Lack of community feeling

[Light of the Bay]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before but in Home and Away I feel there is a painfully noticeable lack of community feeling in the show. I miss when all the characters used to interact all the time and have coffee and catch ups! I think the community spirit dwindled around 2006, which is when Julie McGauran left. There is something about Home and Away that feels so cold and boring, I really want it to feel warm and real again. I don't know what happened to the excellent writers who used to focus on character interaction and all that, I'm assuming they left? Also, I am confused as to why long term actors such as Lynne McGranger or Ray Meagher haven't stepped in and told them what the show is about? Rant over LOL!

[b2sb09]

It was really noticeble while Charlie was in hospital and it was only Leah and the Braxtons there for Ruby. Where were her friends? It's a small town where word would have gotten around quickly, so where was everyone? They only seem to turn out for the funeral and Bianca has gotten on with her life as if her best friend hadn't just died. I recently watched Shane dying on a youtube clip and it showed most of the characters learning of his death and their reactions and it was so moving, yet with Charlie, it just felt cold and uncaring at times, especially when we had Brax bashing someone and then waving a gun around endangering the lives of everyone around him - it seemed more about him than the woman lying in the bed dying. I just felt they completely missed the emotional impact by turning it into a seige instead of the community rallying around while a woman I thought they all cared about fought for her life and were there supporting Ruby. Aside from Bec's emotional protrayal, Charlie's death left me feeling more cold than emotional at times because of the lack of friends and focus on yet more criminal actions, unlike Shane's which just had a huge emotional impact because we saw right after his death the impact of his death on the community - with Charlie, they just skipped to her funeral without even showing us her friends or colleagues being told she'd died.

I'm often left feeling cold, even when we're supposed to be caring about these people, but it's hard when they so often come across as selfish and unlikeable, depending on the storyline or they're just unlikeable because of who they are, like Harvey and Brax. With the exception of a few, the type of characters they have had in the last few years just aren't the type of characters you can be warm and fuzzy over for any length of time and the way they change characters personalities to suit a storyline just ends up making me dislike them most of the time. By the time they got rid of Charlie, she had gone from my favourite to one I just couldn't stand anymore and I just couldn't buy into most of that storyline because it just felt like she was never in character and who she was had been conveniently shoved aside. When Charlie shot dead Hammer, even though she wasn't given a choice, it was like it wasn't that big of a deal for her to take a human life, she was too busy obsessing over a criminal who didn't even care what she'd done for him - when you have characters acting so cold toward death, it's really hard to invest in it. It was like, oh well, another dead body in the Bay and he was only a criminal, so who cares. Same with Stu, there's no sight of the River Boys who are supposed to be loyal and like family and Gina and Watson are about the only one's who seem to have pointed out the tragedy of the situation and where once he would have been taken under someone's wing and given the Summer Bay treatment to a better life, he was instead given the treatment which has been happening with far too much frequency - yet more violence.

Why hasn't the community been more up in arms about Heath being caught drug dealing yet again, about the gang violence, about the two murders that have happened? It's all quickly forgotten and it's like the community just doesn't care what happens as long as it's not to them and that's not the Summer Bay I remember or loved.

So many of the characters continually interact with the same characters the majority of the time and the teens only seem to be with those they date or see their friends when they have relationship problems.

Too much focus on crime, violence and relationships and not enough on friendships or the community as a whole; it's becoming such a depressing and cold place far too often. Karaoke night was a start, but they need so much more interaction between all characters and to get the sense of community spirit and the warm feeling of the place back - with the type of characters and guest characters they keep introducing, the old feeling of the place seems so far away - just about all the eligible bachelors could be in jail for things they're actually guilty of and I think that says so much about the type of characters and direction of the show.

Good writers should be able to create drama without the need of violence, endless on-off relationships and introducting people just to cause problems, or break the law to create drama. They did it in the past and the ratings were so much better back then - each year we seem to get more of the same violence, yet each year, the ratings continue to go down, last year was no different, so I don't see why they continue on this path when it's not working. Packed to the Rafters has proven people like family and the usual family dramas, so I don't see why we can't have that more often on Home and Away. You could say that the ratings have gone down with the lack of community spirit in the Bay

[Ryan]

Whilst in practice there should be a strong base unit, it never quite works. With Palmer, Gina, Alf, Sid, Irene, Leah, Roo, Marilyn, Leah and to a lesser extent Colleen you should be able to build a community around that, though one could argue there's too many singletons in there and with the characters that are introduced, they very rarely have a strong link to the above or at least more than a handful of the above. If you were to try and build a web of the characters and they're important or whatever you'd like to call it relationships, there'd be lots of holes for the storylines to fall through.

[alexx]

Home and Away used to always make me literally feel 'light hearted' even during gritty storylines becuase there was always a strong sense of community and friends being there for each other. This was a strong theme for the show right up until I'd say 2004, it had already drifted dramatically come 2006 Imo.

These days those 'warm and fuzzy' moments are very few and far between, whereas it used to be every episode, it was just the whole direction of the show - but its changed so much these days. I agree, it doesn't feel warm, it feels cold most of the time and I wouldn't like to live in Summer Bay anymore, whereas at one stage there were many reasons to want to live there.

I also think the change in incidental music style plays a part in the way we are influenced when watching the show. These days the music is quite harsh - they should bring back strong melodies that make you laugh or cry etc. For example in recent years, I really liked Marilyn's theme (the music used when she was in her car talking to Alf during her first episode), but they haven't used it since 2010/the cancer stuff. They came up with a really nice 'warm and fuzzy' piece of music for Roo's return but that too has gone. Even better, they should create more character themes that are actually recurring (like they used to in the early years). I don't like how in recent times, when a character has been given a theme, they change it in tone every time.

They have definitely improved in regards to giving the older characters a bit more of a look in (Irene's pathetic cancer storyline not included) - but they need to work on the friendships more. Alf and John for example, could become a really strong friendship, they need to build on that.

[Light of the Bay]

Ryan, there was a sense of community back in the early to mid 00's and it worked very well, I wonder what the problem is now? I hope Lucy Addario makes some positive changes.

[Light of the Bay]

As well as a lack of community feeling the show also seems to dismiss the importance of friendships. After recently watching 03/04/05 episodes I can see how important friendships were back then, such as Alf and Leah, Sally and Leah and Colleen and Max It seems like Marilyn and Roo are supposed to have a friendship now but it's hard to believe because they never meet up to just have a good old chat to catch up, which is what many characters used to do. I've just about given up on Home and Away of today as there are so many factors missing and I'd much rather reminisce on the Home and Away of the past.

[Skylover]

Ryann makes an excellent point - all the older characters have so few connections now which makes it hard for them to be believable or worthwhile characters. Leah only really has VJ, Alf and Roo are sort of a double act/pair, Marilyn floats around by herself and Irene has no-one. They should do more to build connections among these characters IMO.

For a start they should bring back one of Irene's children, perhaps even two of them with children in tow. I'd also like to find out more about Roo and Marilyn's lives when they were away from the Bay - Roo was gone for 21 years for heaven's sake but she's returned as though nothing has changed! Surely something has happened over the course of her 21 years away - perhaps they should bring in a character she knows, that guy she was supposedly seeing.

Meanwhile, I no longer see a place for Colleen in the show. I know that sounds harsh but I don't think she really serves a purpose anymore - I'd prefer Celia to come back and interact with Alf and Roo.

John and Gina are kind of isolated too, only really having Xavier as their main connection but luckily it seems like they're getting a storyline now which is good.