SEX, LIES AND SOAPS

PROGRAMME 3: FAMILY CONFLICT

ACTIVITIES

Before viewing

Try a small experiment. Divide your group into two. One half of the group should make a list of all the times over the past week they've been in conflict with one or another member of their families, and the cause of each of the arguments. The other half of the group should make a list of all the family arguments they've watched in soaps over the last week, and the cause of each of the arguments.

Now join up and pool the lists within the group. How do the two lists compare? How many of your own real, everyday family conflicts have appeared in the soaps you've watched? How many of the causes of the soap arguments have you actually experienced within your own families?

After viewing

To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows XP/2000 and Windows Media Player 9, 10 or 11. Unfortunately, the clips are not supported on Macintosh computers.

The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end. We have therefore included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.

There has to be conflict
Clip 1: 02.06 – 04.24

• Opens: 'So why is there so much family drama?'
• Closes: 'That's the nature of drama.'

It's claimed that soaps always feature 'dysfunctional families' – but what do you understand by that term? Here's one definition:

Family dysfunction can be any circumstance that interferes with healthy family functioning. Dysfunctional family is the term used to describe a family where conflict, misbehaviour and abuse take place on a continuing basis, and in which the children live with the conception that this is normal.
source: en.wikipedia.org

In your group, try and come up with the names of families in soaps, sitcoms, or any other genre of TV which are not dysfunctional according to this definition. If you find any, talk about how convincing or realistic they are. How does this fit with Tony Jordan's comments about soap families?

Many soap families are actually very close-knit. For example, the Slater family all lived together in EastEnders – quite unusual these days – yet hid a guilty secret, which finally explodes into the open, as this clip shows. Tony Jordan calls this 'heightened reality'. Think of some other soap examples of this sort of melodramatic moment and talk about why they appeal to you – or not.

Could you make a family picnic dramatic? In your group, take on the roles of a soap family you are all familiar with. Role-play a scene where they go on a family picnic that goes horribly wrong. See how dramatic you can make it. What sorts of issues and arguments have you included, and how has each character reacted?

Drama at the dinner table
Clip 2: 05.35 – 07.30

• Opens: 'There's nothing better than having a family lunch…'
• Closes: '…you don't half see some arguments.'

Try a similar exercise to the previous one – but the other way around. This time, take a typical dinner-time in your own family. It may look rather different from the scenes you see in this clip – for example, you may not be sitting at a table, or even all eating the same food. See if you can 'rewrite' (or exaggerate) your own type of family dinner into a dramatic soap scene. Go for the 'heightened reality' effect, and have some fun with it. Then compare your results with those of the others in the group.

Mothers and daughters
Clip 3: 09.15 – 11.40

• Opens: 'Troubled relationships between mothers and daughters...'
• Closes: 'That's what teenagers do.'

Girls and their mums often argue in soaps – but you don't so often see boys arguing with their dads. Why do you think this is? Does this reflect your own experiences of family life?

The teens in this clip say they often take out their anger on their mums – can you recognise yourself in this situation? Talk about some of the following:

• Do boys and girls have different sorts of conflicts with their mothers?
• Do these conflicts vary according to your age and your position in the family?
• Do different families from different cultural backgrounds argue about different sorts of things?

Compare notes to see whether gender, age or culture plays a part in family conflict, both in and out of the world of soap.

Some of the teens in this programme think soaps are useful in helping them to sort out family problems and to feel less alone; others think they're unrealistic and too extreme. Talk about the statements below, and rank them in order, with the one you most agree with at 1, and the one you believe least at 10. Share your top 3 with the rest of the class. How similar or different are your views on this issue?

A good family storyline in a soap can…

1. …just be brilliant entertainment
2. …help you air your views
3. …help you understand you're not the only one feeling like you do
4. …give you an insight into other people's behaviour
5. …send out the wrong sorts of messages about family life
6. …make you look at your own behaviour more closely
7. …bring you and your family closer together
8. …teach you how not to behave
9. …create more conflict in the family
10. …help you see the other side of the argument.

When families go too far...
Clip 4: 13.20 – 15.48

• Opens: 'Some family storylines can be useful but...'
• Closes: 'I hate you!'

Most of the teenage viewers consider the Cathy and Sarah Barnes storyline is rather over the top, yet they seem to have enjoyed watching it. What do you think made it such an enjoyable storyline? (A mother-daughter cat-fight? A girl in a wet swimming costume? A buff boy? A wicked parent? A totally ridiculous plot?) Talk about why soaps are sometimes at their most enjoyable when they are at their least believable.

The Cathy and Sarah Barnes story may be a bit far-fetched, but could it actually have a harmful effect on viewers? Since the story broke, the Barnes family has split up and got back together again, and the younger daughter is now pregnant. Take a poll around your class to see whether you think this storyline as a whole is helpful or harmful. Now write a letter to Brian Kirkwood of Hollyoaks giving the class's views on the storyline and the ways it has developed.

From soap conflict to real confrontation?
Clip 5: 15.40 – 17.40

• Opens: 'Does watching family conflict in soaps have an effect on teenagers' behaviour?'
• Closes: '...isn't really a way to lead life, it's just a story.'

Discuss the different points of view in this clip about the effects of watching conflict in soaps.

• The psychologist believes there's evidence that watching confrontational behaviour makes people behave more confrontationally within the family
• Maktuno and his sisters think that soap family conflict can make people more hostile over a period of time
• the soap producer believes very few people are actually influenced by behaviour in soaps.

What's your view on this question? Put a cross on the line below to indicate whether you feel family conflict on TV can encourage people in general to behave more confrontationally. Then put a tick on the line to indicate whether you feel you yourself have been influenced to behave more confrontationally.

likely to copy soap conflict		may be influenced over a period of time		unlikely to be influenced

Compare your ticks and crosses with others in the class. Do you share the same views?

When new families move in...
Clip 6: 17.55 – 20.40

• Opens: 'Soaps are always looking for fresh ways to inject drama into their storylines.'
• Closes: 'Hello son.'

Why do you think there is often such resistance from viewers to new families or family members when they join a soap opera?

How could new families be moved into a soap more realistically? Write a series of guidelines for the script editor of a soap of your choice that suggests ways of introducing new characters convincingly and without alienating the audience.

Provide an outline example of a new family that would genuinely offer your chosen soap a different dimension and opportunities for really interesting stories – for example, a group from a different part of the world, a different cultural background, or a different social class. Think carefully about how you will introduce your new family – but make sure you stick to your own guidelines. Then share your ideas with others.