First Paragraph

Firstly, one of the representations in Desperate Housewives represents women as an 'image'. Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'male gaze' can support this where men do the looking and women are to be looked at. The 'male gaze' pervades over Gabrielle as she is seen as the 'sexiest' character. Gabrielle is almost always dressed in tight fitting clothes, usually dresses and high heels. Also, her make up consists of heavy eye make up and dark red lipstick to show that she is aroused. She also dresses to fulfil the male fantasy as she once dressed up in a kinky nurses outfit which consisted of a nurses hat, white bra and skirt and red suspenders. This is obviously to attract the opposite sex which she does successfully. During Season one of Desperate Housewives Gabrielle gets bored of her husband and finds satisfaction with her seventeen-year-old gardener. This supports the 'male gaze' because teenagers would watch this programme and envy John because they would want to be in his position, as she did once tell him that all her teenage fantasies had come true. This represents Gabrielle as extremely 'desperate' because she is having sex with someone who is not even legal. Overall, this represents women as sexually frustrated and in need of constant attention. In one clip she tries to act maternal when John hurts his finger and she slowly and seductively kisses it better. Here the finger can be seen as a phallic symbol representing the lack of action/attention Gabrielle is receiving from her husband, Carlos. Greer quotes: "every woman knows that regardless of her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful." Gabrielle takes advantage of her good looks and her irresistible model figure when John tries to get out of the situation of having sex with her but cannot seem to resist when she undoes her blouse. Here, she uses her looks to get what she wants, as does Carlos for business purposes: "If he wants to grab your arse, you let him." Carlos says this with a snigger after Gabrielle complains to him that a businessman whom he makes a lot of money from is constantly trying to "grab her arse". Again, this supports Laura Mulvey's theory that women are represented as 'objects' and passive.


secpnd paragraph...
Edie is also a character who can be seen as a 'spectacle'. Edie=promiscuous is constantly trying to seduce men, in order to do this she wears very revealing tops which show a lot of cleavage, for example when she was washing her car she wore short shorts and a shirt with only a few buttons done which meant most of her stomach was on show and a lot of cleavange . can be seen as 'man-devouring monster; because she tries it with everyone, like Gabi once did with Tom (season 2)( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7xsptPexJ0&feature=related ). This is the idealistic view men have of women washing cars, for example in the song 'My neck my back' by Khia(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd4PtXKPH04 )and one of Jessica Simpson's video too. This is for the obvious reason that the woman is doing a lot of bending over. Also, Edie is a blonde and fits into the stereotype of a blonde= obsessed with sex. This could be linked to Fatal Attraction, Alex=blonde, single and obsessive(bunny boiler). Another link is that the rest of the women feel intimidated by Edie, like Alex. Edie goes with Susan's ex and Gabrielle's ex. She could also be seen as similar to Samantha from 'Sex and the City' who is also blonde, single and the most sexual out of all of them, when she meets a nun she is horrified: "So you haven't had sex? Never had sex?...have you ever masturbated?"

Essay plan:

Representation of women in Desperate Housewives.

My hypothesis: Is DH just another example of feminist backlash and cultural sexism?

Here is what my paragraphs will be about, not in proper order yet:

Genre:

DH fuses the generic conventions of comedy and drama to convey the paradoxical relationship of feminism and patriarchy, and how this impacts upon the experience of modern American womanhood in the new millenium.

Mulvey and the male gaze

Gabrielle is always dressed wearing sexy outfits, this links to the 'male gaze' because she is shown as the sexiest out of all of them. “the controlling male gaze”, presenting “woman as image” (or ‘spectacle’) and man as “bearer of the look”. Men do the looking; women are there to be looked at. Gabrielle is an example of this because she uses her looks to get what she wants. An example of this is when she seduces young boys, for example John ( .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VICGlYcJrBE&feature=related ). This representation is completely DESPERATE!the finger that she kisses/sucks in this clip is a phallic symbol (penis). This could be seen as supporting the male gaze because young boys would probably lovee to be in Johns position. A quote from Greer which supports this: "every woman knows that regardless of her other achievments, she is a failur if she is not beautiful." >>used to be a model. Carlos uses Gabi for business purposes "If he wants to grab your arse, you let him."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WOwlk4kzZw&feature=related

Edie is also a character who can be seen as a 'spectacle'. Edie is constantly trying to seduce men, in order to do this she wears very revealing tops which show a lot of cleavage, for example when she was washing her car she wore short shorts and a shirt with only a few buttons done which meant most of her stomach was on show and a lot of cleavange ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7xsptPexJ0&feature=related ). This is the idealistic view men have of women washing cars, for example in the song 'My neck my back' by Khia(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd4PtXKPH04 )and one of Jessica Simpson's video too. This is for the obvious reason that the woman is doing a lot of bending over. Also, Edie is a blonde and fits into the stereotype of a blonde= obsessed with sex. This could be linked to Fatal Attraction, Alex=blonde, single and obsessive(bunny boiler). Another link is that the rest of the women feel intimidated by Edie, like Alex. Edie goes with Susan's ex and Gabrielle's ex. She could also be seen as similar to Samantha from 'Sex and the City' who is also blonde, single and the most sexual out of all of them, when she meets a nun she is horrified: "So you haven't had sex? Never had sex?...have you ever masturbated?"

However, this 'to-be-looked-at-ness' is also present towards men in DH. Brian Singleton develops such a notion to argue that male to-be-looked-at-ness is caught in perpetual cycle of female desire and disappointent. Hegemonic hetrosexual masculinity only to perpetuate the fantasy promised by the spectacle of the male body.

The 'Typical Housewife' (links with representation of women in the past)

The most obvious character who is the 'typical housewife' is Bree she is an obsessive compulsive housewife. She "She was preppy-lovely, if a bit of an ice queen...Her life was neat, her china polished, her designer ensembles perfectly pressed."( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9242816/ ) She tries to be the best mother by using rediculous punishments on her children. She thinks it teaches them good lessons. When at home she is always cleaning, or cooking perfect home made meals for her family. She is constantly taking food around to other peoples houses in baskets (such an old fashioned view of a woman). Her hair is always immaculate. She puts on a brave front infront of everyone, she even tries to hide her daughters pregnancy by pretending she is pregnant to people at home and hiding Danielle so people wont know that the baby is really hers when they return home= does not want a bad reputation.( http://www.boxxet.com/Desperate_Housewives/Video_Desperate_Housewives_4x05_part_2_BREE.19ov9u.d ). Bree is a stereotypical woman . This kitchen/cleaning role was a typical role seen from women since the 70's, especially in adverts. Susan even goes to Bree to ask her to cook a meal when Susan's boyfriend is bringing his parents around because she wants to set the 'perfect' impression and Bree of course is 'perfect'.

Lynette also fits into this stereotype. “Even as they languish in their retrograde cul-de-sac, the women of Wisteria Lane resonate with the history of the last 50 years — feminism, the sexual revolution, the struggle to balance family and career.”( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYhmiAnr6f8&feature=related )She is at home and looks after the kids. Though she did work before her youngest child came along. She works in the same place as her husband and he cannot take it because she is better than him at the job and in general she is more successful and thinks of the better ideas, this frustrates him "I'm not gonna hide behind my wifes skirt."= ashamed, should be bigger and better, be a man! She is seen always in chaos at home, drained ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLXDZ15uNt8&NR=1). Similarly to Bree she does the cooking and cleaning in the house like a proper housewife should. Lynettes clothes are always baggy and she does not look like she has taken ages to get ready unlike Bree who comes across as the perfect 'wifey material'=cooks, cleans and fit. a little about 'wifey material'...http://www.ajc.com/lving/content/custom/blogs/dating/entries/2004/11/30/wifey_material.html

I will link this to 'Wife Swap' which is always a test to see which housewife is best suited, the man never swaps = the wife is being tested to see if she does her job properly or not as a 'housewife' or not. Always two opposites, one working mum and the other is a housewife. I will talk about how this is an objectifying representation because the message is basically 2'is she a good wife or not?' And at this time in society it is hard to define the word 'wife' because some people might still relate it to housewife=looking after the house, kids and husband-making food, whereas some see it as just husband and wife. This is always what the arguements are about in Wife Swap.

Penny Blyth runs two beauty salons and for her, life is all about image. She doesn't do menial jobs such as cooking or cleaning and her non-stop life style leaves little time to spend with her son Harvey. Penny Roberts is far too busy to worry about appearance, with 5 cats, 3 kids, a husband, dog, rabbit and a goldfish to look after and who strongly believes a mother's role is to stay at home with the kids.What happens when they Wife Swap?

"She did no cleaning, the place was disgusting and my family was fed up of microwave meals"-as if it was her responsibility.

media, gender and identity, an introduction.

"gender roles on television became increasingly equal and non -stereotyped." pg 58
"women usually got to be love interests and helpers." pg 64
"the 1992-1993 study found that only 3 per cent of women were represented as housewives as their main occupation." pg 58

Sharon Sharp leads with her study of televisions latest fixation with the housewive and domesticity. The reality TV shows subvert the television rule that women should never express dissatisfaction with housewifery and motherhood. What DH exposes, she argues, is what these shows desperately try to keep hidden, namely our cultures deep ambivalence and contradictory attitudes towards housewifery and the homemaker.

Love

Susan in particular best fits into this paragraph. She is represented as not being able to live without a man. This shows them as not independent without a man and that they are vital in their lives otherwise its chaos.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKDyH6EUBa4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbfGGOkDFZM) can compare Susan to.

feminism, femininty and popular culture:

"romantic love is pathological, she argued:it is love corrupted by the unequal relationship between the sexes and is used to reproduce patriachy...first, love becomes a woman's vacation, diverting her energies from other pursuits. second, a woman's sense of identity and self-esteem depends on a man's valuation of her as worthy of being loved. third, because romantic love makes women economically dependent on men, it is not about mutual vulnerability but female vulnerability, leaving women open to abuse" Shulamith Firestone thought this pg 73

"the romantic narrative also deals with a basic conflict that Modleski claims faces all women-women's goal in life is meant to be getting a husband, but they must not let it appear to be a goal which is consciously or calculatedly pursued." pg 76

Desperate Housewives Issues and Debates:

housewife roles, feminist attack was because of this. At a time when women are allegedly more empowered, more liberated than at any other time in our history, we seem as DESPERATE as ever.

Sex is the familiar battleground and it was not long before DH enraged family values compaigners. Jessica Anderson of Concerned Women for America describes the show as 'treating infidelity as comedy and sex as gratuitous" (2005). She adds that women are 'allowing themselves to be "attacked" by the toxic immorality DH glorifies'.

President of the PTC (Parents Television Council), Brent Bozell, condemns further the assault of the series on American morality; "DH really should have an even more obvious title, like Cynical Suburban Sluts. It's juts the lastes in a long series of shows that aims to pulverize the cartoonish 1950s black-and-white stereotype of 'Leave It To Beaver', creating in its ancient wake a catty, snarky, amoral cesspool" (2004).

the PTC ralied tens of thousands of its supporters to target the show's sponsors with letters and emails requesting they withdraw their advertising from the show. Companies including Kellogs, Yum! Brands (corporation behind Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell), Lowe's Home Improvement and Tyson Foods kowtowed to the pressure; Tyson, issuing the following statement, said the show was 'not consistent with our core values' . But ABC had little difficulty in replacing lost advertisers. other companies quickly lined up to buy the recently vacated spots and prices leapt from $160,000 to $300,000 for 30 secs (Guthrie 2004). This shows that it is still a popular programme and advertisers are deperate to advertise during the programme because they know a lot of people watch it.

the controversy continues with the now infamous opening on ABC's 'Monday Night Football'. The scripted intro featured Edie Britt in a towel flirting with Philadelphia Eagles receiver Terrell Owens in an emprty locker room. Asking Owens to forgo the game, Edie gets no response until she drops her towel. with a huge smile on his face, Owen says; 'Ah hell, the team's going to have to win this one without me.' Edie leaps into his arms, This made viewers angryand 112 viewers among an audience of 10 million saying it was an exaggeration(Kitman 2004). The damage was done. and The National Football League (NFL) immediately issued a statement distancing themselves from the stunt; the Philadelphia Eagles released a statement saying they wished it had never been aired; and ABC apologised to its viewers saying its promotion was "inappropriate and unsuitable for our 'Monday Night Football' audience" (Flint 2004).