My independent study

For my independent study, I have chosen to do Desperate Housewives. I have been watching the show since the first series and have been hooked ever since. The show is produced by ABC which is an established American broadcaster known to produce shows; therefore this sets expectations of the shows to be of a high quality and standard. The show seems to give the impression that budgets are not an issue as it is very glamorous and high profile (especially with the use of very successful actresses; Teri Thatcter who is well known for her role as Lois Lane in the very popular show Superman) which is typical of American shows.

The show keeps me interested by the complex and unpredictable storylines highlighting the glamorous and not so glamorous lives of the housewives, the use of an unrestricted narrative allows more to be happening which helps viewers to keep on watching as they are intrigued to see what will happen.

It is hard to establish what genre Desperate Housewives is as it is such a mix of hybrid genres; it has elements of comedy, drama and mystery, such as when Orson was trying to frame Mike Delfino for the murder of Monique. This could be one of the many reasons to why the show has been able to attract and appeal to such a huge audience, not only in the US but also in the UK. The way everything is exaggerated in the show also humours me as some storylines are so funny, this can be illustrated by an episode in which Mike Delfino goes off into the woods and Susan tries to find him but her clumsiness ends her up with a broken ankle stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Each housewife is unique and they all lead such different lives, Gabby is the glamorous and beautiful housewife who cares a lot about the way she looks while Lynette on the other hand is left to look after her troublesome children and couldn’t less care about the latest designer labels. In a way I feel for each housewife as behind closed doors they each have a secret which they do not want others to find out, for example Bree’s battle with her drinking problems and Gabby’s affair with the gardener.

Yet, each housewife has a strong element of being independent and are represented as strong and powerful which reflects the modern view of how women are portrayed as in today’s society, an example of this is Susan being a single parent but still managing to bring up her child on her own who has grown up to be very sensible and responsible. This may show the role of a man in the house is not as important as people think to make a family work.

However, there is one thing which remains constant in each show which I think is really sweet as I can relate it to my friends and that is the close relationship which all the housewives share. Many viewers may be able to relate their own friendships to the housewives’ friendship; this could be seen as an audience pleasure.

The four housewives are extremely close with one another and turn to each other when in need of advice or a shoulder to cry on. The bond which they share is made obvious throughout the series as we see how their friendship grows stronger, the housewives may fight and argue, for instance Susan and Gabby arguing over what day they can get married on, but in the end they always come together and stand by each other, which is shown by Gabby’s wedding.

The housewives may set out deliberately to trick or hurt others, such as Gabby purposely getting with other men to hurt Carlos, but they would never purposely hurt each other.