When Desperate Housewives first aired in October of 2004 on ABC television network, the controversial pilot episode sparked interest in over twenty-five million viewers. On a seemingly quiet, average suburban street titled Wisteria Lane, four women – Lynette Scavo, Gabrielle Solis, Bree Van de Kamp, and Susan Mayer – became instantly connected by the suicide of Mary-Alice Young, a fellow neighbor and poker club member. While the reason behind Mary-Alice’s death remained unknown for several seasons, the show began to unfold a juicy plot chocked full of the stereotypical drama of suburbia; intermixed between love triangles and tragic affairs, more unusual and mysterious events began to occur. Although Desperate Housewives attempts to portray gender equality and society’s ever-altering perception of gender through the use of jobs, relationships, and melodramatic occurrences, this façade does little to hide the traditional roles of each gender and how those roles complicate the daily life of the families of Wisteria Lane. Thinking traditionally, certain careers women commonly choose come to mind. Curiously enough, the careers of the women on Wisteria Lane entertain those exact jobs. Susan Mayer, a young mother of a school-aged boy, is sporadically employed as an art teacher. When she gets fired from a conservative private school for being too outspoken, her family loses their house and Susan takes up making soft-core porn to supplement her husband’s income. Bree, a divorced and fiercely independent redhead, owns her own catering business. Don’t be fooled by this seeming break in traditional gender roles; writers try to give her more job equality by making her an powerful owner, but the fact that she owns a food business, which is t... ... middle of paper ... ...e luxurious scandal of a middle-class life, but once all of the drama is stripped away, the author of the show makes it perfectly clear that suburbia has its benefits and consequences. Despite 25 million viewers weekly, the producers of the show have decided to pull the plug on what has become an American pastime through its seven previous seasons. The story of the four main women – Lynette, Gabrielle, Bree, and Susan – may be ending, but the character roles the actresses have created will continue to portray gender roles for decades to come. Works Cited Hill, Lisa. “Gender and Genre: Situating Desperate Housewives.” Journal of Popular Film & Television 38.4 (2010): 164-72. Print. McCabe, Janet, and Akass, Kim, eds. Reading 'Desperate Housewives': Beyond the White Picket Fence. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006. Print.
In conclusion, this show focuses on many aspects, particularly gender roles and sexism. Although this show could have more diverse characters, it focuses on male and female stereotypes very well. I appreciate that there are several strong female characters who aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves and perform typically masculine
I first became aware of Jill Soloway when watching a sex scene in the television show “Six Feet Under” and thinking to myself – “a man didn’t write that”. Looking her up on the imdb, I found her to be the writer of the episode and a long standing writer on the show. I also discovered the YouTube series of clips of a speech she made to the “National Organization of Women” that I have since forwarded to every female writer-friend I have. Hers is a voice that is changing the landscape for women in American
The author explores some stereotypes based on what types of jobs are more women’s type of jobs or more manly jobs. Careers such as carpenters and truck drivers are all almost exclusively male jobs, whereas careers in nursing or secretary work are all almost exclusively a woman’s type of work. Since the 1970’s, women have made head way into male dominated jobs. However, the author states that even though women have made it into male dominated jobs, this is not true for the reverse situation. The woman type jobs are still almost exclusively women’s jobs with men making little entry into them.
Everything that the women are not these men are; they are prominent, powerful, often messy as with her co-workers, and most importantly in positions of power over Hildy. Specifically, Walter is the epitome of male-gendered roles because of his good looks and head position at the paper which would make him in charge of Hildy and her works.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta has been on the Bravo TV network for three successful seasons. The show has more than three sister series on the Bravo network such as the Housewives of Miami and the Housewives of Orange County. The show’s original cast members were all friends of Nene Leakes, one of the starts of the show. The cast members have changed, however, since the first season, do to money issues and, in one case, a housewife not providing enough drama. Deshaw Snow, original member of the reality series, stated in an interview with essence magazine, “One of the producers called and said that I was "too human for a circus show" and that because the show did so well, they are about to pump up the drama and they didn't think that I would fit in.”Without the drama, the show would be nothing but a gala of southern ...
It is as if a window finally cracks open revealing the sun’s rays brightening with the truth that men and women experience different challenges. Deborah Tannen’s Marked Women has to face the music when applied to Virginia Woolf’s Professions for Women. In Tannen’s essay the claim that “[t]here is no unmarked women” has trouble withstanding but manages to hold up Woolf’s position of the battle women fought against the traditional norm to the freedom they can possess.
...that so much of the discourse is centered on women within fictional workplace sitcoms like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation, I will examine how gender stratification in the fictional realm is a reflection of the real life gender stratification that continues today. I will examine case studies by reputable scholars that reflect gender preference of the people in positions of power at work as well as the reasons why. I will also review scholarly journals that discuss the expectations of gender roles, and how women are shamed or stigmatized for succeeding at tasks that are generally assumed to me masculine. This section will offer an explanation as to why successful, career oriented; females in positions of power are still preferred to stay within traditional gender roles, whether it is in real life or reflected on television.
“This is the true story, of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite, and start getting real”(MTV). This marks the beginning of MTV’s reality show, The Real World. The show takes 7 strangers, puts them in a trendy luxurious home, taping them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for about 4 months. The cameras capture petty arguments, late night hook ups, and pure laziness. How could this not be real? There are not many people that can live in an expensive home while laying around all day, and partying all night with little work involved. The Real World is a display of 18-24 year olds, typecasted to have their most extreme stereotypical qualities blown out of proportion for the world to see.
Initially in the article, Liz Lemon’s character was really loved by the viewers. However, viewers are upset about the direction the show is going in, because they used to feel as if Lemon was the heroine, but now they feel as if she is just a dumb pathetic baby. Nausbaum does not agree with the viewers and feels Liz Lemon, is “something way more interesting: a strange, specific, workaholic, NPR-worshipping, white-guilt-infected, sardonic, curmudgeonly, hyper-nerdy New Yorker” (Nussbaum 58). Lemon is starting to become a self-pleaser rather than a people pleaser and begins to embrace her individuality. This article speaks on how women need to embrace their individuality, by being who they are inside, and allowing that to show in every aspect of their lives no matter what others
Women and men are not equal. Never have been, and it is hard to believe that they ever will be. Sexism permeates the lives of women from the day they are born. Women are either trying to fit into the “Act Like a Lady” box, they are actively resisting the same box, or sometimes both. The experience of fitting in the box and resisting the box can be observed in two plays: Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House”. In Hansberry’s play, initially, Beneatha seems uncontrolled and independent, but by the end she is controlled and dependent; whereas, in Ibsen’s play Nora seems controlled and dependent at the beginning of the play, but by the end she is independent and free.
... for your life. If a woman wants to be a housewife who focuses on raising her children or a career woman, it is her choice ultimately. If a man wants to be equally involved in his career and family, it should be his choice too. It should not matter what the gender stereotype is and this show helps women and men believe that the individual feeling is often more important than the typical societal belief.
For instance, Paradise and Moriarty, along with surrounding male characters, engage in intellectual conversations regarding jazz music, philosophy and literature. With that said, female characters are “left outside the intellectual and decision-making sphere of the males” (Olsson 4-5). As a result, Kerouac audaciously depicts women as immensely lacking depth and intellectual ability, ultimately presenting women as tedious creatures capable only of fulfilling sexual desires. In addition, the description of Ed Wall’s wife, an acquaintance of Sal, further reiterates the absolute notion of female inferiority: “his [Ed] young wife prepared a magnificent spread in the big ranch kitchen … she was a well-built blonde but like all women who live in the wide spaces she complained a little of the boredom” (Kerouac 229). Essentially, Sal’s depiction of Ed Wall’s wife epitomizes Kerouac’s perception of women: they are a gender trapped within a male dominated hierarchy, isolated from social conventions and reduced to “unimportant housewives” (Olsson
In our society most men are likely to obtain higher paying jobs and are able to continue working even after becoming parents, whereas, majority of women obtain lower paying jobs and having to choose between being a parent and having a career. After reading the plays of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill and Hosanna by Michael Tremblay, I discovered that gender played a major role in how men and women are treated in society. The characters in these two plays challenges the gender norms, and therefore, I will argue that women are not treated equally in the workplace; that people who are of the queer community are considered to be inferior and less worthy of being accepted within the public sphere.
One Life to Live is a soap opera broadcasted on the ABC channel on the weekdays. I started to watch this show when I was a sophomore in high school, and when I used to come home from school, my mom would be watching it. That is how I got addicted to it. The story takes place in a town called Llanview. One Life to Live appeals to many viewers because the show keeps the viewers hanging onto the episode’s next scene.
In conclusion, David Lodge managed to embody the concrete term of feminism. Through the character of Robyn Penrose, he creates the breakup of the traditional Victorian image of woman.“ `There are lots of things I wouldn 't do. I wouldn 't work in a factory. I wouldn 't work in a bank. I wouldn 't be a housewife. When I think of most people 's lives, especially women 's lives, I don 't know how they bear it. ' `Someone has to do those jobs, ' said Vic. `That 's what 's so depressing. ' ”(Lodge