Desperate Housewives Analysis

Desperate Housewives is an American television drama series. The setting of the show takes place on the street of Wisteria Lane, in the fictional American town of Fairview . It follows the lives of a group of women seen through the eyes of their dead neighbor. They work through domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood.

The show features a cast headed by Teri Hatcher as Susan , Felicity Huffman as Lynette , Marcia Cross as Bree, Eva Longoria as Gabrielle. Brenda Strong narrates the show as Mary Alice Young . She only appears during dreams or flashbacks during the show. Since its premiere in 2004, the show has been well received by viewers and critics. The show is a multiple Emmy's and Golden Globe's. In 2007, it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 120 million and was also reported that the series is the third most watched TV show in a study of ratings in 20 countries.In 2010, it was the most-watched comedy series internationally, with an average viewership of 51.6 million viewers across 68 territories

Susan is a recent divorcee and single mother who is endlessly trying to figure out love, and how to get it. Lynette Scavo is a stay-at-home mother who left her life of climbing the corporate ladder to raise her rambunctious children. Bree Van De Kamp is very similar to Martha Stewart, whose perfect life is disrupted by the proposition of divorce. Gabrielle Solis is an ex-model whose want for expensive things and a young boy gets out of hand while she tries to hide her affair from her husband. These women, initially described as stereotypical suburban women, are later revealed to have deeper secrets than anyone could have imagined.

Body Image

A very obvious trait about the show is that the cast includes all very thin characters. Each character is exceptionally thin compared the reality of America today. The main characters are not the only ones that are thin, the whole cast is. This factor really distorts what Americans actually look like.

Ethnicity

The housewives consist of four white women, one Latino, and one black. The racial types are completely skewed because they are not equal at all. The show almost makes it seem as if they had to be more diverse to satisfy the viewer or producer. The show does not have any Asians or Jewish people in the entire cast.

During the show one other black character is introduced. He is a bartender at a party that the black desperate housewife is attending. A gay couple enters the party and tells her that her ex-husband just got remarried. She is very upset and decides to talk to the black bartender. The bartender seems to be less intelligent than most of the cast. He also has a very goofy personality. This personality is very similar to the buffoon character that is visible in almost any television comedy. He is solely there as a comedic relief.

Another noticeable thing that shows throughout the entire show is that the black housewife is the most disliked housewife. When one of the housewives, Susan, returned from a long time away from Wisteria Lane she went to reunite with all of the housewives except the black one. The black housewife really took this personal and makes it obvious throughout the show, as she should. Whenever the black housewife speaks she is looked down upon by everyone else.

Gender Roles

The show is called desperate housewives so obviously it is about housewives. Every woman on the show does not have a job. This means that the man in the relationship makes the money to support the wife and/or the family. The women clean the house, make dinner, and take care of the kids. This is a very big stereotype for men and women roles. The women also just seem to stay at home and gossip a lot. It’s very stereotypical to have five women sit at home and just gossip all day. This makes women seem as if this is their main priority in life.

The men in the show are also very demanding towards their wives as well. Carlos comes across as being almost abusive to Gabriel. He does not physically abuse her, but he comes across verbally abusive. Another husband leaves his wife and kids and completely moves out. He leaves without warning to do his own thing. This type of behavior is very disrespectful. The viewer may take this as being acceptable in society. This will ultimately make stereotypes become more prevalent.

Financial Status

The entire cast seems to be rich. Wisteria Lane is amazing and beautiful. The cast seems so put together and professional, until the underlying secrets are revealed of course. From the outside the town looks amazing, but there are so many things going on under the surface, including rape and divorce. Every family drives a nice vehicle, owns a beautiful home, dresses very nicely, and money is clearly never an issue. This stability is far from reality. This type of lifestyle makes people believe that this is the norm and that they should also have lavish lifestyles.

Stereotypes

The model on the show, played by Eva Longoria, is very stuck up. She definitely has an attitude that is not very pleasant. She thinks that she is the best at everything and always correct. She is much too old to model for high fashion like she used to do. She also is portrayed as an airhead and innocent. Anyone can make you believe anything; you just have to be confident in your own beliefs.

Underlying Message

The main theme of this episode was to not take advantage of what you have because things could be much worse. The first example of this was in the beginning of the episode when Susan has been away from Wisteria Lane for a long time. When she finally returned she desperately wanted to see her friends. She knocked on the door of all of her friends and each one turned her down. Susan was obviously not used to this and shouldn’t have left her friends in the first place. The second example on this theme was when one of the housewives had divorced her husband. She found out her ex-husband is now re-married. The night she found out about it was horrible. She got very intoxicated and made a fool of herself. At this moment in her life she would realize how good her life was before the divorce.

If this underlying message was told over and over in today’s society then I believe people will get a better vibe from watching television. I think they would think it is being a positive aspect in their life. People would be more accepting of their own relationships and daily life. If this was the underlying message then it would definitely be better for society at large.