Communications and Media

Research Focus

The focus of this research project will be on the role of the modern wife in suburban life. Suburban life is something that has changed significantly over the years, and its portrayal in popular culture has also shifted. The role of the modern wife in Suburbia seems to be defined by the popular show, Desperate Housewives. My research will use this show as its basis and move from there, considering how women are portrayed on the show, why that is significant, and why people are so interested in the show.

I will be asking some specific questions in this research project, and seeking to find the answers to those questions through my research. I will attempt to define why popular culture has such an integral role in defining gender roles. Additionally, I will attempt to answer questions about how the role of the wife in modern suburban life has changed over time. Not only uncovering why it has changed over time, I will seek to discover why that has taken place. Through my research, I hope to find clues that will indicate wide-ranging changes in American culture that have helped to enhance to role of women in suburban life. Additionally, my research will deal with certain aspects directly related to Desperate Housewives. Looking beyond just how women are portrayed on the show, I will compare their depiction to that of men, asking questions of how women are used and how they are stereotyped in this popular culture form. The research will look to explain why individuals are so drawn to this idea on television, dealing specifically with the recent craze over Desperate Housewives that has taken place over the last decade.

The goal of this research project is to take my contained interest in this particular subject and to enhance it with a deeper understanding. I seek to tie in cultural trends with the development of the show over the last few years. With this, I will provide a meaningful analysis on the questions of why. It will essentially be an explanation of why things are the way they are. Instead of accepting the roles of the suburban wife as they are depicted on television, the goal will be to expose whether or not these roles are accurate, and what their impact might be. If they are accurate, why has the role of the suburban wife progressed to that level If they are not accurate, what impact could this misshapen description have on societys understanding of standard gender roles in the future The essential research problem is that the show is depicting what some might call a fake representation of the way women actually interact in suburban life. Though some of the stereotypes may be grounded in half truths, the depiction of women in the show, especially when compared to its depiction of men, demands analysis. A critical issue at hand is the prevailing impact of this depiction, given the popularity of the show in question. The research will seek to uncover whether individuals watch the show and accept the norms created by it, or whether they watch it purely for entertainment. The possibly false realities created by the show may put women in a difficult position or create perceptions and expectations of them that are nearly impossible to fulfill. This is the issue at hand.

The research is significant for a number of reasons, most of them having to do with the advancement of gender research. Much work has been done to clearly define womens roles and to study how those roles have changed over the years. This will seek to uncover whether or not those roles are slowly slipping back into something different, or whether the action depicted in Desperate Housewives is just a made for television idea. Though it is unlikely to be a groundbreaking study on the female form, it should analyze certain trends regarding how women are considered in media and popular culture in todays society.

The role of women in suburban life has shifted over the years, but the television show Desperate Housewives does not provide an accurate depiction of the realities of suburban life. Though it takes things that routinely occur in Suburbia, it takes them to extremes that are not often reached by the real life characters that make up the suburban lifestyle.

Review of Literature
Grady, Joe. Gendered Characteristics on Television. University of Iowa. N.p., 05 Dec   2005. Web. 15 Apr 2010. httpwww.sociology.uiowa.educapstonejpgradyGenderedCharacteristicsOnTelevision.doc.

In this study on the topic, Joe Grandy reveals that men and women are treated differently on television. His study takes a hard look at Desperate Housewives itself and reveals that the show gives a favorable view to men, while relegating women to somewhat pre-modern status. This study is important, as well, because it takes a look at what impact television-produced roles have on the conceptions of children. Though this is not the total picture that my research will take, it is one aspect of it, and Grandys research can be an important part of that.

Cuklanz, Lisa M. and Sujata Moorti. Televisions New Feminism Prime-Time
Representations of Women and Victimization. Critical Studies in Media
Communication, 23.4 (2006) 302-21.

This work explores the topic from a broad perspective, which should help my research in a number of ways. What it essentially uncovers is how women are displayed in a wide range of shows. It seeks to establish that the representations of women have shifted over time, and not in a good way. This work uses empirical evidence and provides an analytical view of the situation, which should add something meaningful to my research. What I will attempt to do is something similar to what this research has done, except that my focus will be much more centered on just Desperate Housewives. The broad victimization of women in television is an important part of my study, but it is not my focus as it is with the work of Cuklanz and Moorti.

McCabe, Janet, and Kim Akass. Reading Desperate housewives beyond the white picket fence. I.B. Tauris, 2006. Print.

This work primarily gauges the responses that the show has gotten since its creation back in 2004. It acknowledges the shows wide ranging appeal and the shows popularity is a primary reason why this book was released. Because it covers what people think about the show and how they interpret its meanings, it will be a useful companion as I complete my research. The authors have essentially taken a deeper look into the show, going beyond what most people would consider traditional analysis. They have answered questions, using individual responses from a cross section of individuals, about the validity of the shows stereotypes and they have established a context with which the show can be better understood.

Walker, Nancy. Womens magazines, 1940-1960 gender roles and the popular press. BedfordSt. Martins, 1998. Print.

This book answers some of my questions about what gender roles used to be like as we look deep into time. This is a book that contains many primary sources, which will aid me in my quest to uncover a fair and balanced picture of how things have changed. If I am going to evaluate how Desperate Housewives might be changing the view of gender roles in Suburban America, I need to take a look at what gender roles have traditionally been. Though my study will not focus primarily on history, I will need to establish the historical context as a basis for my study of the important questions of today. This book, and more specifically the things it contains, will be central to that in helping me achieve my stated directives.

Mackey, Wade. Gender roles, traditions, and generations to come the collision of competing interests and the feminist paradox. Nova Publishers, 2000. Print.

This is a book that provides a look at the changing dynamic of gender roles in its own right. In my research, I want to not only view and study resources that show gender roles during their own periods, but I would also like to evaluate the work of other authors who have studied the changing nature of gender roles. This takes a look at this dynamic, and does it from a very interesting feminist perspective. This source states that gender roles have always been in flux, which is important for understanding how a television show today might be able to have so much influence over how people perceive women in the United States. Since nothing is set in stone, at least according to this book, that leaves open the door for more interpretation when a show pops up.

Nevid, Jeffrey. Psychology Concepts and Applications. Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

This is a book that studies a number of things from a psychological perspective, which is something that should serve my research well. Though it covers many other topics in addition to things like gender roles and communication, it touches on those things in many different ways. It studies how the human mind perceives things, and also discusses the stages in which people form their opinions on certain matters. If I want my study to be all inclusive, I will need to include some of these aspects of scientific research, which is something that I will have to learn about as I write my paper. This book should help with some of those basic concepts, and should make the paper stronger on the whole.

Frayser, Suzanne, and Thomas Whitby. Studies in human sexuality a selected guide. Libraries Unlimited, 1995. Print.

This book serves to take a look at sexuality of both men and women, which should help when I seek to compare how men and women are depicted on the show. My research project seeks to be as balanced as possible, which means I want to include some viewpoints from the male side of the table, too. This book studies sexuality from that perspective, taking a look at gender roles from a more scientific position. There are certain things and perceptions that are caused primarily by the way men and women are wired. These are taken into account and evidence is presented for those things in this book, which I will use as a secondary resource on the matter.

Lee, Janice. Gender roles. Nova Publishers, 2005. Print.

Where this book has value is in its own research. While many books include some original work and some research, this one is almost entirely research-based. The author took the time to review a number of different studies on the matter, and she breaks them down in a way that is easy to understand. Not only will I use what Lee says to further understand how gender roles play a part, but I will also use the studies which she has mentioned in the book. Many of these are done from a psychological perspective and they include hard data taken from surveys. These things indicate that peoples formations of gender roles come at an early age, but they are moldable as individuals get older. This could help me frame the role of Desperate Housewives in shaping gender perception.

Concluding Information
When attempting to cover two large, broad topics in gender roles and communication, I will be forced to lean upon a number of different sources before bringing them together. Much of the information that I have obtained is disjointed, so I may need to implement more sources that are more comprehensive on the two ideas. The books and articles that I have gathered provide looks at gender roles from a number of different viewpoints, but I may need to do more research on the communications side of things. I feel that I will be able to establish, fairly easily, the movement of gender roles over the years. In order to establish how television and Desperate Housewives impacts this, I may need to collect more data.

This might mean using more library research, hopefully uncovering more studies about the impact of television and maybe even commercials on how we perceive things. It might mean getting out and conducting interviews, which is something that I am prepared to do. By asking questions to a wide range of people who would stretch across a number of demographic groups, I could get an idea of what role television plays in forming their opinions about gender roles. The combination of all of these sources should lead to a thorough study, which is the primary goal of my work.