Soaps 'Dumbing Down' ? Coronation Street Extract Analysis

There is a theory that soaps are dumbing down to appeal to the lowest audience so it can incorporate them and all audience's above, its suggested the audience watch soap as it's 'mind-numbing TV' and people watch not for the drama but simply something to relax to after work. We studied a Coronation Street extract as an example to see if elements are dumbing down, although the extract shows realism there did seem to be elements such as:

A typical family relationship can be seen in the shop with a teenager talking to her dad like he's old and inferior a stereotypical view of teenager and parent relationship. She mentions 'matchmaking ideas'  along with common easy-to-get jokes which could show signs of 'dumbing-down'  along with reference to real life daytime telly such as 'Lorraine' and the character 'Dev' not knowing who 'The Saturday's' are and the teen making easy to laugh to jokes about this fact.

There is also no overlapping in these extracts which is unrealistic for real life however this helps the audience understand whats being said. The girl also uses a range of cliche's such as "Call of true love" along with "Welcome to my world." The audience are accustomed to these sorts of phrases so find them easy to digest, they expect these sort of phrases so it emphasises this 'dumbing down' with such stereotypical behavior and cliches leaving little space for thought making it easy to watch, supporting the theory. There is also no product placement in this scene which is surprising as there in a shop, this would be impossible to avoid in real life so its unrealistic that its not here.

There are also 'comical characters' put into soap for humour again emphasising the 'light-hearted' viewing and making it easier to watch.

Below are a few soap characters along with the ones Ive mentioned above, who although aren't in the programme purely for comic relief and such, they do still provide it.

.Arthur 'Fat-boy' Chubb - Eastenders (talks in a very 'urban' and common way and many characters do not understand him due to this adding to the comic appeal of his character.)

.Kirk Sutherland - Coronation Street (Is very dim-witted which gives him comic appeal in the show as characters often laugh at his misfortune.

There are other characters in soaps who use cliche's a lot also but aren't necessarily 'comic relief'.



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