Quality TV Wives

My CTCS412 research paper stemmed from Anna Gunn’s Op-Ed article in the New York Times about her role as Skyler White on AMC’s Breaking Bad. She discusses her surprise at viewers’ prolific hatred of Skyler and asks if this stems from Skyler’s refusal to behave like an archetypical wife. I am going to expand this discussion by incorporating other quality television texts such as Mad Men, Homeland, Hung, and Game of Thrones. I am going to argue that these quality television wives are unlikable because of their refusal to play the archetypical role as a mother and wife.

First, I will outline the general and historical representation of the wife in television and then define quality television and how that influences the re-gendering of characters specifically wives. Then use Breaking Bad to discuss Skyler White’s complicated representation as a wife and mother and why it is considered unlikable, which is related to our feelings of our protagonist and anti-hero, Walter White, who is praised by viewers despite his immorality. I will analyze Skyler’s role in their marriage and representation as a wife and how that relates or opposes Walter’s representation as a man and a husband. I'll also analyze Betty Draper in Mad Men, Jessica Brody on Homeland, Jessica Haxon in Hung, and Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones to discuss how and why their role within the show becomes an obstacle or hinderance to viewers and the text itself. If possible (probably not) I will also discuss Nancy Botwin in Weeds and Jackie Peyton in Nurse Jackie.

I am going to use texts such as Anna Gunn’s Op-Ed and other popular magazine articles in Esquire, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post that talk about these shows and the representation of strong women on television. I will use Media Depictions of Brides, Wives and Mothers a book that outlines the representation of these roles in several essays about archetype roles in television, media coverage of Sarah Paulin and Michelle Bachman as mothers, and online commentaries on brides and mothers in narrative television. Challenging Images of Women in the Media by Teresa Carilli will provide background to support the claims I make about these TV wives. Articles by Diane Negra and Angela McRobbie that we've read in class will support my discussion of re-gendering and representation in quality television. Finally, Quality TV: American Television and Beyond by Kim Akass and Janet McCabe will help define and discuss quality TV. 

This discussion of quality TV wives incorporates a bigger discussion about gender roles, representation and the media. Through my discussion of these specific texts I will elaborate on the implications of these characters’ dislikability, such as it being a reflection of a strongly engrained perception of gender roles in the American family. My outcome will touch on the nostalgia we have for the stereotypical, normative family revealed through viewers’ general aversion to the complicated, strong wives I use as my examples.