There are various aspects in which every Soap Opera has which follow the conventions of a traditional Soap.
Below are some of the key characteristics you will find:
- Cliffhangers
- Lots of different story lines going on at one time although there is one main plot.
- Various Generations
- Both sad and happy occasions (Death/ Marriage)
- Stereotypical good and bad characters.
- Twists
- Social Realism
- Escapism for viewers
- Heavy dialogue
- Dramatic
- Chronological
- Mysterious Past lives
- Sense of Community
- A build up to a main event
- Everyone knowing every one's business
- Dramatic Irony
- Beginning and end theme tune is the same (this is to identify the brand and brings viewers into the world of that soap)
- Recognisable setting
- Ordinary people
- Story lines are constantly switching.
A Soap Opera, also known as a 'soap' for short is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction which is presented in a serial format on television or radio. The name 'soap opera' originally comes from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble and Lever Brothers as sponsors and producers. The early series on the radio started in weekday daytime slots. This is the time when most women would be housewives, therefore the shows were aimed at and consumed by a predominately female audience.
A crucial element which defines Soap Opera's is the open ended nature of the narrative, with stories continuously running for several episodes. The most defining feature that makes a program a soap opera according to Albert Moran is that they "form a television that works with a continuous open narrative and each episode ends with a promise that the storyline will be continued in another episode".
An individual episode of a soap will generally switch between a number of different concurrent story lines which at times will interlink and affect another or it may just run independently. Each of the episodes may feature some of the shows current story lines but this may not always happen. They rarely bring all the current story lines to a conclusion at the same time; when one storyline ends, there are several other ones differing stages of development. Typically, Soap's end on a cliffhanger.
