(This post was originally posted by Coronation Street Corner on the Coronation Street Blog in January 2012.)
With Pat Butcher's departure from Eastenders earlier this month, I began to think about all those soap matriarchs over years. And guess what? I can't think of any Corrie matriarchs. None at all. I can list ones from the others: Peggy Mitchell, Pauline Fowler, Meg Richardson, Helen Daniels, Madge Bishop, Susan Kennedy, Annie Sugden and Lisa Dingle. But none from Corrie. Do you find that weird - the soap that's known for its portrayal of strong women has not had a matriarch in 52 years?
If you look at the original three women on the Street - Ena, Elsie and Annie. Although they were strong women they were hardly matriarchs. The three had strained relationships with their children. Ena battled with daughter Vera; Elsie clashed with both Dennis and Linda; Annie's daughter Joan looked down on her while son Billy only visited the Rovers to sponge off his mother. And if you look at all those mothers that have graced our screens over the years, none of them are matriarch material. Just look at Hilda, Vera, Ivy, Gail, Audrey, Sally, Deirdre and Liz.
While Corrie has maintained the battleaxes (Ena, Blanche, Ivy), gossips (Martha, Hilda, Blanche), sirens (Elsie, Bet, Rita) and mother figures (Minnie, Rita, Betty) throughout it's tenure, the role of matriarch has never come about. While it's had head of the families in the shape of Blanche and Audrey, they lack something a true matriarch has. Maybe the fact that both were absent from their children's lives for so long. While Blanche filled the role of battleaxe and gossip; Audrey, although the Platt family's voice of reason, has on many occassions clashed with her family and the fact that she lives on her own away from the Street shows that weakness. Both, in their own way, never defend their family name and usually ridicule their family's decisions instead of supporting them.
Do you agree or disagree? Has Corrie had a matriarch? Does it need a matriarch? Or is the fact that it doesn't have a matriarch make it different to other soaps and that's why you love it?
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3 comments:
Interesting question, but I'd need to know how you define "matriarch".
I"m thinking Deirdre is a perfect example of a mother who defends her young, in spite of knowing full well how badly they're behaving.
And Gail raises the drawbridge and defends against all comers if her family is threatened at all.
Liz Macdonald is protective of Steve, and considered her interference in his marriages to be justified.
Eileen's had her moments too.
I'm somewhat familiar with Pat Butcher from Eastenders, but can't see how she's a soap "matriarch", but Deirdre, Gail, or Liz are not?
in the classic "soap" sense, a matriarch presides over a multigenerational family. She's strong, possibly interfering, protective of her family but usually of the senior generation. By those defifintions, neither Deirdre or Gail have reached it yet. Blanche would have been a matriarch figure and I think Audrey is.
Well then, I guess Deirdre just needs to get a little older and start interfering in Amy's life...when she gets one! You know who had all the makings of a great matriarch was Ivy Tilsley...she had the multi-generational family, she was strong, and protective to the point of ridiculousness. Gail seems to be channelling her sometimes.
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