1/14/2024 0 Comments Phoenix raei girlfriendOfficial trailer for ABC TV’s The Heights (2019). Overall though, The Heights is a soap seeped in realism, and by the end of the first series (binge-watched on ABC iview), I was hooked. There isn’t time for lengthy character development – we need to know pretty quickly who is who. There is some clunky dialogue in the first couple of episodes, as characters deliver expository lines to bring the viewer up to speed. But soaps also require actors to display enormous range, and the production process requires speed and agility, particularly when working with tight budgets. They have fast-moving storylines and require exposition and shortcuts to set the scene. They are made in bulk (The Heights already has 30 episodes), and have large ensemble casts. Soaps don’t usually have the high production values of so-called “quality television”. The Heights is a soap opera – a television genre that is generally undervalued. She mentions too that she has lived in social housing, which signalled to me that she understands the experiences of the characters. In her piece, she speaks of the need to diversify Australian television and bring the stories of minorities and marginalised communities to our screens. I was a bit concerned – would this be a middle-class imagining of working-class life? But I was reassured by an article written by one of the show’s co-creators, Que Minh Luu. I tried to recall any Australian show (of any genre) that was set on a social housing estate and couldn’t think of one (happy to be proven wrong on this one). The promos suggested the show would include representation of working-class social housing residents. When I heard about the new ABC TV soap The Heights (set in a fictional suburb of Perth), I was pretty excited.
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