Desperate Housewives' Bree: Breaking Free From The Secret TradWife Misery | Explained
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the character development of Bree Van de Kamp from 'Desperate Housewives,' initially portrayed as a quintessential traditional housewife. Bree's journey sees her grappling with her conservative values and the facade of perfection, leading to personal growth and a redefinition of her identity. As she navigates challenges, including family dynamics and societal expectations, Bree learns to embrace change, find her voice, and ultimately, her path to happiness and success.
Takeaways
- 👩🍳 Brie Vamp from 'Desperate Housewives' embodies the traditional housewife, with a focus on old-fashioned values and a conservative lifestyle.
- 👗 Her appearance and demeanor are reminiscent of classic political figures like Jacqueline Kennedy and Pat Nixon, reflecting a 'Stepford Wife' image.
- 🏡 Despite the facade of perfection, Brie's family is deeply unhappy, and her rigid beliefs hinder her personal happiness and effective parenting.
- 🚫 Brie's harsh upbringing and gendered expectations affect her relationship with her daughter, leading to a strained mother-daughter dynamic.
- 🌈 Over time, Brie learns to accept her son's homosexuality, recognizing her own strengths in him and adjusting her views to support him.
- 👭 She forms close friendships with other housewives on Wisteria Lane, despite their differing political views, highlighting the importance of enduring friendships.
- 🔓 In season 3, Brie experiences a sexual awakening, which shifts her perspective on sexuality and personal freedom.
- 🍽️ Brie's traditional role as a housewife is challenged as she finds fulfillment and success in building a business empire, similar to Martha Stewart.
- 💼 Her career shift leads to a more modern lifestyle, where she promotes traditional values through her business while not adhering to them as strictly at home.
- 🗳️ Brie's political journey involves a transformation from a traditional housewife to a state legislator, requiring her to leave her past behind for a successful political image.
Q & A
How is Bree Van de Kamp initially portrayed in 'Desperate Housewives'?
-Bree Van de Kamp is initially portrayed as the perfect traditional housewife, always put together conservatively, dressed prim and straight-laced, and believing in old-fashioned values such as respect for God, the importance of family, and love of country.
What is the contrast between Bree's external image and her family's internal state in the beginning of the series?
-While Bree's family has a veneer of perfection externally, resembling the presidential first family, internally most of the family members, including Bree herself, are incredibly unhappy.
How does Bree's parenting style affect her relationship with her daughter Danielle?
-Bree's harsh and traditional parenting style is quite cruel to her daughter Danielle, which backfires when Danielle becomes pregnant and is reluctant to let Bree raise the baby as her own due to the harsh upbringing she experienced.
How does Bree react to her son Andrew's revelation about his sexuality?
-Initially, Bree is seemingly mortified when her son Andrew tells her he might be gay. However, as the show progresses, she begins to accept his sexuality and starts to work with him instead of trying to change him.
In what ways does Bree's character evolve throughout the series?
-Bree's character evolves by breaking away from her traditional outlook, finding her sexual agency, building close friendships despite political differences, and eventually entering local politics while maintaining her outward appearance as the perfect WASP housewife.
How does Bree's perspective on her role as a housewife change over the course of the series?
-Bree's perspective changes as she realizes that being a housewife and mother in the traditional sense leaves her unfulfilled and isolated, leading her to build a Martha Stewart-style empire and find more fulfillment in her career.
What is the significance of Bree's first orgasm in season 3 with her third husband?
-Bree's first orgasm in season 3 marks a significant change in her outlook on sexuality, realizing the freeing and positive aspects of connecting with her own sexuality.
How does Bree's approach to relationships change as the series progresses?
-Bree's approach to relationships evolves from seeking traditional partners to experimenting with different types of men, compartmentalizing her politics and public image from her personal life in pursuit of happiness.
What is the irony in Bree's success in building a business based on old-fashioned style values while not living out those values at home?
-The irony is that while Bree builds a successful business promoting traditional values, she herself is not living by those values at home, indicating a disconnect between her public image and her private life.
How does Bree's character arc reflect the challenges faced by traditional housewives?
-Bree's character arc reflects the challenges faced by traditional housewives by showing the pressure to maintain a perfect home and family while dealing with personal unhappiness and the realization that the traditional life taught by previous generations may not be the only path to happiness.
What message does Bree's journey throughout the series convey about self-improvement and happiness?
-Bree's journey conveys that self-improvement and happiness can be achieved by recognizing and embracing aspects of oneself that were previously hidden, being open to change, and not being afraid to step out of one's comfort zone.
Outlines
🏡 Transformation of Bree Van de Kamp
Bree Van de Kamp, portrayed as the quintessential traditional housewife, initially appears perfect and conservative, adhering to old-fashioned values such as respect for God, family, and country. She is depicted as the 'Stepford Wife' of Wisteria Lane, with her family seemingly the epitome of perfection. However, it's revealed that her relentless pursuit of this image leads to internal family strife and unhappiness. Bree's character is used to explore the darker side of forcing oneself into a constricting traditional role. As the series progresses, Bree faces challenges such as her daughter's pregnancy, her son's homosexuality, and her own perfectionism, which initially hinders her from being a supportive parent. Over time, she learns to accept her children's choices and begins to question her rigid beliefs, leading to personal growth and a shift in her outlook on life.
🍲 Bree's Journey from Traditional Housewife to Empowerment
Despite Bree's dedication to her family and home, she faces criticism and is blamed for their unhappiness. After her husband Rex's death, she turns to alcoholism, further complicating her life. However, Bree's narrative takes a turn when she starts building a business empire, reminiscent of Martha Stewart, which suits her more than her previous role. Her friend Catherine helps her overcome alcoholism, and Bree begins to realize the importance of self-care. She starts to embrace her resilience and toughness, using her new career as a cookbook author to positively influence other women. Bree's character evolves to compartmentalize her public image and personal life, seeking happiness in unconventional ways, such as having one-night stands and dating men outside her traditional preferences. She eventually enters politics, showcasing her adaptability and resilience, but must leave her past behind to maintain her image as a perfect conservative housewife.
📺 Invitation to Explore More Content
The final paragraph serves as a call to action, inviting viewers to explore more engaging content through a video or a playlist. It encourages viewers to subscribe and turn on notifications to stay updated with new releases. Additionally, it promotes the Patreon subscription for exclusive content, indicating a broader engagement strategy to keep the audience connected and interested in the series of videos.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Traditional Housewife
💡Perfectionism
💡Sexual Agency
💡Gendered Upbringing
💡Acceptance
💡Alcoholism
💡Career Empowerment
💡Traditional Ideals
💡Self-Destruction
💡Personal Growth
💡WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)
Highlights
Bree Van de Kamp, portrayed by Marcia Cross, embodies the quintessential traditional housewife with a focus on conservative values and a polished exterior.
Bree's character serves as a vehicle to explore the darker truths of adhering to a restrictive traditional lifestyle and the consequences of opening up to new perspectives.
Initially, the Van de Kamp family appears to be the epitome of perfection, akin to the presidential first family of Wisteria Lane.
Bree's early outfits are reminiscent of the Golden Era of political dressing, drawing parallels with first ladies like Jacqueline Kennedy and Pat Nixon.
Despite the facade of perfection, Bree's family members, including herself, are shown to be deeply unhappy.
Bree's perfectionism and traditional values are revealed to be barriers to her own happiness and her children's well-being.
Bree's daughter, Danielle, resists Bree's harsh parenting style and the societal expectations it enforces.
Bree's initial reaction to her son Andrew's homosexuality is one of shock and denial, reflecting her conservative values.
As the series progresses, Bree begins to accept Andrew's sexuality, recognizing shared traits and the importance of support.
Bree's journey involves overcoming her traditional outlook to form close friendships with women who do not share her political views.
Bree's sexual agency is awakened in season 3, leading to a significant shift in her perspective on sexuality and personal freedom.
In the final season, Bree opts for one-night stands over seeking true love, maintaining her composed demeanor.
Bree's character study highlights the challenges women face in traditional households, often being damned if they do or don't.
Bree's unfulfillment in her roles as housewife and mother leads to alcoholism following her first husband's death.
Contrasting early and later seasons of Bree, her career as a cookbook author and businesswoman brings her fulfillment and a new sense of self.
Bree's later relationships move away from traditional WASP choices, indicating a compartmentalization of her public persona and personal desires.
Bree's political success comes at the cost of leaving her past and Wisteria Lane behind, reassuming her image as the perfect WASP housewife.
Bree's character arc reflects a realization that traditional ideals are not mandatory for women's happiness and success.
The series concludes with Bree understanding the importance of self-care and personal growth, moving away from her initial portrayal.
Transcripts
Desperate Housewives Brie Vamp portrayed
herself as the perfect hash tradwife
always put together conservatively
dressed Prim and straight laced Brie
Vamp believed in oldfashioned
values things like respect for God the
importance of
family and love of country she
functioned as the more old school
uptight end of Wisteria Lane's gaggle of
housewives in the show used her to
unpack some of the darker truths about
what it's really like to force yourself
to exist within that constricting
traditional outlook on life and what can
happen when one opens themselves up even
just a tiny little bit to new ways of
thinking at the outset of the first
series the vamp family have a veneer of
perfection almost as though they're the
presidential first family of Wisteria
Lane you're the one who acting like
she's running for mayor Stepford Bri
even dresses the part of first lady to
her husband Rex her outfits are
carefully tailored and often reminiscent
of what's often seen as the Golden Era
of political dressing with aspects of
first ladies like Jaclyn Kennedy and Pat
Nixon but very quickly in the pilot
episode we're shown All Is Not What It
Seems Bri is working too hard to create
this external portrait of the perfect
family and inside most of the family
members are incredibly unhappy including
Bri herself I'm saying do you always
have to serve Cuisine can't we ever just
have food are you doing drugs in many
ways at the outside of the show her
values and her commitment to being the
perfect traditional housewife are
holding her back from happiness and more
importantly until she lets go of some of
her more rigidly conservative beliefs
she can't give her kids the support they
need her perfectionism makes it hard for
her to parent responsibly and both kids
push back hard against it from the very
beginning she seems to be unable to
shake the very difficult heavily
gendered upbringing she experienced and
as a result can be quite cruel to her
daughter Danielle I possessed Beauty wit
cunning and insight these were weapons
all women needed to survive in the world
so take good care of your looks
Danielle you don't have any other
weapons at your disposal this backfires
on her when Danielle Falls pregnant Bri
wants to keep up appearances and raise
the baby as her own but Danielle is
reluctant to allow it because she feels
she suffered due to Bree's harsh
parenting style and does not want her
child to suffer the same fate a baby is
God's most precious gift I will not have
mine raised by a cold emotionally
unavailable woman like you in the first
season Bri finds out that her son Andrew
is gay and is seemingly mortified by the
implications Andrew just told me he
thinks he might be gay what that's why
he wanted me to come in first he thought
I could take it better well he was right
I will be waiting in the car but as the
show progresses Bri begins to see that a
lot of the things she prizes in herself
like her intelligence and her resilience
are attributes that Andrew shares she
comes to accept his sexuality and begins
to work with him instead of always
trying to fight against him or mold him
into someone else honey you're here
you're queer and I'm used to it this
development shows that although Bri is
in many ways small CA conservative she
can still be open to change and she
begins to see that there's no point in
being deliberately self-destructive in
the name of holding on to those
traditional ideals that make everyone in
her life miserable including her she
also begins to open herself up to this
kind of growth in her friendships as
well most of the other housewives on
Mysteria Lane do not share Breeze
politics which often leads to them
budding heads but over time they are all
able to build close friendships in spite
of their differences there is nothing
more important than friendships that
endure especially in a world that
insists on changing another big way Bri
began to break off from her more staunch
traditional Outlook is by finding her
sexual agency in season 3 she has her
first ever orgasm with her third husband
and it begins to totally change her
outlook on how freeing and positive
connecting with your own sexuality can
be Miss Vamp I think you may have had an
orgasm no no no I've had orgasms before
that warm sensation that tingling
feeling of relief when it's over no no
this was much
better yes by the final season she's
decided against seeking true love and
starts having one night's stands instead
though of course all the while retaining
her polite slightly cold demeanor with
the men she sleeps with she is still
Brie after all I have had husbands and
boyfriends so now all I want is a body
in my bed at night so that's it you're
just going to kick me out I am so sorry
where are my
manners it was lovely having sex with
you Bri is also a careful study of how
in the way the traditional household is
set up women can't really win no matter
what they do in season 1 she doesn't
have a career and channels all of her
energy into creating the perfect home
cooking a Abate meals dressing
immaculately and trying to keep her
family happy and she's largely
unsupported even when she outright asks
for help seeing that you're the head of
his household I would really appreciate
you saying
[Music]
something pass the salt but even though
she devotes everything to her husband
kids and home she is still blamed for
their unhappiness much to her own
frustration you emasculated him well
you're not going to emasculate me you
don't even know what that means you
pitch sock puppet the pressure she feels
after her first husband Rex dies and her
family begins to implode leads her to
alcoholism though she continues to try
and Salvage some aspects of her family
life clinging to the idea that she can
improve Andrew who at that point hates
her it's my job to teach you and you are
not half the man I know you can be got
news for you this is as good as I'm
going to get if I really thought that
I'd get a gun right now and kill us both
a large part of Bree's problem in these
early seasons is that she is unfulfilled
by her role of house housewife and
mother and the way it leaves her
isolated this becomes obvious when we
contrast early season Bri with later
season Bri when she begins to build a
Martha Stewart style Empire she really
suits having a high-powered career and
working closely with her friend
Catherine who co-own her business and
helps her out of her alcoholism would
you please tell this gentleman that if
he calls me sweetie one more time I'm
going to grab his camera and take a
picture of his colon the irony is that
the more she builds a business on the
back of her old-fashioned style values
the less she's actually living out those
values at home we see this as she goes
on a radio show to promote her first
cookery book leaving her husband Orson
eating takeout at home well I think a
lot of people miss the way life used to
be it's always been important to me to
have the family gather around the table
every night for hot lovingly prepared
meal we've seen this divide pop up more
recently as tradwife influencers sell
their wife who doesn't work Lifestyles
by doing a lot of work to create and
support their social media Empires the
difference between the Brie we met in SE
one who was gathering her family around
the table and cooking for them every
night is that this new Brie has realized
that while she served everyone else she
was neglecting herself we go on a
Learning Journey with her certainly not
without its troubles but over the show's
run Brie starts to recognize and embrace
aspects of herself that she'd previously
kept hidden I used to think of myself as
a good person lately I've begun to
realize
that I'm capable of doing whatever needs
to be done underneath her Charming Ultra
feminine exterior she is tough and
resilient and she realizes she needs to
look after herself a little more and she
sees her new career as a cookbook author
as a positive contribution to other
women who are also in the position she
was once in I have fallen down more
times than I can count just like so many
other Housewives out there we're all
just barely holding on and we all think
that we're alone but ironically Bri has
no desire to inspire women out of their
unhappy positions at home she just wants
to make the more comfortable while
they're there it's a Lifeline from me to
those other women because I want them to
know there's always a chance to get
something
right even if it's just a casserole she
also starts seeking out men who are less
stereotypical picks for a wasp woman you
could have an affair with anyone and you
choose a pharmacist you are such a
republican while at the beginning she
goes for men like Rex a doctor and a
pharmacist George Who fit in with her
existing life later on in the shows run
she tries her luck with more types in
this way Bri compartmentalizes her
politics and the way she wishes to be
viewed by others in the pursuit of
happiness though the writers still play
the politics card for Laughs
occasionally you found something bad is
he a dirty cop or a Democrat ultimately
Bri does come out on top in a way that
we've seen conservative women progress
before in the political arena in order
to become a successful politician
however it's necessary for her to leave
fair viview and all of her past
indiscretions behind her so she can
reassume the carefully constructed
outward appearance she' perfected all
those years before as the perfect wasp
housewife trip then encouraged her to
enter into local Politics the following
November Brie was elected to the
Kentucky State Legislature ultimately
she can only win in this Arena if she
pretends she doesn't have a past gun
toading perfectly quaffed and staunchly
set in her ways Bri vand Camp is a
textbook wasp and very much a character
of her era actually we don't eat meat
we're
vegetarians excuse me she struggles with
the way the world is developing and on
the surface often seems to want to
travel back in time to the dawn of the
50s housewife but during her 8 season
Arc she comes to realize that the life
she'd always been taught she'd have by
her own mother isn't actually what women
have to have all well brought up women
conceal their emotions is very useful
especially when dealing with men and if
she opens up to the right people and
accepts things out of her comfort zone
she'll be happier and more successful as
a result that's the take click here to
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