 ARE THEY
DESPERATE?
When I follow a television series, my mother always starts to criticize me, saying how
nonsensical the characters' lives are. I've always responded that these series are just
for laughs. When I was talking with a friend about the topic for this week's column, he
suggested that it would be interesting to learn what goes on behind the scenes of
"Desperate Housewives." However, I had another aspect of this series in mind: DO
YOU THINK THAT THEY'RE DESPERATE?
From the first episode to the last, the series has been very interesting and appealing to
both women and men. For those who haven't watched the show, it's narrated by a housewife
who commits suicide in the first episode. The following episodes are about the lives and
adventures of four different housewives, who are neighbors and also friends. These women
live through a number of "desperate" situations that are, in my opinion,
everyday problems. I don't think that they're really desperate--actually, they make own
their lives desperate. The problems they have come from their sarcastic, pessimistic
views. While there are so many women in the world who don't even have the right to express
themselves, I don't think it's fair to call these women desperate. They sit at home all
day, have time to spend with their families and live in nice houses, but still don't have
real happiness. Can't they see how lucky they are?
When I was living with my family, I was only able to be with them four or five hours a
day, that is, when they weren't traveling the world due to their work. In addition, of
course I had to study, which minimized the time to only one hour. Besides her job, my
mother also had to take care of us and the house, with some help from my father. This the
situation a working woman faces.
Still, I don't think my mother is desperate, because she was able to raise her children
much better than those "desperate" women on the show.
Then, there are women in many parts of the world whose social status is to be
non-existent. They're just objects, used by their husbands to feed them, clean their
houses and look after their children, according to the customs of their societies. There
are woman who have to struggle against everything: poverty, war, violence.... While real
women have so many difficulties, I suggest that people who consider the housewives on the
show desperate think about about what being desperate really is.
In short, the show gives you a chance to laugh, but please don't pity the characters.
Have a nice week....
Sıla Türkü Kural (EE/III)
turku@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
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