EastEnders

Social realism and representation

Created in Thatcher Britain. at a time of high unemployment, and where crime rates rocketed, EastEnders tried to represent this in the social realist tradition.

Related Topics:
Thatcher - Britain - Social realist

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Brookside had launched in the same social realist format a few years before EastEnders came along, arguably the difference between them was whilst Brookside confronted issues it was more sensationalist, EastEnders, tried to maintain realism.

Related Topics:
Brookside - Sensationalist - Realism

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The programme makers emphasised that it was to be about 'everyday life' in the inner city 'today' They regard it as a 'slice of life'. Creator/ producer Julia Smith disingenuously declared that 'we don't make life, we reflect it'. She also said: ?We decided to go for a realistic, fairly outspoken type of drama which could encompass stories about homosexuals, rape, unemployment, racial prejudice, etc. in a believable context. Above all, we wanted realism?.

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In the eighties, EastEnders featured gritty storylines involving drugs, murder, somewhat reflecting a time in Britain where society and communities had been broken down. Like Coronation Street first did in the 1960s, EastEnders represented the issues of people - particularly the working-class - in Britain.

Related Topics:
Eighties - 1960s

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Such storylines include, Sue and Ali?s baby cot death, homosexuality between Colin and Barry leading to a homophobic Nick Cotton, the rape of Kathy Beale in 1988, Michelle Fowler falling pregnant with Den?s baby, as well as drug dealing, prostitution, mixed-race relationships, shoplifting, sexism, racism, divorce and muggings.

Related Topics:
Cot death - Homosexuality - Homophobic - Drug dealing - Prostitution - Shoplifting - Sexism - Racism

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As the show progressed into the nineties, it moved with society, whilst the issues that existed in the eighties still existed, there was much less attention to them ? perhaps after changes in government. However, EastEnders still featured hard-hitting issues such as Mark Fowler discovering he was HIV positive in 1991 and the death of Gill, murder, adoption, alcoholism and domestic violence.

Related Topics:
Nineties - Mark Fowler - HIV positive - Alcoholism - Domestic violence

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In the early 2000s, EastEnders covered the issue of euthanasia between long established characters Ethel Skinner and Dot Cotton, incestual rape of Kat Slater by her uncle Harry, Domestic violence of Little Mo by husband Trevor, Sonia gave birth at the age of fourteen and then put it up for adoption, prostitution , agoraphobia and drugs.

Related Topics:
2000s - Euthanasia - Ethel Skinner - Agoraphobia

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