Things Neighbours can get Away with that H&A can't

[project90]

Really wasn't sure what to name this topic but I have seen in other topics discussion of how Home and Away is never going to have a mainstay gay character. Neighbours has had at least one for 6 years (a lot of the time two plus recurring gay guest characters ). I don't get how it would be an issue if Home and Away had one too. But then H&A has hit some pretty big topics like SIDS, rape, suicide and abortion. Things, as far as I know, Neighbours has never done. I know they are two different shows but they do run in the same theme and in the same time slot so why is it ok for one show and not the other? 

[John]

I have approved this topic with some trepidation.  

Please use it to compare the differences between the two shows which may impact on the topic and don't just use it as another vehicle for the promotion of diversity in Home and Away.  There is already a topic for that.

[dee123]

1 hour ago, John said:

I have approved this topic with some trepidation.  

Please use it to compare the differences between the two shows which may impact on the topic and don't just use it as another vehicle for the promotion of diversity in Home and Away.  There is already a topic for that.

Again another comment like this from the mods. Hmm... Makes me wonder if you are getting blow back from 7.

[joany208121]

It is interesting when you look at the storylines they tackle, and how they tiptoe around others. I think HAA has done well in portraying drug addictions, and pregnancy and abortion and all the various outcomes. I think this is due to the fostering background and underpinning as over the years characters have been placed in these circumstances for a range of reasons such as feeling like they unable to look after the children due to a variety of reasons (e.g. age, income and a typical family units). I think this is good as it shows a range of atypical family units and socio-economic situation and resolutions. In saying this HAA hasn't tackled homosexuality well as it has typically jumped on the lesbian villain stereotypes or left things exceptionally vague. HAA has a large number of ring-in or unrelated characters which can both open and close storylines in many ways. 

Neighbs does family unit things better and IOM is better in character driven rather than plot driven arcs. We empathise with characters through relations to others and are able invest with them as they stick around longer and are well integrated (there is atleast 1 character in every RS house and one off the street who has been there longer than your typical 3yr contract). This is why they do gay/bi characters well, as they are (mostly) more than just their sexuality. The best example is Steph, who is a mother who has lost access to her kids, has killed someone, been to prison, runs a small business and struggles with mental illness as well as being deeply involved in her friends storylines too. Her central characteristic isn't that she likes both guys and girls, a quality I think that wouldn't be the same if a LGBTI character was to arrive in the Bay. 

[Matt]

2 hours ago, dee123 said:

Again another comment like this from the mods. Hmm... Makes me wonder if you are getting blow back from 7.

Or it might have something to do with the fact that if you want to discuss the diversity of the series you can do it here - there needn't be more than one thread for a topic that is so over-arching and diverse.

[Shannon Found Skeletons]

Forums that are for the fans  - and where criticisms such as this are not only allowed, but welcomed!

I'm not sure "get away with" is the right phrase for some of the following things, but they are definitely differences I have noticed.

Stronger feeling of community (even unrealistically so - but it's better than characters who never cross paths suddenly knowing each other one day when the storyline calls for it - e.g. Marilyn and the Braxtons is one that stood out to me once.) It's weird, H&A used to be portrayed as such a tiny, dreary little country town that literally everybody knew everything about everyone. And Neighbours, being in the suburbs, really didn't have that vibe. Now H&A have completely lost (ruined?) the feeling of "Summer Bay" whereas Neighbours, with being confined mainly to one street, has a much stronger sense of this now than H&A's hap-hazard approach.

Drama coming from the characters' personalities,for instance how one character reacts to a situation would be a completely different story if it was happening to a different character because their personalities are strongly defined and strongly influence how a character behaves. In H&A (with a very few exceptions), the same dialogue, actions and reactions could be interchangeable between most characters.

Non-over the top cliffhangers. H&A feels the need to add too much melodrama. I remember one cliffhanger on Neighbours with an intruder in Sonya's house (in her baby's bedroom) and Sonya banging on the door trying to get in, but the person on the other side pressing the door shut. No guns. No blood. Just a mother trying to get to her child. And it was ssooooooo tense. If this had been H&A, 100% for sure, Sonya would have had to be hit over the head and knocked unconscious before the fade to black.

So in general, I think Neighbours can get away with being that little bit slower, that little bit more character focussed, and also that little more creative. Quite often the plots go in directions you wouldn't expect, whilst H&A follows cliches. I think because they have a much lower budget, the writers are forced to be more creative to keep the show fresh and good. Whereas 7 just throws money at H&A and that doesn't make a good show.

One thing that I would say "get away with" definitely applies to - is being more cheesy. Neighbours can be cheesy. It isn't always, but people expect it, and usually don't mind it. It's part of the show's heritage. H&A can't get away with being all that cheesy.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Summer Bay could now easily be set in a rough Sydney suburb rather than a small coastal town accessed by dirt tracks. Neighbours seems to get away with more everyday stuff such as relationship ups and down, the Cannings sipping sangria around the pool, Sheila gossiping and any instances of crime being corporate business crime, fraud mainly, whereas H&A feels the need to show almost every episode with someone in a critical condition, an explosion, car crash or drugs raid with machine guns.

H&A was once superior to Neighbours but the opposite is true now.

 

[Shannon Found Skeletons]

I don't really want to get into a "which is better" debate but yeah, roles have definitely reversed when it comes to certain types of storytelling and writing styles.

[project90]

 

3 minutes ago, Shannon Found Skeletons said:

I don't really want to get into a "which is better" debate but yeah, roles have definitely reversed when it comes to certain types of storytelling and writing styles.

Idea is not to say which is better it asking why you think one show can/dose tackle subjects the other can't /won't 

[Homeandawayfan.]

Before I get accused of going off topic, Neighbours vs H&A is so much like Corrie vs EastEnders.

I wholeheartedly agree about H&A not being allowed to be as slow as Neighbours.