Is watching soaps working class?

[crochetmonkey74]

Just as I say really. I'm an avid soap watcher, grew up very poor and on benefits, now comfortable and in a job where there are a lot of middle class people. At work someone said this as a sort of barbed joke but a lot of people agreed . What do you think?

Yes but it's better than fox hunting for thrills

As long as people treat me with respect and pay their way in life and leave me to get on with my own life , I don't give a toss what people are in terms of ' class '
More people work than don't anyway.
The teachers where I work think they are above me , I think it's funny really ( most of them have a superior attitude, not sure why though , a few of them could do with a reality check )

I think that's probably true. My parents were poor, they watched all the soaps. I hate soaps, I don't watch TV, I only put it on to stream movies.

Very middle class here. I grew up with my mother watching every soap there was.

She no longer does - said that the story lines had got too silly

I am one of them scummy single mums on benefits you hear about, I do not watch soaps they are boring and depressing and miserable stereotypes, especially things like Eastenders which I always thought was insulting to poor people.

I used to watch grange hill, londons burning and the bill, not sure if they count. now the nearest I watch is the space opera Legends of the galactic heroes.

Yes, I think it’s terribly WC.

But then, I am still mourning the loss of Jeremy Kyle so I don’t know what that makes me.

Yes it is. It doesn't really matter if you enjoy soaps though.

The characters in soaps are WC so it makes sense that they appeal to people who are WC.

@Flowersandhearts

The characters in soaps are WC so it makes sense that they appeal to people who are WC.

Not necessarily. US soaps have rich people. Australian soaps have middle class suburbans.

I think the serial dramas that are seen as soaps are probably watched more by older working-class people.
But in reality, many middle-class people watch or listen to soaps but don't recognise them as soaps. Things like the Archers, The Bill, Holby City.
Traditional soaps are one of the few long-running serial dramas that feature good parts for middle-aged and older women. And also one of the few places that talk about the concerns of women this age.

I've always watched them but dps didn't only listened to Archers. Dgm used to watch Crossroads and Corrie

Middle class background

"But in reality, many middle-class people watch or listen to soaps but don't recognise them as soaps. Things like the Archers, The Bill, Holby City."

I don't think anyone would deny that the Archers is a soap. The Bill is often seen as a drama.

"Traditional soaps are one of the few long-running serial dramas that feature good parts for middle-aged and older women. And also one of the few places that talk about the concerns of women this age."

Yes, and also where the actresses age relatively normally (Cathy in EE is a notable exception) and can put on weight. I think there's more of a trend for beautiful actors now though.

@woodhill

I've always watched them but dps didn't only listened to Archers. Dgm used to watch Crossroads and Corrie

Middle class background

Same here, my dp listened to the archers but rarely watched tv.

After a long day at work using my brain I like nothing more than watching a soap for some mindless escapism.

I really could not care less if someone thinks it’s a working class pastime.

I'm gutted about Neighbours and it is pure escapism

I think neighbours and H&A probably transcends all the class stuff. They have (had!) a much younger audience I assume and I don’t think would be viewed in the same was as EE and Corrie?

I don’t know about class, but I don’t know any working adult who has time to commit to watching soaps regularly. I used to watch them as a teenager and a student - the Hollyoaks omnibus was a hungover Sunday morning staple. And my retired grandmother used to watch them all the time. But that’s about having the time to kill.

I would have thought the only adults who have time to watch them are either retired, students or people who don’t need to work and I think the latter two categories are likely to be pretty MC!

All the goady threads today.

I love Eastenders.

I also love University Challenge, Only Connect, David Attenburufh, Dispatchers etc.

Basically I like a mix of things. I'm WC.,

This is actually an interesting question. In the 90’s at one point every single person I knew was up to date on every soap, everyone stayed in for the big episodes. I just assumed people stopped watching them because they are not as good now. My parents, who grew up deeply working class still watch Emmerdale, Doctors and Neighbours, as well as Coronation Street. I grew up middle class and have recently stopped watching Hollyoak’s, the last one I was watching. None of my friends watch them now, a few work people have particular soaps they like, but it seems more age driven in that older people still watch them, younger people not so much, rather than class.

The obsession with class on MN is so completely tedious.

@PourSomeLove have you seen the sneak peeks of the funeral? Goosebumps every time I see it

I have watched Home and Away for the beginning. I watched them all a bit but now it's only home and away. I miss Brookie and I loved the awfulness that was Eldorado!

Not necessarily - tv can be fit everyone. What’s more common with very upper middle class people is barely watching TV at all.

Your colleague was mean and small minded to say such a thing.

I don’t know I don’t watch them and the only person I know who does is my mother, used to work and now on full benefits and has been for the last 12 years minimum if that’s any help.

I believe the Queen is a Corrie fan.