Our research developed into five studies. Firstly we undertook a survey into the number of male and female students who watched specific soaps, then a pilot study of male residents which we proposed to use to construct a final questionnaire relating to viewing habits and preferences. We then went on to construct a questionnaire relating to a specific episode of our chosen soap and, finally, we interviewed, directly face-to-face, two male soap viewers regarding their television use.
Why have studies of soaps concentrated on women viewers?
The genre of soap opera has played a central role in the development of reader-oriented viever theories within media studies. The reasons for this are several, but basically stem from the various consequences of soap opera being historically a feminine genre. (Fiske, 1987 quoted by Livingstone, 1990:52)
As Livingstone (like many researchers) notes, the soap opera genre regards the feminine audience as the highest percentage of its viewers. She looks at the tradition of the genre and finds that it promotes a female audience since it was first sponsored by soap manufactures. The stereotypically domesticated nature of women meant that they were the target audience of these programs for the reasons that they were spending the most time in the home to watch the programmes and were also the target consumer for the products which sponsored them. Men, it has been noted, did not figure considerably in the ratings until recently (Geraghty, 1991:167) This essay researches what many experts have failed to note; the shift in the audience of the soap opera.
There have been many theories put forward as to why men don't like soap operas. Abercrombie (1996:51) argues that the soap world is a woman's world; dominated by the domestic scene, the emotions and feelings of strong female characters with a strong sympathy for these feelings and problems. Men, it seems , are excluded from watching these programmes by their very nature. Livingstone noted that the history of soaps has meant that it is traditionally a woman's genre. The format of the genre is that of a serial; an ongoing plot with no forseeable conclusion. This, she states is not appealing to men who prefer the dramatic tension and conclusion of action dramas. We shall see if this is proven in the data which we obtained.
Whilst my principle aim is to prove that men are also active interpreters and viewers of soaps, it must be noted that the males we interviewed were most uncooperative in the initial pilot and questionnaires. David Morley (1992:150) notes this as a common factor in the males he studied. He found them reluctant to talk about their television viewing, preferring to cite factual programmes as their preferences and the feeling of guilt overpowering their viewing; his theory depicts males as preferring to engage in a leisure activity instead.
Sheena and I did, however, find many male viewers who both watched soaps and wanted to help us in our research.
Study 1: Number of Specific Soap Viewers
Our first study concentrated on 22 people: 11 male, 11 female. We surveyed what we considered to be the seven most popular and most watched soaps in our hall of residence.
Our findings did not contradict the many theorists who suggest that soaps are only watched by women. The numbers for some soaps only had a viewing difference of two people, others had a larger difference of four or five.
The soaps which had the largest difference in viewers were Home and Away and Neighbours (both Australian soaps) and EastEnders and although these suggested the largest divide, they also gained the largest audience in the residence. It was for this reason that Sheena and I decided to target one of these examples, EastEnders, as our chosen soap. It was also the programme with which we had the most familiarity.
This survey challenges a theory suggested by Abercrombie (1996:54) who suggests that daytime soaps do not attract male viewers. It was, in fact, a daytime soap, Neighbours, which attracted the most male viewers.
There are a number of theories as to why this is so. Firstly, it must be stated that the males we interviewed were living in a shared residence with many of the televisions in study bedrooms. Television viewing becomes a shared activity. People in the residence tend to be heavily influenced by what their peers watch which can mean males influences what females watch and vice-versa. Neighbours is also aimed at young people. The plot revolves around young male and female Australians at both home and university and so a certain amount of identification must be felt.
Sonia Livingstone also looks at the numbers of viewers of specific soaps. She quotes statistics from a Audience Composition report where the findings for EastEnders are:
Total Viewers of the population (aged 16-34):28%
Male Viewers: 22%
Female Viewers:33%.
(Livingstone, 1990:55)
Our findings on the same soap, of the 22 people were surveyed:
Total percentage of viewers: 72%
Male Viewers: 27%
Female Viewers: 45%
In this, as in all the soaps we surveyed, there is a higher percentage of female rather than male viewers. Since this only confirmed the theory that more females watched soaps than males, we concluded to undertake a study which told us why that small percentage watched soaps and what gratifications they received in doing so.
Studies 2&3, Research into Uses and Gratifications of male Soap watchers
In order to determine the gratifications which male viewers received the soap genre, the specific programme and television in general, the pilot survey was constructed with McQuail's Uses and Gratifications (1987) theory in mind. He cites the common reason for television usage as gaining information, personal identity, intergration and social activities and entertainment.
One section of the survey was given over to this theory, where interviewee's were invited to consider what their main reasons for watching soaps were. Entertainment came out as the predominant reason with both males citing this as their primary reason for watching soaps. Their reasons for watching, in fact, mirrored each other.
In the main study (pages 8-12) the responses were different and in this section we chose to include two female responses. The males all replied that their primary and secondary reasons for watching were entertainment and social intergration, the two females, however, were even disagreed on this. Study 1 in this section reveals that the respondent considered her primary reason for watching soaps to be for social integration.
This response reinforces Morley's theory that men are more likely to sit and watch a soap whilst women are much more likely to talk through a programme whilst watching it.
The men's answers, however, contradict a theory put forward by Morley. He suggests that men are reluctant to admit to watching soaps. Although we did perceive a reluctance to partake in the study, those males which did found their primary reason for watching as entertainment and this was reinforced by another section of both questionnaires which asked them their programme preferences. The most popular choice of genre was a comedy show which would seem to contradict the Morley theory that men are not admitting to watching fictional programmes and do not wish to escape from real life.
Richard Kilborn (1992:75-84) offers several reasons for watching soaps, all of which were mirrored in this study. He finds that the soap opera genre is a 'launchpad for personal and social interaction' (1992:75-84). This is true if the men we interviewed although this factor came as a secondary consideration to entertainment. One of the women interviewed, however, did rate this factor as a primary factor in her choice of television viewing which might suggest that women are more likely to use the soap genre as a socialising agent which I have already compared to the observations of David Morley. (1992:148). Kilborne noted 'identification and involvement with the characters' as a characteristic of soap opera viewers.
Since the soap opera genre is one which has specifically related to women in that the central characters are often bold and strong females we were interested to note if the 'new' male audience would fit into this ideal by the identifying with the typically masculine characters.
In our pilot study we found this to be one of our weakest sections. The answers given were too flippant and serve to illustrate the uncooperative nature of our target audience. The justification for the second interviewee choosing Grant Mitchell as the character he identified with was, '..he has a receeding hairline and so do I' which we did not find very useful at all. We found that the respondents might not actually answering the questions with the character which they truly identified with but the character which they wanted us, the interviewers, to perceive them as being like.
The two characters chosen by our subjects in the pilot study did not do much to breakdown the gender divide. Subject 1 chose Nicky Platt from Coronation Street. The character is an attractive, headstrong teenage husband. Subject 2 chose Grant Mitchell from EastEnders who is one of the more violent male characters in the soaps. He typifies the masculine image which many men would like to be seen as having.
The actual study came back with some different answers. Here, we asked the subjects to list their 'favourite' character in the hope that they might give more truthful and less flippant answers. Subject 1 in this study was a woman and gave the answer of Tiffany Mitchell from EastEnders. In this example we saw no contradictions to the theories put forward as the subject typically chose a 'strong character that women can relate to.' In this case the subject had looked at how other viewers might perceive that character.
Subject 2 was a man, again he chose a male character. Lauchie in Home and Away is a sensitive and caring doctor and although the male subject had selected a male character, he has chosen on of the more sensitive, and to some extent, feminine ones. Lachie would never appear as brutal and violent as Grant Mitchell. Although the answer given depicts that the subject admires the characteristics of decisiveness and moral judgement in the character, his answer might suggest that it is the attribute of the characters girlfriend which he really admires.
Subject 3, again, gave the answer of Grant yet preferring to admire the positive side of the character. His answer, too, was flippant. Variating between the fantasy world of the soap and that reality of the actresses within it. This might seek to reinforce Morley's theory that men do not feel comfortable in escaping from the real world (1992:155). Subject 4, however, maintained an involvement with his chosen character throughout his answer by relating his favourite character to another one in the programme. His chosen character, Karl Kennedy from Neighbours, is again, rather like Lauchie, a sensitive character with a family and sarcastic sense of humour. What is rather unusual about this answer is that the subject has chosen a middle-aged character rather than one whom he identified with. In his answer there could be a sense of wanting to imitate the character in later life.
Subject 5 was a woman and broke with the theories put forward by other researchers that women identify with women. She chose the character of Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside yet does not list characteristics of the character but praises the development of the character and the way he is played which can be attributed to the scriptwriters and the actor. She does not, as has been noted of most women, involve herself in the reality of the 'soap world'. Both female subjects were interesting in this respect since the noted their favourite television programmes as including documentaries. This contradicts Morley's conclusion that men are the dominant viewers of the factual genre, the men in our study were, in fact, the most likely to quote fictional and fantasy programmes as their preferred genre.
Abercrombie (1996:54) notes that, in the respect of male and female identification, the soap opera itself is changing and therefore is creating male characters who demand more sympathy from the audience in their relationships and feelings. This can be seen in the given examples of Lauchie and Karl Kennedy who promote this kind of reaction from the male (and female) audience. This would seem to contradict the study by Buckingham who found that male adolescent viewers tended to identify themselves with the 'harder' or tougher male characters such as Grant Mitchell (Buckingham, 1987). Our evidence suggests that the audience is widening as the genre itself is widening to accept that men should not necessarily be portrayed as one character 'type'. The wide range of personalities within the characters given by our subjects serves to demonstrate this.
In order to view this aspect specifically, we undertook a study of one episode of EastEnders and the reactions produced regarding characters and plotlines. This, too, is an aspect of the Uses and Gratifications perspective adopted by Kilborne (1992:75-84) on the soap genre.The genre, he notes, is often used to spark debate around issues portrayed in the lives of the characters on screen.
Study 4: Specific Episode Study
The example of the EastEnders was chosen because, according to our research, it was the most popular British soap. The episode in question had been well documented by the media as involving much tension around two central families, the Fowlers and the Mitchells.
The central storyline involved Grant Mitchell, who had been previously abusive and violent to his wife Tiffany, finally striking out at his mother. This had been interspersed with the storyline of Mark Fowler and his wife Ruth who were heading towards divorce due to the departure of a young foster child they had had in their care. The relationship had been under strain since the arrival of Connor, their lodger. The attraction between Ruth and Connor had been prevented from going any further by his suspicions that Ruth has picked up the HIV infection from her husband.
The perception of what the central storyline was was the focus for our first question. Subjects 1&4 noted both of the above storylines as being significant. However, to Subjects 2&3 the central storyline revolved around Mark and Ruth.
To observe if the subjects maintained continuity in their answers, we then asked the subjects who the central characters were in the episode. Subjects 1&2 listed all of the characters described above as being central with Subject 3 maintaining it was the Fowlers and Subject 4, the Mitchells. It is not unusual for different viewers to see the central storyline in soaps as being different. The concept of the genre is a variety of focuses on different characters and the viewers interpretation of the characters within it. It is worth noting that in answering the question regarding their favourite character in this episode Subject 1's answer was a character completely unrelated to the two central storylines which suggests his focus was on a character with which he admired or identified.
We then went on to ask the subjects how they perceived various characters in the episode. The general feeling towards Grant was that he has maintained a violent and 'thugish' personality throughout his appearence in the soap. Although Buckingham manintains that males tended to prefer this kind of character, the descriptions given of Grant by our subjects were all negative and in no way praising his actions.
The subjects' perceptions of Peggy, the strong nucleus of the Mitchell family, varied. Subject 1 perceived as having the powerful hand over the family. Subjects 2&3 felt no sympathy towards her and expressed a dislike for her character. There is a suspicion that these two subjects tended to empathises with the male characters in the soap and only viewed the female ones as annoying or a subject for sexual desire. Subject 4, in contradiction to the two before him, felt an empathy for the event which Peggy had experienced which suggests he breaks from the theory , as the female Subject 5 had in the last study, of only identifying with characters of his own sex.
The character of Tiffany, again promoted a variety of responses with Subjects 1&2 regarding her as an object of lust, Subject 3 describing her as 'naïve' and as having negative personality traits. Subject 4, however he may have sympathised with the events which the other female character had suffered, felt that Tiffany should have stood up for herself more. This perception contrasts strongly with the attitude of the female Subject 1 in the previous study who believed Tiffany to be a strong woman who gave a positive impression to the viewer.
On the character of Nigel, who is the typical sensitive male which two of the subjects identified with in the previous study, the reactions were very similar with all subjects regarding him as a positive character in affectionate terms.
The character of Nick Cotton appeared in the episode after a long absence. He has been well documented as the most 'nasty' character in the soap. In this character the subjects also agreed that the character was a negative one and with which they would not like to identify.
Although this gave us impressions of how the subjects viewed that characters, and it contrasted to some of the theories put forward by researchers who maintain that males tend to identify and understand characters of their own gender, it gave us little impression of why they watched the soap which we needed in order to relate our finding to the Uses and Gratifications theory. We therefore decided to conduct a face-to-face interview with two male soap viewers to see what pleasures they received from the medium
Study 5: Face-to-Face Interview with Male Soap Viewers
I am returning, again, to the points made by Kilborne regarding the soap genre, and what pleasure a viewer might receive from them, in my analysis of the interview we did. The interview took place in the informal surroundings of a study bedroom in the Hall of Residence.
1.Soap viewing is part of a regular domestic routine
In this aspect, as in others which we shall gradually see, the subjects differed with Subject 1 maintaining that he watched soaps very irregularly and for purely entertainment value when he is bored. He supports the Morley (1992:155) theory that television viewing is most common in men when they are not partaking in leisure activities yet contrasts with the idea that men plan their viewing by stating that he only watches when someone else is.
Subject 2, however, is fairly structured in his viewing. He regards it as part of his daytime routine in both the week and on Sundays.
2. As a launchpad for social interaction
Subject 1 is very clear in that he regards the soap genre as primarily a source for social interaction in the 'pub' and also talking to girls. It is very revealing of this attitude that he chooses to mention this since in doing so he confirms the idea that the soap genre is primarily one for women.
Subject 2, however, seems to regard his television viewing as a mainly solitary activity, something which he chooses to do, routinely, as an individuals rather than a group. This contrasts to the female viewer who saw her viewing as part of her social activities.
3. Part of the individual's needs
Subject 2 has already illustrated the that he find his soap viewing to be a primarily individual practise. He finds it as a form of escapism, a distraction and something he does in the privacy of his own room. He also sees the television as 'background noise' to his routine which, again, contradicts the theory that men concentrate on television.
Subject 1 seems to disregard the individual pleasure he might receive
from soaps by regarding his viewing as a socialising agent.
4. Identification with characters
Both men seem to disregard the female characters of the soaps they watch, preferring to be sexually oriented in their descriptions of them. Subject 1, however, is more positive in his description of some characters especially the characters of Toadie and Karl Kennedy in Neighbours. Which would suggest that he becomes more involved and a more active interpreter of the programmes he watches.
5. Escapist fantasy
The involvement of Subject 2 is much greater than Subject 1 in that he acknowledges that he uses the soap genre as a means of escapism. He also notes that he prefers to watch the programmes in retreat of others which suggest his involvement is stronger that someone who watches to socialise. Subject 2 is also more elaborate in the descriptions of characters and events of the soap genre.
6. Debates around central issues.
Both subjects 1 and 2 do not express opinions on the moral judgements which the soap genre can be seen as making. Subject 1 goes so far as to say that he does not concentrate on what is happening in the programmes he watches. Both men, it appears, tend to engage themselves with the appearences and personalities of the characters above the events which they partake in. This contrasts to the theory that women viewers talk about the issues and problems of the characters they watch as Morley documents in his research (1992:148).
7. A critical game involving knowledge of the rules of the genre.
Both men enjoy talking about the plausibility of the plotlines and whether
they think a character should have reacted in a particular way. Subject 2's knowledge of the soap, however, is explicit in the way he describes the past events of Home and Away . Subject 1's recall of episodes, however, seems to focus on the recent events of EastEnders.
The two men seem to typify the two variables in male soap opera viewers. Subject 1 seems to illustrate the researchers' theories on the male soap opera viewer by seeing it as a female dominated genre whilst Subject 2 seems to contradict this ideal by involving himself with characters and plotlines. He does, however, seem to regard his viewing as an individual and planned activity which compliments the theories of David Morley.
To conclude our research, therefore, this study mirrors what we found in many of the male soap opera viewers. Many seemed to compliment theories put forward by David Morley whilst others seem to formulate into theories of their own.
It seems to be that soap opera writers are aware of their growing audience of not only men but of adolescents and whilst our research reflects this it is not without its flaws and is open to criticism. I found the project very interesting and would have been interested in analysing at more depth had the interviewee's been more cooperative. It seems that, of those that finally volunteered, many were still reluctant to admit to their soap opera viewing habits and we were lucky to find those who promoted a more active viewing schedule.
As regards to why men should differ in their reasons to women and the awareness of the expanding audience compliments this theory. Many of the men were detailed in their descriptions of the characters and storylines which proved that they did actually watch the soap (specifically EastEnders) and were involved with the characters.
It remains a criticism of this research that we interviewed young people living in a shared residence. The men could always be exposed to soaps in a larger measure than had they been living in a family home or in a single sex household.
Our research does, however, reveal that men are now watching soaps are are engaging with them and receiving the same pleasure which women have been documented as obtaining from the genre. Whilst this is not true of all men, many of our subjects revealed themselves to be active interpreters of a genre which has excluded them for a long time.
April 1998