In Desperate Housewives, does the storyline between Katherine and Robin exemplify "lesbian entrapment" or the evolution of healthy individuals in a complex relationship?

Dude, it’s just a show.

I think it exemplifies that sexuality is more fluid than most people would like to admit, people are not just heterosexual or gay. Once you take the drive for procreation out of the equation, the psychological factors of sex, especially for middle-aged women, are far more complex.

@Vunessuh It is never “just” a show. Contemporary media and entertainment have complex, sometimes hidden, messages and social commentary as much as anything else on television, and it is important to reveal and analyze what these shows are trying to say to and about the viewing public.

@Frankie So then are you going to actually answer the question because explaining to me why it’s important to analyze a show and then not analyzing it is kind of silly.

It is a dumb show. They will do anything for good ratings.

@Vunessuh No, I am not going to answer the question. I do not watch Desperate Housewives, so I am not entitled to an opinion. Just because I do not watch this particular show, however, does not mean that I am not allowed to say that it is important to analyze what contemporary entertainment reveal and say about our society and the issues we face when someone, quite glibly, states that it is “just a show.” What you essentially just said is that I can only say that we should analyze media and entertainment if I watch every single show on television…that, to me, is “kind of silly.”

@Frankie And it is a matter of opinion for me to say it is just a show. I watch it for the entertainment factor. I don’t sit in front of my television with a notebook and pencil and start taking notes. Like @philosopher pointed out, some story lines and scenarios are created just for the ratings. Without having watched the show yourself, you have no way of evaluating whether or not this lesbian relationship was created to send a message, or up their ratings.

I’d have to go with the evolution idea.

@Vunessuh No one, least of all me, has said that there is no entertainment value or that you should be taking notes on the show every time you watch it. No one is saying you shouldn’t enjoy the show as entertainment. Can you tell me where exactly anyone said that? You are simply failing to take into account why these shows exist in the first place…there are facets of the shows that resonate with the viewing public and that the public will identify with and take interest in, and producers know that. What @philosopher said proves my point exactly…putting this “twist” in the show will boost ratings, but why will the addition of a lesbian relationship, in which one of the members of said relationship has identified as heterosexual, boost ratings? I’m willing to bet that part of it is because of the voyeuristic tendencies of the American viewer when it comes to lesbianism (look at the spectacle of the pseudo-lesbianism of Tila Tequila’s show, the short success of “The L-Word”, and countless other examples)...there are probably many other factors also that I won’t get into in the interest of keeping this thread-hijacking to a minimum. No one is saying that there is no entertainment value in any of this, but as I said in my first post, it is never “just” a show…there is always underlying commentary and messages being sent to the viewer in literally every single show on television, so to state that this is “just” a show and the writers and producers added this facet to the show just for entertainment value is simple naivete.

wanna fuck them.

@Vunessuh
I am the Sister In Law of a successful copywriter. Trust me in Hollywood all that matters is ratings. Believing otherwise is naive.
Hollywood is made up mostly of over payed writers and actors. There bottom line is making lots of money.
These over payed actors attempt to manipulate us away from there shows.
They make their Political statements in other venues. The writer maybe gay but profit is what they care about.
These are the same actors that ask Middle Class people for denotations to their causes. Despite that in one show they make more money than some people make in a year.
I am the type that would tell them. Your time is no more valuable than mine. In stead of asking me for money; donate some of your own or SHUT UP!!!!

It is hard not to feel like the producers are just manipulating story line for ratings. It is interesting to note how they go about doing the manipulation.

I am not a big follower of the show, but the whole relationship seems a bit campy and formulaic. Which seems like a common show theme. While the title of the episode and the narration suggested there was a great seduction happening, I found Katherine to be responding to the opportunity of attraction and at most seducing herself into a situation she found titillating.

It will be interesting to see if they back the Katherine character into the corner of having to identify as lesbian.

@liminal – I’ve followed the show since 2006. I think most of the character development has been written pretty well. I agree that the Katherine/Robin storyline seems campishly formulaic.

I’m sure much of all storylines are written with the goal of increasing ratings. Knowing this, I still wonder the agenda of those mapping out DH episodes.

I’m looking at the bigger picture – how this relationship plays out compared to other affairs on DH. In the instance of Gabby and her affair with the young gardener, she was not portrayed as the seduced victim, but as the one enjoying a mutual relationship. To the best of my knowledge, none of the other affairs played out on DH have involved the seduction of someone labled as vulnerable.

The issue I have with this particular storyline is the the fact that Katherine has been portrayed as someone ill-fated in relationships and mentally unstable, so it would make sense that she responds to same-sex seduction. In my opinion, I think this further affirms the beliefs associated with “gay agenda,” etc., instead of representing healthy individuals navigating complex relationships or exploring the fluidity of their sexuality. Not that the writers would knowingly affirm the “gay agenda,” but that someone viewing this storyline could possibly come away with the idea of “this is how same-sex relationships form.” The consequence of such thinking could lead to all types of misguided decisions and opinions about healthy same-sex relationships. (And as I’m writing this, I do realize that the entire DH series has not helped to exemplify healthy heterosexual relationships either!)

Btw… I highly doubt Katherine’s character will have the time to discover she’s a lesbian because Dana Delaney most likely will be leaving the show.

@prolificus It will be interesting if they try to play out that Katherine was seduced into lesbos land. I can see how doing such might affirm a negative societal meme found amongst the “gay agenda” adherers. Maybe people who watch DHW are silly enough to buy into it, but I like to think not.

…OooOOOooo, maybe they are smart enough to cause an outbreak of lesbianism…

@PandoraBoxx – you mentioned the sexual complexity of middle-aged women. Do you think it is because of one’s needs, sexual desires are felt or expressed? I.e. Someone in her 20’s needs sex for procreation (among other reasons), but someone in her 40’s needs sex for personal gratification? So a straight woman in her 40’s would be more open to having same-sex relations if it would meet her needs?

@liminal – I don’t think the average DH viewer would even notice such things. But, I’m thinking about the young, impressionable teens and adults who are struggling with their sexual identity. For me, back in the day, this storyline would have had a significant affect on me.

@prolificus so, what happened? Is Katherine claiming seduction or bliss?

@liminal – won’t know until next week. DH wasn’t on last night. All I know is that she looked distressed at the end of the last epi.

As a former psychotherapist, I just don’t see this as a persecutor/victim scenario. I think at its best it is a storyline that expands the way people see other people, and hopefully accept other people. I think it takes courage to live an authentic life, whatever that looks like.

author of Seeking Sara Summers
a novel about another desperate housewife