Surreal Life (Eastenders)

Member Name: Asylum

Product:	Eastenders
Date:	23/11/02 (226 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: popular

Disadvantages: unrealistic

I have never been a fan of soap operas, but a friend of recently asked me to help in creating a website based on the programme Eastenders. Naturally I decided it was prudent to start by doing a little research and finding out all I could about the series and it’s history.
My understanding has always been that the appeal of soap operas lies in their relation to actual community life. I cannot imagine any community on the planet where such a cross section of events would take place.
Most areas throughout Britain fall into categories of working class, wealthy people or a blend of the 2, whereas Albert Square seems to accommodate wealthy businessmen and the unemployed. This is a very unlikely situation due to the cost of housing normally controlling such factors.
Okay, this is only a TV programme and finding such faults may be viewed as rather petty, but the list of events and mixture of people is bizarre.
The programme has had murders, weddings, major and minor conflicts, dodgy business deals, rape, fires, drug dealing and countless more activities. The residents have suffered false imprisonment, family abuse, bankruptcy, hospitalisation and AIDS.
I realise that everything which is portrayed in Eastenders does take place and as such is acceptable as content, although the probability of every single event conceivable taking place in one small community is absurd.
The problem is that if the writers keep the storyline at a more realistic level then very little will occur to interest the viewers, but I am quite amazed that such a surreal set of circumstances produces such a great popularity with the general public.
However, to be fair I must congratulate the producers for achieving the success that Eastenders has enjoyed.

Summary: