Eve: The Original Desperate Housewife?

I recently watched an older episode of my favorite TV show, Desperate Housewives. In the newer seasons, they do not have long opening credits like they did with the first few seasons. It is one of my favorite opening credits, as it is sort of like an art history tour. It begins with Adam and Eve, then to Egyptian civilization, Jan van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Wedding”, Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”, and a Roy Lichtenstein cartoon.

The opening credits (video shown below) begin with a parody of the story of Eve, the garden, forbidden fruit and snake. Adam is shown as well, and as a snake hands an apple to Eve, it gets bigger and crushes Adam. At the end of the credits, the four main housewives are shown in front of the garden (like a cycle), and apples fall into their open palms. The apple crushing Adam most likely denotes that men are not as important in this series, and that women have all the power (as the show IS called Desperate Housewives). It can also symbolize women being able to demasculinize men, with their manipulative ways. With Eve as the main character of this opening sequence, perhaps she is the representation of the original "Desperate Housewife", with her trickery tactics. 

Throughout these opening credits, the famous images depicted all show one thing: that women are devious, highly sexualized creatures with men as their prey. The use of these classic images show that men and women never change.

Many of promo shots for Desperate Housewives have something to do with apples, whether the women are lying on a bed of apples or standing and holding an apple. 

 

 

 I always knew Desperate Housewives had some religious influences, as one of the housewives, Bree, regularly attends Church and turns to her faith in times of need. There are also many episodes in which the housewives attend Church, attend confession or pray to God for help. However, it wasn't until just recently when I took a closer look at the opening credits and really noticed the Adam and Eve depictions. It is interesting to see the contrast in the show; how they use Adam and Eve as the premise for their credits, yet, the way these women usually act on the show are anything less than religious.