Desperate Housewives Homework

Desperate Housewives Opening

 

The feature of Adam and Eve gives the connotation that women are responsible for the fall of man. However, the scene clearly shows the snake passing Eve the apple. The snake is often perceived as a male, and the connotations of this suggest that men brought on their own destruction; the snake passes the fruit to Eve before disappearing into the tree, then a large apple falls crushing Adam, perhaps the snake pushed it onto him? This mocks the theory that women are to blame for the fall of man, making female audiences feel powerful and in a sense are getting revenge for sexism. This also fits in well with its subgenre of rom-com, linking to its main target audience of women.

 

The Egyptian mummy in the temple, with child figures popping up connotes that women are child bearers and mothers. The short scene mocks this traditional role of women, implying that the ideology should be laughed. It is made comical by over emphasizing the childbirths, the mother appears to drown in amongst all of the children, her arms waving in the air helplessly. It could also be thought of as a play on words, the term mummy describes a mother and the body of a person who has been preserved after death.

 

The characters from the Dutch painting – the Arnolfini couple are shown in a way that mocks the male gender and sympathises with the female gender. The man in the couple takes a bite out of a banana before throwing it over his shoulder for his wife, who is pregnant, to sweep away. It is just viewable his eyes flickering slightly in her direction, almost prompting her to sweep it away. The connotations of the banana could be that it is male genitalia. This could be interpreted as his ungentlemanly behaviour, as he expects his wife to continue domestic chores, despite being far along in her pregnancy, maybe hinting that the careless attitude of men towards their wives could make them have homosexual traits. Another interpretation is that the show is aimed at women, so it emasculates men who have been unfair to women. It gives women power in this sense, taking away the men’s pride. It could also be used to show how men treat women unfairly and it promotes the ideologies that men are lazy. This fits with the rom com genre, where men and women who are together have ‘comical’ issues; men not helping out and expecting their wives to do all the work with keeping on top of the house.

 

In the ‘American Gothic’ painting by Grant Wood the ideology that men go out to work whilst women stay at home is supported. This supports the idea that men are ‘stronger’ and women are represented as only capable of doing house chores. This is shown by the positioning of the characters, as the man is further from the house than the woman. Neither of the characters look very satisfied, suggesting they are unhappy with their relationship (presumably they are married). In this case women are seen as objects, they are either to be kept at home or not allowed to work or they are only for the purpose of looking attractive and sexual relations. This is implied by the wife being stood nearer to the background house, suggesting she doesn’t go out to work. Also it is implied by the younger woman who is wearing provocative clothing; she hooks her finger on his collar and winks. This scene also supports the stereotype that men are only satisfied when they are getting ‘good sex’. This is suggested by the appearance of the younger woman makes the man smile and seem very content. Another stereotype is shown, as women are seen as emotional, presented by the facial expression of the lady, she appears hurt when she sees her husband adopting a ‘mistress’ (again, another stereotype, men having mistresses).