In a previous post, I noted that I was getting back to TV and got hooked on Desperate Housewives and Lost.
But in watching Desperate Housewives, I found myself desperately trying to watch it. The crazy antics of the wives of Hysteria Lane (how aptly named) started making it supremely hard to watch this show. While they were very funny in the beginning, I began to find them less attractive for me to come back – there were too many parallels with what I’ve experienced with women in the past. So now I struggle with getting through Season 2.
The nutty adventures of each woman are basically the exaggerated traits that people would consider stereotypical for women in those life stages. Hollywood exaggerates them to make them more interesting and throws witty storylines around them to make a hit show.
Insecurities with men and with themselves, selfishness, obsessiveness, uncontrollable curiosity (nosiness?), manipulation, and all wrapped up in love for their own family…and sometimes with themselves.
One of the original reasons I liked the show was the fact that these traits, being exaggerated, allowed me to more fully understand them, and to appreciate what these women were going through. Then, I started thinking about how women in real life experience these feelings, and then I started thinking about the actual women in my life whom I knew were in these life stages. I could remember these exaggerated traits coming out in small and large form, and an epiphany occurred for me. I could see how these underlying feelings could manifest themselves and affect others around them in subtle or not so subtle ways….and sometimes with disastrous results – just like in the show.
It was the same for me with Sex in the City. While it was extremely funny and well done, it also brought out the stereotypical plight of single, 30+ women in NYC amidst a dating scene that was almost legendary. I could actually see where the writers got their material, as I observed and talked to women in the Big Apple. Although I did not come to find it difficult to watch Sex in the City, there were definitely times where I found myself cringing at the activities of the four friends, but not as much as I do in Desperate Housewives.
I do not know if I’ll make it through Season 2. I guess these exaggerated traits are hitting too close to home for me.