Realism & Narrative:
In Hollyoaks everything is believable even if the story-lines are exaggerated a little. Through Parallel story-lines thought out the half an hour episode we follow 3 separate story lines which have one central meeting point. Steph and Gilly’s wedding. The episode starts with Rhys and Gilly both asleep together on the sofa, which is believable from the start because friends fall asleep on the same sofa together all the time, weather its after a night out on the town or just that they spent all night talking. Or in this case a night out for Gillys stag do. However both are shocked awake by Darren who starts playing the drums to get them up.
We then go to Steph, Gilly’s soon to be wife, who is admiring her dress in the mirror. This is made more realistic when her mum comes in handing her a glass of orange juice. Realism is created by using the normal everyday situation of marriage and in the opening scenes using that to see every body’s reactions to the day ahead of them.
Scenes in Hollyoaks only last a maximum of 2 minutes unless it was a scene that covers something either personal/emotional, something of importance.
Once we’ve gathered that it’s Steph and Gillys wedding day, we follow both of them separately through out the day as they prepare for the big event. Split narrative and parallel story lines help us to follow them easily without getting confused; there are 3 stories followed through out the episode. Gilly and Steph’s wedding, Cindy and Alistair debating weather or not getting married is for the best (gold digger sub plot) and the McQueen’s trying to convince Alistair it would be a better idea to marry there mum Moyra who like Cindy is only after Alistair’s money.The two gold digger storylines seem to be a little bit unrealistic but because were used to the characters we know that its in the character (nature) to pull stunts like this so its believable, also people in the audience may have been through the same thing or maybe know someone in Alistair’s position, someone who’s being conned out of their money by marrying a younger women.
Realism & Audience:
After the break in Hollyoaks there’s a 5 minute scene between Steph and her mum. They discuss the fact that Steph will be married in a matter of hours, however the scene doesn’t stay on such a positive note for long, the issue of Steph’s cancer arises causing Frankie (Steph’s mum) to break down in tears saying “this is isn’t right, a daughter should never go before her mum” the pair both break down into tears and share an embrace.
This is realistic to the audience as Cervical Cancer is becoming more and more current. Not every mum but mums in the audience may know what its like to lose a daughter or any child for that matter. Weather it’s so something like Cancer, an accident or even accidental death. The bond between mother and daughter is something that isn’t always necessarily seen but something that’s always there. The fact that Steph is so young as well will strike a heart cord with this also, a daughter leaving the world before there mother, A recent case you could compare it too would be that of Jade Goody and what her mother went through so its even more believable when we know of people who have gone through this type of trauma.
Hollyoaks is set in a small town in cheesier. It has all the makings of a small enclosed community; There’s the off licence, café Il nosh, the salon, the loft (club) the dog in the pond (pub) and the school and university. There’s also a park which isn’t used very often. With all the houses being right next to one another and the odd character that’s always interested in everyone else’s business but their own it’s not a surprise that everybody knows everybody else’s business even if there not known by everybody. Does everybody around your area, or even on your street…do you know who everybody is? Do you know everything about them? This is the only thing that makes shows like Hollyoaks and Eastenders slightly unrealistic, the fact that all the characters know everything about everybody. But because soaps like this have been running for such a long time audiences have become immune to unbelievable storylines. Also the environment there set in are so familiar things are overlooked or cast aside, the average day to day lives we follow reflect our own so much who cares if there’s a murder slipped in here or there or a car crash once in while? The shows only show us what the audience want to see otherwise all soaps would be people sitting round the dinner table or in the pub talking about work or how school was, kids doing there homework, and that’s boring.
Which poses the question how can soaps be so realistic when there unrealistic at the same time?
In Hollyoaks everything is believable even if the story-lines are exaggerated a little. Through Parallel story-lines thought out the half an hour episode we follow 3 separate story lines which have one central meeting point. Steph and Gilly’s wedding. The episode starts with Rhys and Gilly both asleep together on the sofa, which is believable from the start because friends fall asleep on the same sofa together all the time, weather its after a night out on the town or just that they spent all night talking. Or in this case a night out for Gillys stag do. However both are shocked awake by Darren who starts playing the drums to get them up.
We then go to Steph, Gilly’s soon to be wife, who is admiring her dress in the mirror. This is made more realistic when her mum comes in handing her a glass of orange juice. Realism is created by using the normal everyday situation of marriage and in the opening scenes using that to see every body’s reactions to the day ahead of them.
Scenes in Hollyoaks only last a maximum of 2 minutes unless it was a scene that covers something either personal/emotional, something of importance.
Once we’ve gathered that it’s Steph and Gillys wedding day, we follow both of them separately through out the day as they prepare for the big event. Split narrative and parallel story lines help us to follow them easily without getting confused; there are 3 stories followed through out the episode. Gilly and Steph’s wedding, Cindy and Alistair debating weather or not getting married is for the best (gold digger sub plot) and the McQueen’s trying to convince Alistair it would be a better idea to marry there mum Moyra who like Cindy is only after Alistair’s money.The two gold digger storylines seem to be a little bit unrealistic but because were used to the characters we know that its in the character (nature) to pull stunts like this so its believable, also people in the audience may have been through the same thing or maybe know someone in Alistair’s position, someone who’s being conned out of their money by marrying a younger women.
Realism & Audience:
After the break in Hollyoaks there’s a 5 minute scene between Steph and her mum. They discuss the fact that Steph will be married in a matter of hours, however the scene doesn’t stay on such a positive note for long, the issue of Steph’s cancer arises causing Frankie (Steph’s mum) to break down in tears saying “this is isn’t right, a daughter should never go before her mum” the pair both break down into tears and share an embrace.
This is realistic to the audience as Cervical Cancer is becoming more and more current. Not every mum but mums in the audience may know what its like to lose a daughter or any child for that matter. Weather it’s so something like Cancer, an accident or even accidental death. The bond between mother and daughter is something that isn’t always necessarily seen but something that’s always there. The fact that Steph is so young as well will strike a heart cord with this also, a daughter leaving the world before there mother, A recent case you could compare it too would be that of Jade Goody and what her mother went through so its even more believable when we know of people who have gone through this type of trauma.
Hollyoaks is set in a small town in cheesier. It has all the makings of a small enclosed community; There’s the off licence, café Il nosh, the salon, the loft (club) the dog in the pond (pub) and the school and university. There’s also a park which isn’t used very often. With all the houses being right next to one another and the odd character that’s always interested in everyone else’s business but their own it’s not a surprise that everybody knows everybody else’s business even if there not known by everybody. Does everybody around your area, or even on your street…do you know who everybody is? Do you know everything about them? This is the only thing that makes shows like Hollyoaks and Eastenders slightly unrealistic, the fact that all the characters know everything about everybody. But because soaps like this have been running for such a long time audiences have become immune to unbelievable storylines. Also the environment there set in are so familiar things are overlooked or cast aside, the average day to day lives we follow reflect our own so much who cares if there’s a murder slipped in here or there or a car crash once in while? The shows only show us what the audience want to see otherwise all soaps would be people sitting round the dinner table or in the pub talking about work or how school was, kids doing there homework, and that’s boring.
Which poses the question how can soaps be so realistic when there unrealistic at the same time?
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