Class, Wife Swap, and Desperate Housewives

"…Wife Swap does not ultimately support the idea of mobility as an ideal or goal. Instead, Wife Swap’s predictable narrative pattern always offers reassurance about the stable nature of class positioning, emphasizing the desirability of stasis over mobility. At the end of each episode, the families inevitably express that the Wife Swap experience has enabled them to gain a new appreciation of their lives and each other, always coming to the conclusion that life is not greener on the other side…Therefore, while Wife Swap deploys a narrative of self-improvement, it does so in a way that does not disrupt established social hierarchies. The series depicts a process in which the participants are able to experience a sense of class mobility, but always appears to reaffirm their current class positioning." (Matheson, p. 10)

This quote summarizes the concept of hegemony and the way in which the media reaffirm the status quo. Matheson describes how Wife Swap is structured toward a tidy conclusion that keeps everyone in her and his ‘place.’ In most episodes the families, though they make some compromises, ‘learn’ that they belong in their respective social locations, that they would be unhappy in a different class, and that this is an individual choice. The moral for the vicariously participating audience is that they should be content with their social locations because that is where they are ‘meant’ to be—they would not fit in elsewhere. It cements this conviction by creating an illusion that people have a choice in the matter, and that there are no outside forces that are keeping them where they are. A crucial aspect of hegemony is that the oppressed participate in their own oppression and accept the ideologies that perpetuate the oppression. Wife Swap shows each family reassuming and praising their social standing, even if they are in a disadvantaged class, and doing so entirely of their own accord. Harmony is restored as everyone revels in the restoration of the proper social order.

I have lately been on a Desperate Housewives kick (the earlier seasons—the last few are just too outlandish) and the topic of class has been very pertinent to this show. Desperate Housewives is the prototype of a TV series that portrays a bunch of wealthy white (mostly) suburbanites living effortless, struggle-free lives that most of us could only dream of. Certainly Wisteria Lane has no shortage of drama, and there are even references to the occasional financial concern, but these problems are short-lived, and their only consequences: one less trip to the spa, or a cheaper set of golf clubs—the kids still go to prestigious private schools and expensive hospital bills pose no problem. Meanwhile the lawns are meticulous, the clothes are pricey, and the women wearing them are fit, beautiful, and healthy. Amidst all the murders, betrayals, and weather catastrophes, a hair appointment is obviously never missed.

The show also paints a clear distinction between the upper/upper-middle class residents of Wisteria Lane and the people who serve them. Unless they fulfill some ulterior need, sexual, for instance, for the wealthy suburbanites, people in the service industry are not presented as individual personalities, often to the extent that they are partially cut out of the screen. The upper class is politely dismissive of the people who keep them afloat, rude even, in Gaby’s case, because all those interchangeable maids, bellboys, waiters, and valets are clearly not worthy of individual acknowledgment.