This clip shows Gretchen Rossi with her boyfriend Slade Smiley. Gretchen is the one who makes all the money in this relationship because Slade is unemployed and in debt. He used to be the husband of another housewife (Jo), but then his career plunged downward and now he is in numerous amounts of debt for not paying the child support he can no longer afford. This is all making Gretchen very hesitant to marry him, although she is madly in love with him.
Yes, in a previous blog Gretchen was the one who spoke about how shallow the whole process of her friends finding their husbands was, but Gretchen’s reason for not wanting to be with Slade in some ways is just as shallow and superficial. One of the reasons being that she is worried about the way that people will see her and Slade's relationship and that people will talk bad about them. This is something that I can relate to and I know many other girls in today’s society can as well. When my friends and I will talk about things that we want to do, one of the things that will judge the likelihood of us actually doing so is what other people will think. I have also seen this throughout society and it is very similar to the conscious in the back of our heads, but instead of telling us the right thing to do it is telling us not to do something if others will look down on it. With this being said, I believe that based on what we think others will think about our actions we decide whether or not to actually partake in the action. Gretchen shows that this is in actuality an important aspect of life, and could really be influencing some of the young girls watching this show. It would again enforces the overarching idea that has come up across the blog that women shouldn’t do what their hearts are telling them but in this specific scenario it is because of what others will think.
Another problem here is that she is enforcing the idea on viewers that love is not enough. Although Gretchen could be such a strong role model in the show for providing for herself, this in a way backfires that because it shows that she is not confident in providing for herself forever and that she needs someone who is financially stable. I think this really enforces the concept of comfort in a patriarchal system that this show continuously displays. Gretchen wants to have a child, but apparently she needs a working husband in order to be able to do so. It is also interesting that she is holding back from marrying Slade based on his financial situation because they could get married without having a child. This would lead to Gretchen showing herself as the strong women in the relationship, but she is hesitant to do so. Instead she wants to be able to have the same type of relationship as the other women where the husband is making money as well, and this might even affect her occupation (because she may quit her job to be a primary caretaker) later in life as well.
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