TV Drama Soap Analysis Eastenders –

Eastenders Analysis -

• 09 / 10 / 15

• Summation : Emotions are high in Albert Square when Ian demands answers from those closest    to him.

• Narrative : Recently in the show Ian Beale has been dealing with the aftermath of his daughters death and in the mean time his supposedly deceased mother, Kathy, has returned from the ‘dead’. 

There are aspects in Eastenders, as in any soap, that are an example of realistic society which conforms to the verisimilitude of most TV dramas. However, there are also elements of Eastenders that are not representative of wider society and are acts, which in themselves, are not accurate if the intention of the programme is to be naturalistic. 

Some examples of naturalistic elements in Eastenders are; use of appropriate and real settings, accents and dialect / use of colloquial language, representation of families and relationships, auditory effects and the representation of social groups (specifically varied sexualities). The buildings used in Eastenders are all real and suitable for the location in which the show is set in. Furthermore, the East London accents are present in the voices of actors as is the use of dialect in the scripts; the characters use a variety of colloquial slang / abbreviations such as “bruv”, “wots ‘appened” and “luv”. Additionally, the depiction of family life and relationships could be said to portray the life of many off-screen people within society. Characters experience family life issues as well as relationship problems which many audience members can relate to due to the implementation of naturalistic stylisation. Finally, the last realistic element of the episode of Eastenders that I studied was the representation of multiple sexualities through the use of hetero and homo sexual characters and story lines.

On the other hand, there are also many non-naturalistic aspects of Eastenders. For example, the storylines of specific episodes are extremely unrealistic with the character of Kathy Beale returning from the ‘dead’ after a life insurance scandal. Also, the idea that all characters, as neighbours, know each other and their personal business is not realistic for a London Borough. Furthermore, the timeline for the show is non-naturalistic meaning that characters, specifically ones played by child actors, often change and therefore character continuity is compromised for the storylines. Additionally, there is an disproportionate ethnic representation  specifically for the region that the programme is set and filmed in. Finally, and possibly the most non-naturalistic, is the exaggerated storylines comprised of murders, scandals and being returned form the dead.

Therefore, Eastenders, as most soaps, is neither fully realistic or non-naturalistic conforming to verisimilitude fully. This is because Eastenders is the medium of TV and the genre of a soap and thus has to appeal to an audience meaning that it must entertain as its primary purpose.