Conventions of Soaps

It is conventional of soaps to have realism. Realism is a crucial element within soaps and this involves the storylines and the setting. The structure of the soap episode is also conventional, it uses a structure where different narratives interwine and there are also mini cliffhangers.

Storylines involving love, family life, school life, workplace, economic and other issues surrounding audience lives are present within soaps; mostly typical issues surrounding working class lives.

Soap opera narratives run concurrently and intersect. The structure has worked well; the intersecting storylines are like mini-cliffhangers keeping the audience waiting. The main cliffhanger at the end keeps the audience waiting until the next episode. The interweaving storylines keep the characters updated and gives a chance to unravel more and more storylines to keep the audience interested. It also creates a way to bond the characters and even introduce new ones.


Soap operas also have central meeting points. In EastEnders these are identifies as the pub, laundrette and the market are the main points in which characters meet each other and also to form gossip (another convention).