Gender and Genre: Situating Desperate Housewives

Abstract

This article situates Desperate Housewives in a broader sociocultural context by examining its treatment of gender and genre. It is argued that the audience's knowledge of the generic conventions and gender stereotypes upon which the show draws allows them access to Desperate Housewives's interrogation of contemporary social convention.

Keywords:

• gender
• postfeminism
• soap opera
• suburbia
• television

Notes

1. Sex and the City was successful in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and won four Emmys, three Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors' Guild award (Creeber 141). As well as the box-office success of the Sex and the City movies, the strong fan base for the TV show is evidenced by ongoing DVD sales, the popularity of Sex and the City tours through New York City, and the continued maintenance of fan Web sites.

2. One of Desperate Housewives's intertextual strengths is that many of the cast have appeared in one or more of the prime-time soaps at some stage of their career. For example, Marcia Cross featured in Knots Landing, Melrose Place, and Everwood; Doug Savant in Knots Landing and Melrose Place; Nicollette Sheridan in Paper Dolls and Knots Landing; and Jesse Metcalfe in Passions.

3. Changes such as the actor for the role of the young gardener, John Rowland, and sections of the narration are explained by Marc Cherry on the audio commentary of the “Pilot” episode on the DVD set Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season (2005).