Sunday, February 18

Five awesome Desperate Housewives analysises!

ABC's 'Desperate Housewives' reinforces stereotypes of gender and race
http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2006/10/12/Opinion/Abcs-desperate.Housewives.Reinforces.Stereotypes.Of.Gender.And.Race-2346084.shtml
I choose this article due to the fact that it talks about race roles in the Desperate Housewives series in addition to gender roles. The article also mentions the merchandising and advertising strategies of the show, and tells the reader that images on the show do in fact have meaning.

Desperately Debating Housewives
http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2005/desperatehousewives.asp
I love the fact that this article has two perspectives of two different women, debating whether or not the show supports the ideals of feminism or if it’s “sexist backlash.”

Desperate Housewives
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Reviews/Desperate-Housewives/2005/02/02/1107228757442.html
This article mentions that this is the first show in a long time that portrays housewives. It discusses the television shows of the past that portrayed mothers, wives, and divorced women, comparing Desperate Housewives to them.

Desperate housewives? Not today's homemakers
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_303649.html
This article talks about real housewives and how Desperate Housewives in some ways gives a more realistic portrayal of housewives than television shows of the past.

Finale wrap-up: "Desperate Housewives"
http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2006/05/22/desperate/index.html
The article asks why women are many times referred to as “desperate.” The article sees “Desperate Housewives” as a show that had potential to redefine societal stereotypes and expectations of gender roles but fell into the hands of the mainstream instead.

Each of these sites gave excellent analysises on how Desperate Housewives portrays women. Some argue that the portrayl does in fact emphasize feminist ideals. Others argue that Desperate Housewives has a rather negative message about and for women. My goal here is to analyze, not to judge. In addition, the articles all are very interesting and are worth reading (even if you are not in fact a fan of the show). Enjoy!