win the last Hunger Games has inspired the beginnings of an uprising against the Capitol. This has put Katniss and her family’s life at risk. She tries to fix what she has started, and finds out she cannot; she then uses her influence to cause a rebellion in the districts. The author uses the protective control of the government and the rebellion to show what happens when a government takes citizens’ freedom away. ?Suzanne Collins became a popular writer with her series The Underlander Chronicles.Her fame has grown enormously from her newest series The Hunger Games. This series has made her quite famous. A movie has been made for the first book and one is also planned for the second book. Collins says her inspiration for writing is to entertain the youth (â€Å"Suzanne Collins†). ?In Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen is beginning a different type of life because she won the Hunger Game s. Katniss and Peeta Mellark faked a romance during the Hunger Games, and now they must continue this act so that the Capitol does not find out.President Snow greets Katniss at home before she goes off to tour the other districts, and he tells her that she and Peeta must sell this fake romance to all the citizens so that a rebellion does not begin. After the tour, she finds out she has not been able to prevent the rebellion. In a change of rules Peeta and Katniss must return to the Games. Peeta and Katniss team up with other tributes in order to survive. Haymitch saves Katniss in a hovercraft, because the rebellion has begun (Collins). ?Ever since Katniss had to support her family, she would go into the woods with Gale to hunt for food.They would go to the Hob and sell or trade their animals illegally. These activities were against the Capitol, but Katniss and Gale knew they had to support their families anyway they could. They used their time outside of the fences to talk about the Capitol and the injustices upheld against them. If the Capitol catches them they could be executed, but defying the rules for their families’ survival was more important. The author shows us that the reason for rebelling is to improve the lives of everyone (Collins). Before the uprising had ever begun, in the first Hunger Games which Katniss and Peeta participated in, they were the last ones left. Instead of killing each other they both grabbed poisonous berries and were about to eat them, until the Capitol stopped them and both were announced winners. All of the Districts saw this as an uprising against the Capitol. This gave the people of the districts the idea and courage to rebel (Collins). ? When the Capitol forces Katniss and Peeta to return to the games, they know it is to show that the Capitol is all-powerful.At their interviews, Peeta tells the audience that he and Katniss have already been married and that Katniss is pregnant. This news, although not true, makes th e audience furious. â€Å"The audience can’t absorb the news right away. It has to strike them and sink in and be confirmed by other voices before they begin to sound like a herd of wounded animals, moaning, shrieking, calling for help† the reaction of the crowd shows the intensity of the anger that the citizens have for the Capitol (Collins 145). Peeta has shown how unjust the Capitol is, and this alone might cause a rebellion among the districts.When Peeta comes back, all the tributes link hands in unity of the districts. This signifies that the districts are against the capitol. This unity of hands is a rebellion in itself (Collins). Collins uses symbols to add to her theme of rebellion. Collins uses these symbols to show the wrongs committed by a totalitarian government. One of the greatest symbols of rebellion used in Catching Fire is the mockingjay. Katniss wore a mockingjay pin in her first games, and since she the symbol of the rebellion, the mockingjay has bec ome a symbol for the supporters of the rebellion. The mockingjay symbol is a mockery of the Capitol.The bird comes from a jabberjay, a failed experiment of the Capitol, and a mockingbird. This symbol was unintentionally given to Katniss, but is a perfect symbol for the rebellion because it plays upon the faults of the Capitol. The strongest portrayal of this symbol is when Katniss’s dress turns into a Mockingjay. Katniss did not realize how important this symbol was to the resistance against the Capitol (Collins). ?Another significant symbol seen is the three finger salute. Katniss used this in her first Hunger Games in respect of Rue, a young girl from District 11 who was killed.On her tour of the districts, Katniss pays her respects to Rue in front of the townspeople of District 11. After her speech, â€Å"Every person in the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand against their lips and extends them to me† (Collins 39). This sign of respect towards Katniss is also seen as dissent against the Capitol because this symbolizes a gesture that only District 12 uses. The townspeople did this because they respect Katniss and do not agree with the wrongs that the Capitol imposes upon them such as the Hunger Games (Collins). Catching Fire should be included in a list of works with high literary merit because the theme of rebellion is one that that is easily related to. The districts rebel because the tyrannical President Snow and the Capitol rule the districts with an iron fist. The citizens live in very poor conditions and without few freedoms. Readers agree with this theme because everyone wants to be free. The theme of fighting for a good cause against a cruel government is one that people of all races and religions can agree with, and is why Catching Fire should be included in a list of works with high literary merit.

A Brief Look at Stephen King - 751 Words

Stephen King Many people say that Stephen King is the most successful and influential author of the present day. His novels have given reader thrills and chills since the 1980s. Most people view Stephen King as America’s greatest horror writer, but he also explores the idea of identity and the American condition in the 1980’s. On September 21, 1947 Nellie Ruth King and Donald Edwin King gave birth to their son Stephen in Portland Maine. While King was still very young, his parents separated. King graduated from Lisbon Falls High School in the class of 1966. From there he attended the University of Maine at Orono. While King attended college he wrote for the school newspaper. During his time in Orono, king wrote his first short story. King’s first novel, Carrie, told the story of a high school girl that is harassed and picked on gets her revenge by going on a killing spree. Carie started King’s popularity. Soon after, King released other huge hits such as S alem’s Lot and The Shining. 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