It has, however, always been filmed in a resolutely realistic style. Corrie was born out of the 'kitchen sink' movement of the late 50s, where people's lives were suddenly put onscreen, warts and all. Plays and films like A Taste of Honey and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning presented the working classes in stark black and white. The British soap operas followed this style, which is why the UK's one of the few places where continuing dramas are resolutely down to earth. Everywhere else in the world, soap operas mean glamour, wealth and excitement; in Britain, it's about the working class, the ordinary, the downtrodden.
Which is why the return of Vera didn't work for me on Monday. I understand why it was done, dramatically, but to me it felt out of place in Corrie's "house style". The simple, unpretentious set ups and shots make it feel like you're getting a slice of life - a peep into these people's real existence. The fantasy of Vera came into this and seemed to clash with everything else. I like to feel that these are real people living real lives, and five times a week we get a peep behind the net curtains.
There are other stylistic touches that don't work for me in soaps either - the flashback, the musical montage. Every now and again they have a stab at it and it strikes a false note. (This isn't exclusive to Corrie, incidentally; EastEnders also fell into the trap when Peggy wandered around the burnt out Queen Vic, hearing voices). It seems self-indulgent to me and I hope it's a one-off.
What do you think? Do you think this is something Corrie should do more often?
18 comments:
I'm glad you feel like that because it didn't work for me either. It was too realistic in one sense (her just being stood there with no eerie lights and looking as old as she did when she died) which jarred with the notion of her returning from the grave to usher him to death.
I felt it was a huge let-down of a departure for a character like Jack who was so firmly rooted in reality. I think the direction of the show in general is nose-diving rather dramatically and I feel the blame must lie with Collinson who has brought his Doctor Who credentials to the Street too literally ie it has lost that sense of kitchen sink drama it was famous for.
There needs to be less Becky (please God less Becky) and her 'we're not right together I'm bad news blah blah' nonsense whenever she gets a setback. I know Corrie has had periods like this before and it has always bounced back but I'm watching out of sheer addiction now and not because I'm enjoying it.
I know the tram crash will probably be a letdown too because, lets face it, anything that is hyped to this extent is bound to be.
If you remember the death of Ramsey and the moving scene with Emily Bishop listening to his tape afterwards, it was much more affecting and effective than the sight of Jack and Vera uncomfortably dancing and kissing.
Corrie nosediving? You're having a laugh right? Look how many classic episodes we've had since PC arrived:
Roy and Hayley's wedding
The Lewis reveal
Jack's death
David's accident
Natasha's exit
Lets compare that to Kim Crowthers:
Vera's death
Liam's death
Blanche in the AA meeting (though this was down to the writers)
On topic though, I don't mind when Corrie does things like this, for the reason that it doesn't do it often, I think the scene worked brilliantly. Though this should be the ONLY time it ever happens.
Also with the voices echoing - Didn't they use that in Elsie Tanner's exit?
I like it, it doesn't happens so often. If you rather to watch reality stuff, there's heaps of reality shows. I thought it was a nice touch to show us that Jack and Vera are together in heaven for eternity!
Flashback is good tool to use to remind the viewers of what has happened and why it is relevant to the scene.
As an exceptional 'one off' scene, I think it was OK to do something like that. The close of the scene was magical. Sometimes it's OK to break the rules. Look at that Ian/Dot scene in the EastEnders 25th episode when they watched a home video from 1985. It felt so contrived and tenuous- the producers obviously wanted to do something sentimental, but because they did it in such a complicated way, it had little impact.
However, I didn't like the way we got into Vera's scene. It felt too random to see Vera just standing there. It needed a camera effect (like the one at the end of the scene) at the start as well. Or it should have been in soft-focus. The scene didn't differentiate it itself enough from the rest of the action in the episode. For the viewers who hadn't seen the pre-publicity about Vera's return, it must have been incredibly confusing for a few seconds!
I agree with the blog....but how else could they have written Jack out? They'd already had Vera die in an understated way. I feel the Vera scene was more memorable than him winning the lottery or somesuch. ad, london
Flashbacks and musical montages are a bit iffy and very difficult to do well. That "hearing voices in your head" thing is something i don't mind as it's not used all that often. I remember when Ken Barlow thought about taking a bottle of pills one New Year's Eve and he heard the voices of people from his past castigating and criticizing him. It worked and reality? Why wouldn't someone be thinking of voices from their past in emotional situations like that or like Elsie Tanner leaving etc.
As for Vera's "ghost"... It's a known phenomenon that people who are dying often see loved ones just before they pass. My father saw one of his sisters that he had been close to. I think i would have found it very silly if the camera work had made Vera look ghostly and hazy but having it look like she was really there was a nice touch for me, and a fitting end for Jack who has missed his Vera. In Canada we've just seen the two year anniversary of her death where Jack was sitting in the Rovers nearly in tears and Betty comes over and gives him a little peck on the forehead for comfort.
I had some concerns about this storyline when I first heard of it but at the BFI on Tuesday Phil Collinson explained it by saying that various people have reported that when loved ones are dying, they claim to have seen someone who had passed on before them. Tony Warren confirmed that it happened to his father and indeed my own father claimed to have seen my late mother before he died seven years ago - no heavenly lights or shimmering visages - just her there "in the flesh". That made it much more understandable as a story to be presented and believed, in my book. However I DO have a great difficultly in believing that a single northern street can attract three, possibly four serial killers within one ten year period (Hillman, Sharma, Gordon and maybe Stape). That is asking you to accept total fantasy as real...
Well I for one thought it was beautifully done. I thought Vera coming back added to the whole scene. Lots of people in the last moments claim to see there passed loved ones.Vera was only in the scene for a few seconds I would of felt different if she was in the whole espiode but I think it was done very well. I think its funny that you are claming that Corrie realistic.....or it trys to be realistic!! Only last week Kevin got back a DNA result in a DAY that is by no means realistic!!
To me, the Vera scene felt just like a vivid dream, the kind you get when you drift off or just before you wake up. Of course he was thinking about Vera, she was mentioned and missed several times during the day and he was comfortably sitting in their home. She came in wearing those orange earrings, as if it were any other day, exactly as he pictured her. It may not have been 'our' reality, but it was 'Jacks' reality for those few seconds.
Every now and then I have a dream like that about my dad. At the risk of sounding like someone who can't distinguish tv from reality, I can only hope that when the time comes, my mom gets her dance.
I thought it was done well and worked well and loved it. It wasn't just Vera coming back it was Liz Dawn's goodbye to Bill Tarmey played out for fans too, I felt.
I thought it was really well done - loved it. I thought that as a codger I wasn't going to like the "new Corrie" with its fancy camera angles and new-fangled uppity ways, but I really like it! Loved the bit where Jack heard Peter and Carla talking, and the camera going upwards through the house - a appreciation of life going on as he passed away. There are lots of unrealistic bits on Corrie - serial killers (but I like that!)DNA tests and so forth - I'm quite prepared to suspend my disbelief for most of it. What I really DON'T like is the whiney Becky stuff. Get over yourself love. There are lots who've had it worse. And the predictable Max/Kylie rubbish.
I loved it, and thought it a very good send off for Jack. I love the fact that Corrie has always had a realism to it, but what the hell? It is a television programme after all...they can play with reality when they want.
I agree with John Tomlinson. The scene between Vera and Jack is the wrong target for criticism. It was brief and as has been said, its fairly common for dead relatives to "appear" to others.
It's the events included as ratings busters that are unreal. Multiple serial killers, a teacher kidnapping a pupil, a daughter (Katy Harris) murdering her father etc, all in the same street. And residents of the street undergoing personality transplants - sworn enemies becoming friends etc. Time was that Corrie could run funny and entertaining stories about trivial events - like Hilda getting her "muriel". Those were the glory days.
just before my dad passed away he looked up and said " Mary why are you here I am not ready to go yet" Mary was my mom who had already passed away. So yes Jack seeing Vera in my mind is possible
When I heard ahead of watching the episode that Vera was coming back to take Jack, I didn't like the sound of it one bit. Thought, hats off, when the episode aired, I thought it lovely, Jack and Vera leaving Coronation Street together.
Particularly good were the scenes in the Rovers beforehand. It was nice to see the Corrie heavyweights all together, Jack, Rita, Ken, Betty, Emily, Audrey. That was the biggest send off for Jack. Great characters all of them, those who really are the back bones of the programme. (I also think that very soon we can add Steve and Peter to that honorable list).
If was an enormous shame on the other hand that I watched most of the rest of the episode with the mute button on. The younger cast can learn a fair few things from those above. The acting skills of most of them are diabolical and are not worthy of a place in the Corrie cast. Somebody mentioned in an earlier comment that recently they are only watching out of being addicted not interested, which is how it is for me at the moment. The Webster girls and Sian in particular are dragging down the standard. Their baby voices, sofa hugging antics are more than I can bear. Rosie is meant to be a bimbo I know, but she’s more annoying for her acting skills (I wish she was still in John Stapes’ grannies’ attic!). Each one of the younger cast is whiney voiced and very poor actors.
It's a great shame Jack has gone, the Street in its current form could do with him.
The heavyweights as I called them, should be cherished, there doesn't seem to be anyone coming up that can hold the show as much as them
Beth you watched it with the mute button on? That's pretty lame, I don't believe you did.
The Webster girls are some of the best characters, and if you can't bear them so much you must be pretty anal..
And that's not true at all that NONE of the younger cast can act. Sophie when she was younger was excellent, funny/cheeky! David can act.. Graeme..
And Blanche was THE BEST. The rest of your "heavyweights" are nothing compared to her.
Hi Anonymous
I think if you read my post again you will see it read "most of the rest of the episode", exactly meaning the Webster girls and Sian I'm afraid, who are having a lot of air time right now sadly. Lame or not and you may believe it or not, I'm afraid that's the way it is. They're acting just make me squirm, in that, I'm too embarrassed for you, way. That's quite a thing when I've been watching the programme since I can remember. And according to other Corrie forums and speaking with others I don't seem to be the only 'anal' fan either ;)
Sophie as you said was good when she was younger, but not anymore. I've said before, if you close your eyes both she and Sian sound the same. It's a shame as well that they've been given such a strong storyline and all. Ah well....
Yeah, your right, I shouldn't have written Graham off, he has a lot of potential as a good long term corrie character and I agree about David too :)
Blanche was a star!! But corrie would be a lot poorer without the old stagers that were in the pub the other night!
Guess that's why it's such a success it has storylines and characters to appeal to everybody.
Rgds Beth
I thought it was done with with the appearance of Vera to take Jack to another place. Although she looked as old as she day she died it would be very difficult to overcome this unless they found a young actress lookalike.
I too found the screeching and self absorbed scenes with shreaking Sophie and whining Sian awful and "Anonomyous" is very rude saying you are "anal" if you dont like them, everyone is entitled to their opinion and cant always concur with yours.
Well, why on earth shouldn't Coronation Street embrace a little magical realism every now and again?
I don't agree that The Street doing so amounts to an unacceptable departure from gritty "kitchen sink" style soap drama. On the contrary, I think that it enhances it in a very endearing way.
It was entirely fitting that Jack Duckworth should have envisioned his beloved Vera at his end, and I've no problem with the way it was portrayed - I actually think that making it more realistic, with Liz Dawn and all - was devastatingly effective.
I'd be very happy happy to see more of this wonderfully creative stuff manifesting itself in CS in future.
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