One of my favorite TV shows of all time has to be DHW; also known as Desperate Housewives. I figured since I love the show so much, why not analyze an episode and examine the messages behind the infamous drama series? After much consideration, since I love practically every episode, I found that episode 2 of the first season was probably the most insightful of the episodes offered. And with that being said, this was my outcome.
By the way, DO NOT READ THIS, if you do not want to spoil the show for you. So just stop reading now because this will be a bit of a SPOILER ALERT!
The Desperate House Wives
The Desperate House Wives TV series is a pleasant mix of comedy, mystery, and drama, and was created by Marc Cherry. This episode was the first episode of the series that gave audience members a real picture of what the series was about and was directed by Larry Shaw and written by Marc Cherry, the overall creator of the show. Marc Cherry is an openly homosexual male who moved to Hollywood in the late 1980s to pursue writing and working in the TV and movie industry. In 1990, he became a writer and producer for the long-running hit sitcom The Golden Girls, and then after a conversation with his mother began writing and creating the ABC series Desperate House Wives. The show’s main characters are five straight middle to upper-class Caucasian women in their late 30’s, and early 40’s, except one Latino, ex-model. The show’s format is filmed in real-time, which lets the audience members see into the individual lives of each housewife as if each week was just another week in the day and the life of the characters. The goal audience for this show was aimed towards main females from their teenage years to women in their upper forties. The show aimed to appeal to the typical “housewife” in rural America, however with the use of mystery and some seductive characters male viewers were also attracted to the show.
This episode’s content follows the pilot episode of the show and reinforces the three main genres of mystery, drama, and comedy on which the show is solely based. The episode begins by informing the audience about the mystery of Mary Alice Young, their fellow neighbor and friend who had committed suicide due to some terrible secret she was hiding. The episode continues by embracing the drama aspect of the show, with Susan Meyer and Edie Britt fighting over a man’s affection, and Gabriela Solis cheating on her husband with their old gardener John, who is eighteen years old. In addition, Bree Van de Kamp continues to fight with her husband over their less-than-ideal marriage while Lynette tries to discipline her children who are completely out of line. During the episode, the comedy comes into play in numerous scenes like John standing half-naked out the window and the episode itself is convincing with the aspects of mystery, drama, and comedy it is trying to convey to the audience,
This episode and the show as a whole show the power struggle between a person and life’s issues, however, the show and this episode focus on the empowerment of women. The sole focus around the show is that we are all people and we are all “desperate” at times, which is apparent in this episode, with emotional breakdowns about love, broken marriages, and even the aspect of suicide and unhappiness. However, women in this episode take charge of their lives, empowering the main voices of these women during their numerous live events. The voices of these women are explicitly conveyed throughout this episode through the choices they make and their actions; however male characters in the show do get implicitly hurt. In one scene, Gabriella is almost caught cheating with John her eighteen-year-old gardener by her husband Carlos, however her sly and quick ways prevent him from showing the viewer her empowerment with control, however, we the audience members also see the implicit hurt inflicted on Carlos. Women in this episode are mainly in charge of their family’s well-being, household work, and themselves, despite the males shown during this episode.
There is little diversity in all of the characters’ races in this episode. As I had mentioned before, the women are shown in this episode all middle to upper-class Caucasian women except Gabriella, played by Eva Longoria, the ex-model/ trophy wife who is of Latino descent as well as her husband Carlos. In the episode Gabriella does not do anything to show her ethnicity explicitly, however, Carlos uses an accident to show that he is of Latino descent and embraces it. In this episode, there is no evidence of any African-American characters, which in turn can be viewed as perhaps racist towards people of that decent.
Some of the cultural and social values embedded in the episode of Desperate House Wives are prior 21st-century stereotypical roles of women and stereotypical characteristics of women. In this episode, we need the perfect stay-at-home mother, Bree, versus the wife whose sole job is to just look good for her rich husband, Gabriella; two very different but highly stereotypical ideologies before the 21st century. Women’s characteristics are very stereotypical as well, including Lynette who is vulnerable and emotional due to the stress of her children, and Susan who resentment toward Edie for trying to talk to her man. For a viewer then, the contents of this episode show that in society a woman must be a good mother, a beauty for her husband, and must show emotion.
I believe it is important to study shows like Desperate House Wives and other shows similar to it because they show how women are depicted through various media content today. The stereotypical roles of women, the perfect stay-at-home mother, the trophy wife, and the stereotypical traits of women, are all apparent in this media artifact, however, the empowerment of women is reinforced, a trait highly upheld in our society today. This show, despite my still guilty pleasure of watching it, could be an example of hegemonic norms through a TV show as a misrepresenting of women to some viewers; however, that is the main reason I believe it is important to study. Someone who is a die-hard feminist I believe may look at this episode and the show as a whole and think it is an utter disgrace to women, whereas someone like myself may subject themselves to these hegemonic views and purely just enjoy watching the show as entertainment. Despite different circumstances, this episode and the show itself peer into a lot of different cultural and societal ideologies, mainly Feminist ideologies, that are worth studying to get a better understanding of the media world in which we reside.
With Love,
Lex Paige
