A study into soap operas was carried out by Andrea Millwood Hargrave And Lucy Gatfield in May 2002, their published work was entitled “Soap box or soft soap? Audience attitudes to the British soap opera” In this they present relevant data of the
demographics of soap operas, what they mean to the public and the
characteristics of the genre as a whole. This I think is very helpful to my coursework as not only does it give me some facts and figures I can use about the audience of the soap opera genre, it also allows me to write my response to it. In this research the author puts the people interviewed into 4 distinct groups based on a
textual analysis of viewers’ ‘justifications’ for watching the soap opera. These were:
Fanatics Ironics The Non-committed Dismissives 
The above graph shows how the four groups respond to soap operas by their level of engagement with the soap and the distance the viewer has emotionally from the soap. The
fanatic for example has a high level of engagement with the soap opera and therefore has a low level of emotional distance between themselves and the soap. The
Ironic has both a High level of engagement and emotional distance from the soap. This translates to either viewing with the family and/or people who watch soaps but don’t have it known in public knowledge. The
dismissive audience watches soaps on occasion but dislikes doing so. Finally the
non committed watch soaps on occasion but don’t watch them all the time.
This graph also taken from the research shows general attitudes towards soap operas by the 4 groups of audience.
This table shows the research sample on the 4 groups by gender and age in percentages.
From the table this graph was created along with stats relating to class and newspaper readers. These provide a lot of invaluable information about the audience of the British soap opera, for example the fanatics of soap operas are mainly female between 15 and 49. Whilst a soap must cater to every audience member possible it must be noted to try to make the soap Bathwood appeal to a female audience between the ages of 15 and 49. In the research the author quotes the reasons why people watch soap operas and gives quotes from the sample that backs them up. One reason people watch soaps is a way of
escaping their everyday lives “‘At the end of the day it is just joking. I don’t take it that seriously, but I love watching it.’ (Mother, Llanelli Family A, Dismissive) ‘Soaps are a bit of
escapism. When you sit there watching a soap you’re not exactly thinking, “What’s happening in the world today?”. You’re sitting there and it’s relatively mindless really. It’s quite relaxing because you know who all these people are and what they do and stuff like that, you don’t have to think about what’s coming next.’ (Mixed Surbiton group, aged 20-35, Ironic)” Another reason is that it creates a topic of conversation where previously there wouldn’t be ‘If there’s been...a particular story line of particular interest, we talk about it in work.’ (Mother, Llanelli Family B, Mixed Attitudes)
In the book “Soap opera” the author Dorothy Hobson describes the origins of the modern day soap opera, the book itself says that the soap opera genre began in the 1930s in America as daytime radio serials. They were designed to attract a female audience and were sponsored by large soap companies the likes of “Proctor” and “Gamble”. Hobson in this book makes reference to big storylines in soap operas effect on its
audience; initially she speaks about a “shared consensus” fans of soap opera have with one another. From there she goes on to describe how a big storyline can affect the public, the way fans can talk to each other about a particular soap opera without it being indicated that the fans are talking about a television programme but about real people. Hobson uses an example of soap audiences as
active audiences from personal experience. “By Saturday morning I passed houses rented by students. One window displayed a two foot square poster with the words MATTHEW IS INNOCENT – STEVE IS GUILTY”
The poster was referring to a big storyline from eastenders from the night before whereby Steve Owen a character the audience knew to be guilty of manslaughter was deemed not guilty in court and instead Matthew rose a character the audience clearly knew to be innocent was found guilty by the courts. With this knowledge that big storylines can influence the public’s actions as well as their conversations with one another the media group’s soap Bathwood will need a big storyline of its own in order to grasp its audience
In the book Watching daytime soap operas: the power of pleasure, the author Louise Spence talks about the
uses and gratifications the audience have for soap operas, and if/how these uses and gratifications have changed over time. She discusses research conducted in the 1940s, about the daytime serials on radio, the predecessor of the modern day soap. There the theorist Herta Herzog suggested “radio serials are a great form of entertainment for the less educated segment of women”. She then concluded that a major use the listeners of the time had for the serials were for a “
source of advice” when dealing with family issues or raising their children etc. The author then moves on to talk about theorist “Tania Modleski” and her work in the late 1970s. According to Modleski, “while appearing to be merely
escapist, such soap operas simultaneously challenges and reaffirms traditional values, behaviour and attitudes” she goes on to describe audience members with their knowledge of all characters within a soap “as a sort of
ideal mother” in the sense that they have “Greater wisdom than the characters”. The theorist goes on to make a point that soap operas empower women by “conveying a structure of feeling appropriate to the experience of the women in the home”. Through this I can
decipher that the soap opera has changed over time from the “entertainment for the less educated segment of women” to the entertainment for an audience of women in general that are made to feel important as issues presented in the soap are those that the women in the audience can either solve or relate to. Through this I can
conclude that the soap Bathwood needs aspects of its initial storylines that will
appeal to and
empower the women of the audience, while earlier in my academic research it was discovered that the
demographics of soap operas in modern day is now varied across both sexes and all members of the family its core audience is still comprised of mainly females, thus Bathwood should be targeted for such an audience. This can be achieved by its characters Michelle Malone and Frieda Malone , whose character’s are involved in major storylines from the start of the soap including overcoming alcoholism and adultery, while these may seem to be offending storylines to
incorporate the soaps main female roles in from the start the main
emphasis is on how these character’s overcome these problems not the problems themselves, while they may not overcome them in the first episode, these issues are razed and
established in its first episode to show the audience everything possible about these characters.
A study into soap operas was carried out by Andrea Millwood Hargrave And Lucy Gatfield in May 2002, their published work was entitled “Soap box or soft soap? Audience attitudes to the British soap opera” In this they present relevant data of the demographics of soap operas, what they mean to the public and the characteristics of the genre as a whole. This I think is very helpful to my coursework as not only does it give me some facts and figures I can use about the audience of the soap opera genre, it also allows me to write my response to it. In this research the author puts the people interviewed into 4 distinct groups based on a textual analysis of viewers’ ‘justifications’ for watching the soap opera. These were: Fanatics Ironics The Non-committed Dismissives 
The above graph shows how the four groups respond to soap operas by their level of engagement with the soap and the distance the viewer has emotionally from the soap. The fanatic for example has a high level of engagement with the soap opera and therefore has a low level of emotional distance between themselves and the soap. The Ironic has both a High level of engagement and emotional distance from the soap. This translates to either viewing with the family and/or people who watch soaps but don’t have it known in public knowledge. The dismissive audience watches soaps on occasion but dislikes doing so. Finally the non committed watch soaps on occasion but don’t watch them all the time. 
This graph also taken from the research shows general attitudes towards soap operas by the 4 groups of audience. 
This table shows the research sample on the 4 groups by gender and age in percentages. 
From the table this graph was created along with stats relating to class and newspaper readers. These provide a lot of invaluable information about the audience of the British soap opera, for example the fanatics of soap operas are mainly female between 15 and 49. Whilst a soap must cater to every audience member possible it must be noted to try to make the soap Bathwood appeal to a female audience between the ages of 15 and 49. In the research the author quotes the reasons why people watch soap operas and gives quotes from the sample that backs them up. One reason people watch soaps is a way of escaping their everyday lives “‘At the end of the day it is just joking. I don’t take it that seriously, but I love watching it.’ (Mother, Llanelli Family A, Dismissive) ‘Soaps are a bit of escapism. When you sit there watching a soap you’re not exactly thinking, “What’s happening in the world today?”. You’re sitting there and it’s relatively mindless really. It’s quite relaxing because you know who all these people are and what they do and stuff like that, you don’t have to think about what’s coming next.’ (Mixed Surbiton group, aged 20-35, Ironic)” Another reason is that it creates a topic of conversation where previously there wouldn’t be ‘If there’s been...a particular story line of particular interest, we talk about it in work.’ (Mother, Llanelli Family B, Mixed Attitudes) 
In the book “Soap opera” the author Dorothy Hobson describes the origins of the modern day soap opera, the book itself says that the soap opera genre began in the 1930s in America as daytime radio serials. They were designed to attract a female audience and were sponsored by large soap companies the likes of “Proctor” and “Gamble”. Hobson in this book makes reference to big storylines in soap operas effect on its audience; initially she speaks about a “shared consensus” fans of soap opera have with one another. From there she goes on to describe how a big storyline can affect the public, the way fans can talk to each other about a particular soap opera without it being indicated that the fans are talking about a television programme but about real people. Hobson uses an example of soap audiences as active audiences from personal experience. “By Saturday morning I passed houses rented by students. One window displayed a two foot square poster with the words MATTHEW IS INNOCENT – STEVE IS GUILTY” 
The poster was referring to a big storyline from eastenders from the night before whereby Steve Owen a character the audience knew to be guilty of manslaughter was deemed not guilty in court and instead Matthew rose a character the audience clearly knew to be innocent was found guilty by the courts. With this knowledge that big storylines can influence the public’s actions as well as their conversations with one another the media group’s soap Bathwood will need a big storyline of its own in order to grasp its audience 
In the book Watching daytime soap operas: the power of pleasure, the author Louise Spence talks about the uses and gratifications the audience have for soap operas, and if/how these uses and gratifications have changed over time. She discusses research conducted in the 1940s, about the daytime serials on radio, the predecessor of the modern day soap. There the theorist Herta Herzog suggested “radio serials are a great form of entertainment for the less educated segment of women”. She then concluded that a major use the listeners of the time had for the serials were for a “source of advice” when dealing with family issues or raising their children etc. The author then moves on to talk about theorist “Tania Modleski” and her work in the late 1970s. According to Modleski, “while appearing to be merely escapist, such soap operas simultaneously challenges and reaffirms traditional values, behaviour and attitudes” she goes on to describe audience members with their knowledge of all characters within a soap “as a sort of ideal mother” in the sense that they have “Greater wisdom than the characters”. The theorist goes on to make a point that soap operas empower women by “conveying a structure of feeling appropriate to the experience of the women in the home”. Through this I can decipher that the soap opera has changed over time from the “entertainment for the less educated segment of women” to the entertainment for an audience of women in general that are made to feel important as issues presented in the soap are those that the women in the audience can either solve or relate to. Through this I can conclude that the soap Bathwood needs aspects of its initial storylines that will appeal to and empower the women of the audience, while earlier in my academic research it was discovered that the demographics of soap operas in modern day is now varied across both sexes and all members of the family its core audience is still comprised of mainly females, thus Bathwood should be targeted for such an audience. This can be achieved by its characters Michelle Malone and Frieda Malone , whose character’s are involved in major storylines from the start of the soap including overcoming alcoholism and adultery, while these may seem to be offending storylines to incorporate the soaps main female roles in from the start the main emphasis is on how these character’s overcome these problems not the problems themselves, while they may not overcome them in the first episode, these issues are razed and established in its first episode to show the audience everything possible about these characters.
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