Shameless: a grotesque look above the love in the suburb

Abstract

The present article studies how are gender roles in erotic-affective heterosexual relationships represented in the social context of the suburbs and marginal classes, in the U.S.A. version of the successful TV series Shameless. The representation of the series to the most vulnerable and excluded social groups tries to avoid classist representations, but from a feminist perspective, we investigate if resistance and transgressions are reflected in the gender roles reproduction. That is, if in this fiction there is also a place for anti-hegemonic practices and discourses against the sexual order. In order to do this, we have developed an analysis, which includes a theoretical part, a discursive analysis of audiovisual text, and a qualitative research based on interviews, to see how the grotesque operates in Shameless by revealing patriarchal devices of romantic love and its contradictions.

Keywords

• marginalidad
• género
• clase
• amor romántico
• shameless