SEX, LIES AND SOAPS
PROGRAMME 4: APPEARANCE
PROGRAMME OUTLINE
00.0 – 03.00
Introducing the main issue – the predominance of young gorgeous actors in current soap operas and their effects on audiences. Is this an actual reflection of teenagers' lives, or is the emphasis on good looks actually affecting them?
03.00 – 08.59
Executive Producers from Coronation Street, EastEnders, Neighbours and Hollyoaks in the City explain the importance of attracting the teen audience through deliberately casting young gorgeous actors, often on the basis of looks rather than acting expertise. The aim is to keep it real but glamorous, and to encourage teens to identify with the characters and aspire to be the young people they see in the soap – a view contested by some young people.
09.00 – 11.18
Fashionable characters ensure soaps get coverage in award ceremonies, gossip columns and magazines, as explained by staff of Bliss Magazine. Case study of Misha Barton (Marissa in The OC), a popular fashion icon, copied and modelled in fashion spreads using high-street versions.
11.18 – 13.25
Soaps are expensively shot and lit to appear natural, but are in fact highly artificial, featuring extraordinarily beautiful people; how does this affect teenagers? Research shows that 80% of girls and 40% of boys are unhappy with their appearance.
13.25 – 17.39
Psychologist Aric Sigman argues that glamour increases TV producers' ratings, but to unhealthy effect – when we see attractive people on TV we feel less attractive. Male interviewees claim it doesn't bother them, and that personality and humour are more important than a hot body; however, studies show that boys' body image is equally affected by what they see in soaps.
17.40 – 20.29
More profound problems for girls – one in five suffers from an eating disorder. Can soaps change the way girls see their bodies? Young people offer different points of view, for example, pressures to be thin come from everywhere, not just soaps; it's patronising to think girls are that easily manipulated. Yet it's hard to watch The OC and not make comparisons. Aric Sigman argues that the influence of TV is pervasive.
20.30 – 21.23
Soap producers have increased audiences by creating glamorous characters, and in the process have added to an obsession with looks. But it's the storylines that are most important – BBC's Mal Young says it's all about writing, delivery and empathy.
21.24 – end
Coronation Street extract with a genuinely realistic storyline featuring young characters who aren't conventionally beautiful and have realistic anxieties and dilemmas – perhaps the sort of story young people can relate to more easily. The interviewees agree.
