Are soaps 'dumbing down'?

There is currently a debate as to whether soap operas such as Coronation Street and EastEnders are 'dumbing down'. Soaps are viewed by millions of people on a daily basis, some people are so engrossed in the story lines they see them as real life scenarios, but do soaps give a fair reflection on real life? Are audiences being fed mindless junk or realistic documents into the average day of people from Manchester and East London? I will discuss both social realism and argue for and against my hypothesis. 

Corrie.

For a fair reflection, I watched a 10 minute extract of Coronation Street, a soap set in rural Manchester.

All British soaps try to reflect social realism, they usually focus on the negative issues such as abortion, affairs and even extreme circumstances such as domestic violence. Soaps rarely focus on the positive aspects of social realism, however when they do focus on such aspects such as 'The joys of christmas' or weddings, the outcome is usually far from positive, this makes the show more interesting for the public, this is an example of where soaps do not meet social realism.

Soaps also try to reflect contemporary social issues which are effecting their viewers, say for instance when Michael Jackson dies, there was a mention in an episode of EastEnders. 

Soaps are supposedly following a trend of realism, this started with films such as Saturday night and Sunday morning in the 60's, people like looking on onto other people lives, usually those in a worse situation than they are, this is known as voyeurism; Looking at people with bigger issues will also make the viewer feel better about themselves.

Soaps are referred to as 'social-aesthetic' which means they show working class life in a dramatic fashion. 

The extract of 'Corrie' that I watched showcased social realism, however in a hyperbolic fashion. It showed extravagant relationship scenes in a 'love triangle' fashion whilst another lover was in prison, a possible scenario which is rather unlikely in modern society, the man who was the interest of many of these women was accused of GBH, this is yet again another extravagant aspect to the story. 

From a grammatical and lexical standpoint, the language used in the soap was simple, with basic, simple Lexis being used. The Mancunian accent was also prominent within all of the characters, adding to the realism of the setting. During an argument between two characters, no overlapping occurred, in a realistic argument 'butting in' is a common feature, however each character was allowed to finish their point without disruption, this was done by the scriptwriters so the dialogue was easily audible for the viewers, this is a possible example of dumbing down.

I will now look at the positive and negative discourse regarding soap operas:

Soaps are easy viewing which take no demand of intellect to watch and do not stimulate the brain.

Soaps trivialise social issues (Love triangle example above) 

Soaps encourage people to see life in a very simple way (No overlaps in argument) 

Encourage TV addiction (engrossed in storyline) 

People lose distinction between real life and soaps. 

Now some positive discourse towards soaps:

Soaps encourage us to reflect on our lives 

People understand that soaps are social documents (majority understand this) 

Early soaps can be used as a historical document (Coronation Street in the 1960's gave a realistic showcase of that time period with the setting and contemporary fashion of that time period) 

Soaps reflect social issues in a tasteful and responsible way. 

In conclusion, I feel as though soaps should be looked upon as social documents, not true reflection of real life. I also feel that soaps are still as intellectually stimulating as they have been since they began in the 1960's, a majority watch them for simple entertainment, this meets the uses and gratifications theory as people watch them for enjoyment and for social reasons 'did you see Corrie last night? God that GBH bloke with all those women.'