Let's talk about Neighbours, shall we?
Neighbours is an Australian institution. It's a breeding ground for young actors, writers, sound engineers, cameramen, and any other television production role there is. People like Kate Langbroek and Marieke Hardy have cut their writing teeth on the drama unfolding in Erinsborough and I don't need to rattle off the list of actors and musicians that have sprung from the humble brown-brick that makes up the ironically named Ramsay Street (on account of it actually being a court).
So what are soaps really about? They're basically drama, mostly light-hearted drama. They have to do with relationships, growing up, growing old, growing apart, growing a serious hydroponic set-up in the roof ... - hang on, that's Home and Away, not Neighbours. Basically they are an escape to a happy, sunny street where if you "find the perfect blend" you can overcome most anything. The way stories are scripted means that conflicts are usually resolved either within an episode or within a week. Basically, everything comes up roses - the way it should do in a perfect world.
The reason I've been thinking about soaps is that I read this blog post by Clem Bastow (music writer, radio announcer and blogger among other things) that basically assessed a recent death on Neighbours as being punishment for underage sex. Which - it pains me - I have to disagree with.
A few weeks ago the much loved Didge (Eloise Mignon) died after a dramatic car accident. Didge had recently become a teenage mum with her boyfriend Declan (James Sorensen) and was a favourite on the show among its younger viewers. I have to admit, I watch Neighbours fairly regularly if I'm at home (there! - my dirty little secret is out!) so I'm familiar with the characters and storylines. Neighbours producer Susan Bower had actually pointed out, after the moral-panics raised questions about a teen pregnancy, that the storylines would not glamourise being a teen parent but try to show it as accurately as possible. In fact, the amount of whingeing from Didge about not being able to do the things her friends were doing actually became rather annoying.
My argument for Neighbours though, is not that it reflects reality (because it certainly does not) or that it is a perfectly acceptable moral compass for young people (because it certainly is not) - but that it is not supposed to be either of these things.
Soaps are fantasy - they are fiction. They are only supposed to reflect reality enough that you can relate to them, but that's it. Otherwise it's the fact that they are in no way realistic that makes them so appealing. It's not just the horny teens that get killed off - the wholesome gals and guys of Ramsay Street meet sticky ends too. Case in point, Toadie's (Ryan Moloney) dead bride Dee (Madeleine West) and Libby's (Kym Valentine) cowboy husband Drew (Dan Paris) - who fell off a horse, of course, of course.
There's generally a fair bit of dying to be done in soaps due to the high turnover of characters - and there are only so many times that a character can "move to Queensland" (ie. go to London to do a season of pantos and return a year later to do a guest spot on All Saints). There are also teens having sexual relations that don't end up disemboweled in a farming accident ... case in point Donna (Margot Robbie) and Ringo (Sam Clark) - in fact, Donna was portrayed as a promiscuous floozy not too long ago. She has since "come good" and is surprisingly healthy and happy - until actor Margot Robbie inevitably moves on to bigger and better things of course - in which case Donna will probably die a terrible death.
Basically it's a series of life events - birth, annoying-kid, teen-rebellion, courting, marriage, divorce, illness, death - throw in some crime, adultery and natural disasters and you have the basic life-span of a soap character.
If parents are counting on soapies to teach their kids what is morally right and socially acceptable they need a head-check. Whilst Neighbours is generally wholesome fair for the family, if one relied solely on it for moral guidance one might turn out to be a socially-retarded, extroverted egomaniac, speaking only of oneself in the third person and relying on internal dialogues to find resolutions to problems.
* Coming soon to a blog near you: Neighbours V's Home and Away AND Technical Marvels in Neighbours Post-Editing
Neighbours is an Australian institution. It's a breeding ground for young actors, writers, sound engineers, cameramen, and any other television production role there is. People like Kate Langbroek and Marieke Hardy have cut their writing teeth on the drama unfolding in Erinsborough and I don't need to rattle off the list of actors and musicians that have sprung from the humble brown-brick that makes up the ironically named Ramsay Street (on account of it actually being a court).
So what are soaps really about? They're basically drama, mostly light-hearted drama. They have to do with relationships, growing up, growing old, growing apart, growing a serious hydroponic set-up in the roof ... - hang on, that's Home and Away, not Neighbours. Basically they are an escape to a happy, sunny street where if you "find the perfect blend" you can overcome most anything. The way stories are scripted means that conflicts are usually resolved either within an episode or within a week. Basically, everything comes up roses - the way it should do in a perfect world.
The reason I've been thinking about soaps is that I read this blog post by Clem Bastow (music writer, radio announcer and blogger among other things) that basically assessed a recent death on Neighbours as being punishment for underage sex. Which - it pains me - I have to disagree with.
A few weeks ago the much loved Didge (Eloise Mignon) died after a dramatic car accident. Didge had recently become a teenage mum with her boyfriend Declan (James Sorensen) and was a favourite on the show among its younger viewers. I have to admit, I watch Neighbours fairly regularly if I'm at home (there! - my dirty little secret is out!) so I'm familiar with the characters and storylines. Neighbours producer Susan Bower had actually pointed out, after the moral-panics raised questions about a teen pregnancy, that the storylines would not glamourise being a teen parent but try to show it as accurately as possible. In fact, the amount of whingeing from Didge about not being able to do the things her friends were doing actually became rather annoying.
My argument for Neighbours though, is not that it reflects reality (because it certainly does not) or that it is a perfectly acceptable moral compass for young people (because it certainly is not) - but that it is not supposed to be either of these things.
Soaps are fantasy - they are fiction. They are only supposed to reflect reality enough that you can relate to them, but that's it. Otherwise it's the fact that they are in no way realistic that makes them so appealing. It's not just the horny teens that get killed off - the wholesome gals and guys of Ramsay Street meet sticky ends too. Case in point, Toadie's (Ryan Moloney) dead bride Dee (Madeleine West) and Libby's (Kym Valentine) cowboy husband Drew (Dan Paris) - who fell off a horse, of course, of course.
There's generally a fair bit of dying to be done in soaps due to the high turnover of characters - and there are only so many times that a character can "move to Queensland" (ie. go to London to do a season of pantos and return a year later to do a guest spot on All Saints). There are also teens having sexual relations that don't end up disemboweled in a farming accident ... case in point Donna (Margot Robbie) and Ringo (Sam Clark) - in fact, Donna was portrayed as a promiscuous floozy not too long ago. She has since "come good" and is surprisingly healthy and happy - until actor Margot Robbie inevitably moves on to bigger and better things of course - in which case Donna will probably die a terrible death.
Basically it's a series of life events - birth, annoying-kid, teen-rebellion, courting, marriage, divorce, illness, death - throw in some crime, adultery and natural disasters and you have the basic life-span of a soap character.
If parents are counting on soapies to teach their kids what is morally right and socially acceptable they need a head-check. Whilst Neighbours is generally wholesome fair for the family, if one relied solely on it for moral guidance one might turn out to be a socially-retarded, extroverted egomaniac, speaking only of oneself in the third person and relying on internal dialogues to find resolutions to problems.
* Coming soon to a blog near you: Neighbours V's Home and Away AND Technical Marvels in Neighbours Post-Editing
Good post. That last paragraph of yours is so true. I read that Clem Bastow post, and though it was really funny, I felt a bit the same about the 'all sluts go to hell' theory or whatever. I actually find it quite hard to be cynical about Neighbours and construe anything like that, whereas from the little Home and Away I watch I kind of can.
ReplyDeleteNeighbours does seem to have its own, sometimes warped, value system, but I'm not actually always sure it's a conservative one, it just seems to trundle along with a core message of "most people are quite nice really". Nobody seems to leave without coming good. It's a very odd, but strangely comforting thing. I think that's why here in the UK it's got this odd kind of cult student following. It's predictable but quite hypnotic.
I love all Clem's writing - she's very witty and intelligent.
ReplyDeleteI think the 'all sluts go to hell' factor can be seen in a lot of television - mainly because female promiscuity in most media is seen as a negative thing - no matter what the circumstance. I was watching an old Bewitched rerun today and wondered how the hell my sister and I grew up to have any self respect!
Meanwhile, I'd be more concerned if my daughter was watching Two and a Half Men than Neighbours!