E-Journal 5- May 5, 2009

Oprah and Obama

Celebrity activism that both helped and hindered

Barack Obama was deemed the "biggest celebrity in the world" on the 2008 campaign trail and realistically, he had the ratings, the celebrity backing, and the loyal fans to qualify him of that status. Nielson ratings released that 38.4 million viewers watched Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. In fact, Obama captured more viewers than the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the final show of "American Idol."

Obama's celebrity status came quickly and furiously, as he had the support of many major celebrities that put him in the spot light early on in his campaign. Of the Obama supporters, TV personality Oprah Winfrey played the most influential role. Obama was the first candidate Oprah has endorsed in 25+ years, and she backed him with a vengeance. Oprah threw a lavish garden fund raiser very early in his campaign where star-studded guests helped the mega-star raise over 3 million dollars for Obama.

Obama's and Oprah pose for pictures at her garden fundraiser

She also made campaign appearances and stump-speeches for the candidate. Often times, Oprah was photographed on the stage right along with Obama family. She did talk shows and interviews and used her brand power to improve her close friend's campaign. In fact, after the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Republican VP Candidate, Oprah announced she would not have the Alaskan Governer on her own show, becoming a biased reporter.

Even after the President took office in January, Oprah still backed the Obama family. Her April issue of "O" magazine marks the first time Oprah has shared the cover in the nine years of it's existence, with none other than Michelle Obama.

April cover of "O" magazine featuring both Michelle Obama and Oprah

Oprah is a media mongrel. Her television show is the highest-rated program of it's type in history, and according to her website it has held the top position for the past 22 years. She is an icon in American society. Diane Sawyer writes in the May 11, 2009 issue of Time Magazine which was the annual 100 Most Influential People issue,

It's no wonder she's the only person to appear on this list every year since it began...It's said that the average human has 100,000 heartbeats a day. Oprah may not have more of them than the rest of us, but each one is powered by purpose (p.120).

There is no denying the power Oprah Winfrey holds in American society. A book is sold out immediately if it makes her book club and a product she chooses to promote becomes the next big hit; bluntly many women across the country follow Oprah faithfully. So when she decides to not only support but to actively campaign for President Barack Obama, she obviously will have an effect.

However, Oprah's campaign did not come without some raised eyebrows. The following is the clip where Oprah defends her pledged support of the Illinois senator on Larry King,



The clip seems simple but in fact, many of her lines were critiqued by opponents. When she said that she believes a black man can be in office and that Barack Obama is the man that will do that, it was labeled racist remark as well as a bash to Hillary Clinton. It is an example of how a small comment can quickly became something big. From that point forward, many American's assumed that race was the reasoning behind Oprah's support

The next clip is a prediction by MSNBC about what the Obama campaign announces that she will actively campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire for Barack Obama.



The clip points many things that eventually became an issue in the campaign. The reporters recognized the influential effect Oprah could have. The said the things everyone was thinking, and even predicted a possible hit on Oprah's ratings, which did happen in early 2008.

The Los Angeles Times did an article on the effect of Oprah's endorsement on her own personal ratings. The author of the LAT blog, Andrew Malcom, first explains,

Oprah's political travels produced a media feeding frenzy and a publicity bonanza with women routinely fainting in the front row. The campaign said her rallies produced 10,000 new volunteers.

But he also points out what it did to Oprah,

By August last year, a CBS poll found her favorable rating had plunged from 74% to 61%, still twice as good as the president but nearly a 20% drop. But 10 days after the campaign media explosion her favorable rating had dropped further to 55% and her unfavorable ratings for the first time climbed to 1 in 3.

Many women were angry at her for supporting a male over Hillary Clinton, as she is an active feminist. Others were angry that she turned Barack Obama into a mega-star and others still thought she was an wrongly swaying Americans votes.

The New York Times article titled THE MONEY ISSUE; The Celebrity Solution raises awareness of the celebrity activist trend. The article makes a few profound statements,

Stars -- movie stars, rock stars, sports stars -- exercise a ludicrous influence over the public consciousness. Many are happy to exploit that power; others are wrecked by it. In recent years, stars have learned that their intense presentness in people's daily lives and their access to the uppermost realms of politics, business and the media offer them a peculiar kind of moral position, should they care to use it.....But a weapon that powerful is bound to do collateral damage (Traub, 2008, p. 1).

Traub's statements find truth in the 2008 election cycle. Oprah Winfrey was just one of the many stars that adamantly backed their political candidates in the media. They used their celebrity status to attract crowds and bring attention to the issues at hand. Yet, Traub was insightful in his last line of the quote, "A weapon that powerful is bound to do collarteral damage." Oprah did just that, she hurt herself and some claim that she hurt the credibility of the Obama campaign. Some analysts point fingers at Oprah for creating Obama's celebrity status which often was a weakness zereoed in on by the Republicans especially in John McCain's celebrity ad.

Nonetheless, Oprah was a major factor. Obama acknoledged the support Oprah gave was a major boost in early campaigns. While polls showed that she didn't have much of an effect on direct votes, she did get alot of new faces in. Oprah acknoledged her power, saying in interview with Larry King,

Well the truth of the matter is, whether I contribute or not contribute, you are limited to how much you contribute, so my money isn’t going to make any difference to him. I think that my value to him, my support of him, is probably worth more than any check.

Yes, Oprah felt that backlash of her support, but on the flipside many people will argue that her support got President Obama into the White House. We will probably never know, but her celebrity activism will be a good example for future causes.

E-Journal 4

A Romantic Comedy Just Like Any Other

I have struggled for weeks trying to find a perfect movie to analyze for our latest e-journal entry, when one day driving home it hit me--any movie will work. I could take any movie and find the concepts and ideas we have discussed throughout the text, American on Film by Benshoff and Griffin, within it.

So, I decided to do just that with the 2002 romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama starring Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas. Reviewing the film, it didn't take long to find issues of class, gender, and race come foward. Sweet Home Alabama follows the similar story line of all romantic comedies where the beautiful girl finds her perfect husband, and along the way Sweet Home Alabama has very stereotypical and classical displays of characters.

The Basics of Sweet Home Alabama-

Sweet Home Alabama is a comedy about the successful New York fashion designer, Melanie Carmeichal who is dating Andrew Hennings, the son of New York City's mayor, Katherine Henning. When the couple becomes engaged, Melanie has to head home to wrap up some unfinished business. Her unfinished business happens to involve a stubborn ex-husband that won't sign the divorce papers and a lower-class family to cover up. In her efforts to fix her past, Melanie is dragged back into her earlier life and finds that maybe, it wasn't all that bad after all.

Just like every romantic comedy, Melanie Carmeichal finds her true love and along the way we all get to laugh at her sweet southern drawl and crazy friends. But this sweet romantic comedy is full of media's misrepresentation of popular culture, particularly in gender roles, racial characters and class.

The Perfect Love Story--Hollywood's Heterosexism
We have discussed that movies are often a form of escape for viewers, and the romantic comedy genre is no different. Most viewers head to the theater to see one thing: a happy ending. Jojo Moyes, a romantic comedy author summed up the goal in London's The Telegraph, saying,

Indeed. Romantic comedy is a reliably successful film genre because the audience knows what it wants and the filmmakers know how to provide it. It does not require computer-generated imagery, explosions or exotic locations - just the answer to a never-ending preoccupation: how do we find love and how do we keep it?

Pretty simple when put in those words, but not only are romantic comedies sometimes an unrealistic view of love and life, they are a classic example of how media reinforces heterosexual relationships. Bensoff and Griffin explain how classical Hollywood cinema,

almost always includes the struggle to unite the male-female couple. In these films, not only heterosexuality is considered better than other sexual orientations, it is presented as the only sexual orientation. Such an assumption-that heterosexuality is the only (or normal) sexual orientation-- is a powerful aspect of Hollywood's hetero sexism. p. 309

The romantic comedy is Hollywood's heteosexism at it's finest, however, heterosexism is much like "whiteness" in TV and film, it is often invisible. The following clip is the final scene of Sweet Home Alabama--



Jake and Melanie have their happy ever after and left audiences in tears. Women across America, tearfully wished that could be them. But, not everyone in America wants to find the perfect man or woman, and well, we don't have a movie that serves as a guideline for them. The romantic comedy is a high-selling movie genre that some viewers love, including me, but not everyone realizes Jake and Melanie's perfect ending isn't always going to happen. Even more, some people don't want that happy ending that Hollywood forces upon us.

The Token Character
To avoid racial accusations, many movies place a token character in their film, and the southern love story of Sweet Home Alabama is guilty as well. Tokenism is described in the text as,

Token characters can often be found in small supporting roles that are peripheral to the white leads and their stories. (Benshoff & Griffin, 2008, p. 52).

Sweet Home Alabama is a southern story that has a dominant white cast, except for the Melanie's friend who plays Frederick Montana. Frederick however is not only the supportive black friend, but he also is homosexual, which is an example of Hollywood's newest trend of piecing two controversial characters into one minimal supporting role.

Frederick and Tabatha stand behind Melanie at a run in with Jake

The role is a very small role that could be filled by anyone. Melanie could have had two girlfriends supporting her throughout the movie, but since she was high in the fashion world which is often stereotyped for gay males, the creators chose to place the character "Frederick" in the movie. And just to cover all of their bases, they made Frederick black as well.

The token character is becoming so common in movies today that most of us don't recognize the problem and when some audiences do notice it, it is considered a "racist cliche" according to Benshoff and Griffin (2008, p. 53). Frederick was an unneeded addition to the film, why didn't Melanie have a southern friend that was black? Maybe it was even more of a racial move that most of us recognize but on the flip side, maybe it was just a habit that was too hard to break for producers.


The American Dream

Sweet Home Alabama brings the issue of class and social status to the fore front as we watch the love story of sweet southern guy and a posh northern girl. Throughout the whole movie, Melanie fights her Southern roots and tells her friends to make a life for themselves, especially her ex-husband, Jake. The following clip is a little bit longer, but in the middle of the clip you will see how Melanie so furiously breaks down her friend's middle-class lifestyle.



The clip is an example of the American Dream and the Horatio Alger myth, but to the extreme. Melanie left her small town and made a life for herself in New York City and is almost embarrassed of her friends that didn't. The Horatio Alger myth is described in the text as,

starting with a little or nothing but a "get-up-and-go" attitude, Alger's heroes (always white and male) were rewarded for their gumption by gaining a successful career in industry, a valuable fortune, and the camaraderie of other businessmen. (Benshoff and Griffin, 2008, p. 174).

She tells Jake to make a life of him self and that he has to find a dream other than football. She critiques her friends for what they where and gives side way glances to her once-best friend that has her kid at the bar. She is judgmental and snotty. Melanie is an example of how many American's now feel because of how media portrays the American Dream. Media shows that it is so easy to go from nothing to the top; but in reality, it isn't. It is a challenge and some people can't do it, not because they aren't working hard enough but because the cards don't fall right. Melanie didn't see that her friends were happy and successful, in their own ways.

Bobby Rae, a friend, also points out what everyone tries to avoid. He says, "You can take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you can't take the honky tonk out of the girl." Melanie is trying to escape her past and try to make herself look better along the way, but it doesn't quite work.

Sweet Home Alabama is a typical romantic comedy, but even the typical romantic comedy has media stereotypes and hidden concepts. I pointed out only three things, the American Dream, heteosexism story line, and the token character; but these are only a few things that happen still today in Hollywood film. Almost all of our films are littered with these concepts, and most audiences choose to ignore it; however, that is why we still see them in films today.

E-Journal 3- March 10, 2009

The Black Sports Film: Analyzing the Similarities

One Script: Several Movies
My dad is a sports buff and because of it I have purchased for him nearly every birthday and Christmas a new sports movie, and lately a lot of them have been related to the civil rights movement and black equality. Remember the Titans, Coach Carter, Radio, Glory Road, and Hurricane are just some of the latest films to hit the big screen. Each and every film tells the story of a deserving era and tell an inspiring story; but when analyzed their perspective still is slightly tilted.

Neely Tucker of the Washington Post was my inspiration of this African-American sports movie critique. In the October 20, 2008 edition of the Washington Post, Tucker recognizes and critiques these films for following a similar script.

After “Titans,” which took in $115 million at the U.S. box office, more studios adopted the same formula: Revisit the civil rights era through a feel-good sports epic, based on a true story. Have some clearly identified white racists, some good white folks and a black hero, who is possessed of a greater morality, patience and ability. Show the whites helping in key moments, either with bureaucracy or running interference against racists. In the final reel, have the white and black main characters as close friends.--Tucker, Washington Post

In the following paragraphs, I will walk through some of the influential African American sports films of the past decades, focusing mainly on clips from Disney's Remember the Titans. Branching from Tucker's critique, I will analyze the film for it's growth and change from classical black film style but also for it's similar script, stereotypical characters, and white and black buddy film style.

Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans (2000)was one of the first films which was part of a trend to use sports to tell the story of the Civil Rights movement. The text explains throughout the chapter that Hollywood played if very safe during the actual Civil Rights movement and rarely showed black characters or issues, but lately the stories have finally began to unfold. Many movies of this type focus on the integration of black and white athletes or coaches. Remember the Titans is an inspirational story about a football team learning to become one after two schools (one black and one white) join together in the 1970's. It is a "based on a true story" film, however, Tucker points out that the plot line was changed.

It starred Denzel Washington as Boone at T.C. Williams High, taking over and integrating the team in 1971. In real life, the team played other integrated teams and roared to an undefeated, rarely-scored-upon state title. In the film, they play against all-white teams and Washington's character withstands racist referees, school boosters and team mutinies to win the championship on a last-second, miracle play.-- Tucker, Washington Post

So why was the story changed? Why did there become racist opponents and referees? Why didn't they keep it based on a true story? I believe their are two reasons-one, because the formula works...so why change it? And two, because there still is inequality in the upper representation of the film industry. Griffin and Benshoff point out on page 100,

....black filmmakers have also made great progress:gone are the days of segregated studio lots and "separate but equal" movie houses. However, people who work in the Hollywood industry continue to the prevalence of structural racism that makes it difficult for blacks to advance to the highest position of power.

Because of that inequality, films are still being shown through a white perspective. Many of our class discussion in Comm 491 have dissected this issue and we have realized how degrading it is. When a story is told by someone who hasn't experienced it, it is only spreading false truths...especially because these mediums are some peoples only form of knowledge. When sports films of this type are changed to include more prominent white characters, white friends, or white perspective, we usually change the actual story wanted to be told.

In the following clip of Coach Boone, watch how he becomes the black hero, who does tell a very deserving inspirational story about Gettysburg that motivates the team, but still is just one of the parts of the common script.

"You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other of not, but you will respect each other. And maybe... I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men."

The lines of Coach Boone is influential. He is encouraging both black and white to join together, despite color and learn to play this game like "men". His story is motivating and it is a turning point of the film and a very recognized speech of the movie. It shows how far African-Americans have came on film, but it also shows one setback that is hard to avoid...the concept of the "black and white buddy film formula." The following clip images are just a few of the many examples in Remember the Titans of the formulaic black sports movie equation.

In the first picture, both captains of the original teams are hostile and defensive. However, as the story builds their friendship grows. The second picture is an image of the two coaches who had their differences hosting the trophy as one, symbolizing they have overcome their problems. While Denzel Washington is the main character of the storyline, the producers are careful to keep Coach Yoast, played by Will Patton in the fore front. This biracial casting makes "the film appeal to both white and black audiences" the text explains.

The black and white buddy formula is seen in almost all black sports movies. Radio: Radio is mentored by the white head coach. Glory Road: the white coach mentors and takes over a mainly black team. Brian's Song: the relationship of two football players, one black and one white. Jerry McGuire: White agent for black football player. Even look as far back as Cool Runnings: white man coaches black team.

Once we actually sit and analyze it, it is clear to see the African-American sports movie formula. Neely Tucker hit it right on the head in his Washington Post article. African Americans in films have took leaps and bounds forward, but there still is work to do. Until the structure of Hollywood becomes equal, black stories will always have white perspectives. The black and white buddy film works too well for white executives to make a change, and until then the inspirational sport stories will miss the most important inspirational message.

E-Journal Entry 2- February 20, 2009

Exploring the Secrets Behind the Island

Americans loves to watch themselves on TV and in the movies. We watch our lives relayed back at us in more interesting and dramatic story lines and we love how easy their lives look. However, film and television is more complex and deeply thought out than most of us understand. There is more to a film than it's story; in fact, producers and designers make thousands of decisions on camera shots, clothing, casting, editing, music and more. This concept of "form" allows us to take a deeper look into American culture and what is being shown on our media. In my second E-journal I will analyze the hit TV drama "Lost" from ABC.

Lost is in its fifth season and is still leaving viewers with unanswered questions and surprising plot twists. In the following paragraphs, I will analyze clips and characters from the show and try to understand better how the visual design, cinematography, and sound design influence the story and theme.

Lost (2004) is about the 48 survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 after the plane mysteriously crashed miles off track on a deserted island. However, their island holds many secrets and in order to survive the characters must learn to not only live with each other but with the many other unexpected events. Viewers not only watch their journey on the island but witness flash backs that interconnect many of the main characters. Characters come and go on the island, but one thing I find interesting is the diversity of the characters.

Major Characters on Lost: Current and Past

Mr. Eko

Sun Kwon

Jack Sheppard
Desmond Hume

Hurley
Kate Austen

Sayid Jarrah

Juliet Burke
John LockeMike Dawson and Walt (son)Ana-Lucia Cortez

Of the nine characters shown above (which are only some of the main characters) only five of them are white, and they all come from very diverse backgrounds. Also, Hurley, an overweight character, isn't cast as a "typical overweight man". His weight isn't a major issue in the story line and when it is, it is never a joke, unlike many mainstream television shows.

The producers chose to use a VERY diverse cast yet kept all of the characters interconnected. All of the characters are tied together throughout the episodes. This is purposefully done by the writers and is an example of visual design. They chose to keep these characters as a dominant part of the show despite their race or religion. They are not presenting a white power view, instead, they show a multicultural view with their characters and react against many shows who "subconsciously" leave Mexican and black actors as villains or low class roles. In Season 3, Ana Lucia is shown as a hero who saves the survivors of the other half of the plane and connects them with their fellow castaways. I applaud Lost for casting diverse roles in race, gender, and religion and matching this aspect of visual form with their editing, sound and lighting to create nontraditional multicultural characters that are portrayed in a positive light.

Cinematography and Sound Design in Lost

Yet, it is more than the character and casting choices that help send out the message of Lost. However, one warning once you realize the impact of form in films, you ALWAYS realize the impact. Nonetheless, it still is important to understand the underlying influences in a media clip and cinematography and sound design play huge roles in the overall theme of the message.

Griffen and Benshoff explain cinematographic design as, "...how the camera records the visual elements that have been dictated by the literary design. The cinematographic design includes things like the choice of framing, lenses, camera angle, camera movement, what is in focus and what is not." (p. 4)

The following clip is from season 3 and it depicts how the "Others" witnessed the plane crash. It is important to focus on the last minute and a half of the clip and how the camera changes to emphasize the message.

This clips uses stunning camera focus and angle to keep the tension in the clip and drag the audience along. After the "earthquake" the camera comes to the center of the yard and captures all of the "Others" running out of their houses from all directions. It then focuses in on Ben, who the camera angles make the leader of the group. The most effective camera angle is in the last :30 seconds when the camera veers away from the whole group and focuses in on the man running to meet the plane. He becomes smaller and smaller until he is a blur, and at that point the camera zooms out to show just the village, then the clearing the village is in and continues to progressively zoom out until the whole island is in view. This shows how this one small action is affecting the whole island. It forces the audience to think about the man's role and how it has and will effect the survivors. Depending on where the camera points or focuses it helps allow the viewers to understand what and who is important right now.

The following clip is from an episode when John Locke tries to convince everyone that they do not need to press the numbers in the hatch, as they have been for every 108 minutes. The show uses excellent sound design to display the power and effects of the John's decision.

The clip immediately starts out with a brisk, all-business female voice that is repeating "system failure, system failure." Her voice is just the beginning of the strained sound effects in the hatch. The camera constantly switches back and forth between Locke and Desmond and the dark, dim scenery is countered by dramatic music. Even more, when the objects start flying in the background, the sound of their movement overpowers the whole scene. In fact, the only time the dialogue is a focus is when Locke admits his mistake. At that point, he becomes the center of attention and the music dies out. This emphasizes the critical decision he made, and the producers are showing how important and maybe poor it was. By making his statement clear, they are forcing the audience to listen.

The clip ends with Desmond inserting the key and the bright light covering the island. Accompanying the light, is a loud, blaring noise to show the confusion and momentum of Locke's decision. Finally, it ends with silence. The sound effects with this clip make it much more powerful than just the dramatic lightening and camera changes.

Analyzing form is vital in a complex and confusing show like Lost, where the content doesn't explain everything to the viewers. The producers must use design, visual, and sound effects to clarify their message. I analyzed visual, cinematography, and sound design in specific clips of Lost; however, I still don't understand everything yet...and it's almost guaranteed that Lost has another new trick for the next episode that will leave us with more questions. But, at least now we have a few tools to help us find the answers.

E-Journal Entry 1- January 28, 2009

Media is omnipotent. It’s everywhere…that simple. Yet, we often don’t take time to analyze the effect media plays on us and the dominating role media and its corporate counterparts play on our society. Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, a meeting of the minds concurs in NDSU’s Politics of Popular Culture, where we dissect the true hold media has on society.

Politics of Popular Culture (PPC) is more than just watching TV and looking at ads; it’s about answering the questions and dissecting the concepts presented to us. What is the feminine ideal? Does media’s portrayal of gender really affect our own gender identity? Is there a “crisis of masculinity”? We may have to face that some of the questions may never be truly answered, but as media critics we need to realize that they do actually connect to our real life media intakes.

ABC’s Desperate Housewives is a cultural phenomenon. The show last Sunday, Jan. 25 (which was a re-run) attracted just over 6.5 million viewers, according to TV by the Numbers website. Men and women alike are attracted the primetime “soap opera” shown every Sunday evening, and I admit, I am one of the 6.5 million viewers who tuned in last Sunday. I am a Desperate fan.



But, maybe it’s time for me to analyze the gender roles and stereotypes Desperate portrays. Maybe there is more behind the drama filled storyline than I thought.

David Gauntlett brings attention to interesting and realistic concepts on gender portrayals in his text: Media, Gender and Identity. With the help of class discussions and Ganutlett's text, I am going to dig deeper into his idea of "demasculizing" male characters. Finally, I will dissect the female stereotypes created in the show and bring attention to the combination of "post-feminism" characters while still using 1950 and 1960's traditional ideals.

Morphing Male Characters and Tempering of "Machismo"
From Mike, the plumber, to Orson, Bree's devoted husband, or Tom, the house-dad; Desperate has created many levels to their male characters.

"...the depiction of masculinity has become less straightforward, and more troubled," Gauntlett points out in chapter four.

For example, Carlos, Gaby's (Eva Longoria) husband was once a greedy, rich business man and gave Gaby whatever she wanted, but when he lost his sight and couldn't work, his stereotypical arrogant male character disappeared. In fact, Carlos didn't want to go back to his powerful career, he wanted to help others, and in this case, his sensitive and caring personality won out.



Another example of the more complex, multi-level male character is shown through Orson, Bree's husband. Orson is created to be a much more feminine male character. As cliche as it is, "it is obvious who wears the pants in the family" and it isn't Orson. For example, watch this clip where Bree was bluntly called out for demasculizing her husband. (This is the full episode, the clip I am pointing out starts at 7:00 and ends at 8:35. You may possibly have to click into Episode 12.)

However, Orson doesn't always mind. He understands the role each partner plays in the relationship and appreciates the agreement that they have came too. Later in the show, he points out to Bree how he respects her dominating role in their household.

I don't think we consider enough analyzing the male characters in dominating female shows, but nonetheless, I think Desperate Housewives is very modern in their male gender identities. Just like many TV ensembles, each character has their own quirks and differences, but on Desperate they stay consistent by giving males a more complex personality. I applaud them, because I feel they created realistic male characters.

The Ladies of Desperate Housewives:
A Combination of Post-Feminist and Traditional Roles

Directed towards female audiences, Desperate Housewives has many different types of women characters that reflect the variety of women in the world today. One thing to point out, it that Desperate does break from traditional norms in gender ratios in media pointed out by Gauntlett on page 63 of his text:

In prime-time TV shows, 1992-1993, men took 61% of the total number of speaking roles, with women having the other 39%. The 1995-96 study found that men took 63% of the speaking roles, with women having the other 37%.

Desperate is an out lier, especially as the five main characters of the show are female. The whole storyline focuses on their drama filled lives, and their husbands/love affairs are just a spin off.

More importantly though, each woman has her own character with flaws and strengths. Yet, even with their differences they all are a symbol of the feminine character portrayed today on television. I especially want to bring attention to the combination of "postfeminism" and traditional femininity characteristics in the Desperate ladies. This analysis is similar to my last critic on the multi-level male as I believe that today we also witness the multi-level female and the media mongrel of Desperate Housewives encourages it.

One of the characters that show a traditional representation of gender in the past is character, Bree Van De Camp, played by Marcia Cross. Bree is the typical 1950's housewife...in some sense.
When comparing both pictures, it's easy to find similarities. The first picture is a classic image of the 1950's housewife that was the cover of many magazines. Gauntlett explains the image of "blissful domesticity" is more than a stereotype, however.

" The advice offered to women was not about how to fulfill their own potential, but was instead focused on bringing happiness to their family. Unlike some stereotypes, this one was based on reality: these mags and ads really did exist," Gauntlett explains on page 54 of his text.

However, while Bree may appear to be the "perfect housewife" as ABC's website for the show describes, she still isn't the typical 1950's stereotype. Bree excels in classic femininity in the way that she entertains and presents a perfect household, but Bree's dream isn't to "to impress her authoritative, working husband by using the latest kitchen accessory or washing powder," like Gauntlett claims was the typical housewife's goal.

As I previously mentioned, Bree normally dominates her relationships. She doesn't keep up her charade for her husband, she chooses to keep up the charade for herself. This is an example of "post feminism backlash," a concept we discussed in class.

After the push of feminism, we saw many texts alter their female characters to reflect the new ideals.

"Some shows, of course, put successful professional women at the forefront, and have focused on their quests for sex, pleasure and romantic love," Gauntlett writes on page 65 of his text.

Desperate Housewives is one of those shows that fit perfectly in the "post feminism" age. It shows strong characters that want more out of life than a family and a husband. The women are not afraid to show embrace their sexuality and be proud of being temptation to men. Their sexuality is brought to the forefront with their ad below. The actresses are laying in a bed of apples, referring to the temptation of Adam and Eve and playing up their control over men and pleasure.



While the show contrasts with gender representation of the past, it still points out a very important concept that came about as a reaction to the feminist movement: that women have the right to choose.

Bree Van De Camp is a perfect example of how media today often blends different generational representations of women. Bree is the 1950's housewife, but she has strong personal values and is independent of her husband. This character recognized the need for gender equality that is represented in today's media, however, she chose to continue on with the traditional role women played in the past. Her "backlash against feminism" isn't much of a backlash, but is more of a personal choice to keep strong the good parts of femininity of the past with modern ideals of today.

Conclusion
Desperate Housewives may be a "prime-time soap opera" to some, but it also is a useful text for analyzing gender stereotypes. The show is atypical as it is a female dominated show, but it still provides insight on both male and female media representation. The male characters show many different complex levels to their personality, something that Gauntlett points out as a growing trend in media. The female representation is similar though. Media is addressing the issue of "post- feminism" but it is even going one step forward and acknowledging the idea of "feminism backlash." Many characters on the show embrace their sexuality and independence, while also striving to maintain a working, functional household for their families. They chose to embrace both traditions of today and of the past to create a more balanced character. I appreciate that both can be represented in the show, because I feel many young women hope that for themselves some day. These multi-level characters are a step in the right direction since, let's be realistic, they exist in everyday life.