SEX, LIES AND SOAPS
PROGRAMME 4: APPEARANCE
Is all the glamour and good looks in soaps an accurate reflection of today's appearance-obsessed youth, or is it influencing the way teenagers look, what they wear, and how they think about their bodies?
PROGRAMME AIMS
- To explore how successfully soap producers attract teenage audiences through aspirational casting and unrealistic identification
- To raise questions about the creation of role models through soaps and magazines
- To investigate how far teenagers really buy into the glamour myths of soap operas
- To consider how far soaps can be blamed for encouraging an obsession with body image, eating disorders, low self-esteem and patterns of consumption
- To discuss whether strong realist narratives are persuasive alternatives to glamour and physical beauty.
THE CHARACTERS
The young soap fans interviewed for the programme represent a range of differing perspectives and social backgrounds:
- Victoria – a 'typical' soap enthusiast from Essex who particularly enjoys Coronation Street
- Amy – a 17-year-old London student, is sceptical of the stereotypical ideals of beauty represented in Hollyoaks
- Ellie and Monica – two well-heeled 15-year-old Londoners (filmed, OC-style, beside a domestic swimming pool) who are devotees of Misha Barton and follow her iconic style and make-up
- Josh and Greg – shot working out in the gym, they claim soaps have little effect on their body image
- Grace Dent – Guardian soap critic and fan, articulates the ambivalence of many in enjoying the pleasures of what she knows to be constructed and artificial.
