Analysis of Television Series Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives is a hit television show about housewives and their every day lives. It is a comedy, drama and mystery series. The show takes place on a fictional street called Wisteria Lane. The show follows the lives of a group of women as seen through the eyes of their neighbor, Mary Alice, who committed suicide in the very first episode. The series records thirteen years of the women's lives over eight seasons. The women on Wisteria Lane work through domestic conflicts and marital life, while facing the mysteries and secrets hidden behind the front doors of their apparently flawless suburban neighbors.

Something worth noticing about the series are the opening credits that appear before each episode. The show begins with a painting of the biblical characters, ‘Adam’ and ‘Eve’, they are standing under the tree that carries the “forbidden fruit”. In the bible, this tree is the tree of temptation; in relation to Desperate Housewives, the tree and the forbidden fruit are representative of the lust and temptation in the live’s of Wisteria Lane’s women. Adam is then crushed by the forbidden fruit (a giant apple). One immediately notices the background music, which is a very upbeat and happy rhythm. This music adds a light humorous tone to the theme of the credits.

Then, Egyptian hieroglyphs of a women and her children are shown, which acts as a symbolism for the beginning of civilization and the importance of women at the time. Then, painting of a 15th century man is shown up front, while a pregnant woman, most likely his wife, sweeps a banana peel off the floor behind him (a banana from which he had just eaten). This image shows the subordination of the woman to the man at the time and is also comparable to the roles men a...

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People who watched “I Love Lucy”, in other words the people who lived in the 1950’s would probably expect for women’s primary roles to continue being the way they were. They would believe that this is what all women are subjected to.

The morals and values in 1950 were had similarities and differences to the moral values of today. In 1950, the idea of a loving marriage was something that Americans yearned for. Today, everyone looks for someone to love but marriage is not necessarily as important as it used to be. Also, promiscuity and sexual references were not proper under any condition in the 1950‘s, however today, housewives can be respectable women yet still have a promiscuous side to them. In essence, “I Love Lucy” and “Desperate Housewives” are concurrent within their time periods. In other words, the shows reflect our society's norms and moral values.