The Influence of Television Programmes on the General Public

It can be difficult for some viewers to differentiate between acting and real life, and there are many stories out there of soap stars being attacked and heckled in the streets because of the character that they play.

This alarming incapability of many when it comes to understanding that Eastenders is not real life (gasp!) can be worrying and is disturbing proof that television culture, especially that of the addictive soaps, does have an impact on our everyday lives. Public opinion can dangerously snowball out of hand: back in October 2002, actor Alex Ferns (aka Trevor Morgan) was on the receiving end of public abuse whenever he stepped out of the house following his on-screen antics as a wife-beating bully. David Platt is a particularly annoying character and many will be happy to see him get beaten to a pulp in next week's Coronation Street, yet it begs the question: is it OK to take pleasure in watching a fictional 18-year-old character suffer a beating? And if so, it is obvious that behaviour like this will be emulated in real life as many characters are hailed as heroes and icons, which further encourages some people to follow in their footsteps and copy their behaviour and attitude.

However, is it simply part of the territory when working as an actor, or do the public get so wrapped up in their soap worlds that they lose sight of what is real and what is fiction so that their out-of-order behaviour cannot be accepted? Many of the soaps consistently feature stories of extramarital affairs and currently Coronation Street viewers are watching incessant love rat Kevin Webster cheating on his equally faithful wife Sally, and Dawn Swann doing the same with Phil Mitchell in the BBC's ever-popular soap, Eastenders. No wonder many marriages end in divorce nowadays. With so much free love on the television, the younger generation don't stand much chance of understanding how normal relationships should work.

Television can be an educational tool, but unfortunately when it comes to viewing for pleasure, the line between reality and soap gets blurred, and it seems to become addictive to watch the fictional turmoil in other people's lives. Maybe it makes the public feel better about their own situation, or is it simply a case of harmless entertainment? It seems that all too often in the soap world, everyone is sleeping with someone they shouldn't or screaming at each other while others are being raped or murdered, and this is what we call entertainment?

It is inevitable that watching TV fictional programmes will mould some people's minds, and with the constant contradiction of fictional soaps and real life news on the television, many simply cannot distinguish between the two. The news can be distressing to watch, with people being murdered and wars breaking out all the time; and yet when programmes are factual, it seems to be more acceptable to watch it. The bottom line is that it can be fun to watch Emmerdale and Hollyoaks but you must remember that they are not real life: if you want to watch some reality, switch over to the news.

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