Soaps (Eastenders)

Essay by AlextopdoggUniversity, Bachelor'sB, May 2004

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Soaps

The television soap opera EastEnders televised by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) on the channel BBC 1 is one of the most popular soaps viewed in Britain today. This is due to the drama possessing many traits to sustain viewers by creating a sense of meaning which also contributes to entertaining the audience. Film making devices such as mise-en-scene, editing, and sound are detrimental in allowing the soap to become moving thus making an impact on the audience. The five minute exert that has been chosen for discussion, comes from the episode that was televised on the 11/1/02.

The exert consists of two scenes that are juxtaposed with one another to create a deep dramatic sequence of events. We are led into the scene with an establishing shot of a hospital, the scene then commences in a hospital room where we see the character Natalie on a hospital bed ready to give birth.

She is accompanied by her mother in law Pat, her husband Barry, and the doctors and nurses that are preparing for the birth of her child. The editing of the soap at this moment is structured to cut between two events that are occurring simultaneously. The other scene is comprised of Barry's father Roy, (who is supposed to be at the birth of Barrys' child, but has a moral dilemma which is to see the death of one of his ex-lovers through) his ex-lover Jain, and their son. There is much panic within the hospital room when Natalie is examined by the nurse, because it is noticed that she may have to have a breech birth due to the position of the baby having its feet first. We are then brought to another scene where Jain is literally on her death bed plagued with...