Comments on: Mad Men

By: Mad Men: Essen, Trinken und Aussehen wie die Coolsten « mach’s dir doch selber

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:05:51 +0000

[...] vor allem in den aktuellen amerikanischen Kollektionen zitiert. Auch die Parallelen zwischen der Aufbruchsstimmung der damaligen Bürgerrechtsbewegung und der heutigen Hope/Change-Rhetorik werden in den modischen [...]

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:51:21 +0000

No, I don’t think I have. I watched parts of the first season peripherally and really started paying attention this season. I’d like to get my hands on the first season in total without having to pay for it. :P

the Season 2 episode, “Flight 1″ and the interactions between Paul, Joan and Paul’s black girlfriend, Sheila? There wsa practically a big debate over Joan’s comments about Sheila. Have you forgotten this?

Was this an online debate or a debate within the show? Apparently I don’t know what I’m talking about.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:57:34 +0000

“Oh word. I should have said, “Racism is a hard thing for me to analyze in Mad Men in part because there are so few people of color…” I think the show has a huge hole in ignoring the differences between, notably, the black people in the fictional environment as compared to the white people.”

So, are you saying that you’ve never seen the Season 2 episode, “Flight 1″ and the interactions between Paul, Joan and Paul’s black girlfriend, Sheila? There wsa practically a big debate over Joan’s comments about Sheila. Have you forgotten this?

In fact, Sheila will be making a repeat appearance, later this season.

By: Merryn

Merryn — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:45:22 +0000

Season 2 is set in 1962, so the events of late 62 and 1963 that JR mentions haven’t happened yet.
There has been some attention to racial issues, particularly the awkward semi-accepted position of Jews in NY. The first episode showed a black man in a menial position at a restaurant get in trouble for ‘bothering’ Don when Don had been asking him questions that he reluctantly answered, and a reference to black janitorial staff being fired for a theft that wasn’t.
I think the show, particularly season 2, has a very strong feminist subtext. The limits of women’s lives then are being drawn very clearly through the differently positioned female characters.
One thing that I found interesting was Betty’s behaviour with her son, snapping at him for every little thing he does wrong, because her understandable anger at her husband cannot be expressed.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:41:31 +0000

I want to take issue with the circular logic of the claim that it’s hard for the show to talk race b/c there are so few black characters. If the show can capture the tensions and underbelly of gender segregation in both the home and office, then it can — and should — do the same for race.

Oh word. I should have said, “Racism is a hard thing for me to analyze in Mad Men in part because there are so few people of color…” I think the show has a huge hole in ignoring the differences between, notably, the black people in the fictional environment as compared to the white people. Considering that this is on the cusp of enormous change in regards to MLK and freedom riders, like you mention, I can’t believe it hasn’t come up yet. If the civil rights movement is something that Don Draper watches on TV, I’m going to be so pissed off. Of all the narrative opportunities squandered. But for the moment, I’m waiting to see where the writers take us; it seems like there is a planned trajectory in place.

If it doesn’t happen, Mad Men is ripe for “The Wind Done Gone” treatment.

By: lauram

lauram — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:32:46 +0000

I’ve only seen season 1 as I too am watching on DVD. I’ve loved it from the get-go. Being in my mid-40s I came into the workplace as it transitioned from the politically-incorrect (ala mad-men “show us more than your ankles baby”) to the more politically-correct (sexual harassment is real and can be prosecuted). But as I speak to younger women, I get the sense that they think that the workplace has always had what scant protections it does now. IT DIDN’T. If Mad Men can show these 20 and 30 somethings “they way it was”, I think that can only be a good thing. In my early career days I remember constantly being asked to be the note-taker in meetings (’cause I guess men can’t write quickly or something) and being in the room as off-color and sexist and racist jokes were told, and having to pretend not to be offended because I didn’t have any other tools or ways to respond.

Mad Men, because it shows the carelessness of the white middle class men of the time, to women, to the environment, to minorities, to anything and everything that didn’t feed their egos and pocketbooks, is as good a primer on how far we’ve come as any television show I’ve ever seen. If it raises the awareness of younger men and women as to the “good old days,” it is doing a progressive service.

By: atheist woman

atheist woman — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:33:14 +0000

JR agreed. There are probably half as many black people on show as there are white women, which means that they wouldn’t even have to work that hard to show their realities as well.

By: JR

JR — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:55:33 +0000

Right now, they are totally dropping the ball. It is, what, 1963?. Martin Luther King wrote “Letter from a Birmingham jail” in 62, “I have a Dream” speech was delivered in 63, Medgar Evers has been murdered, freedom riders are organizing everywhere… There are plenty of ways to integrate this into the plot. Pun intended.

They don’t even do small things with the camera angles and timing to suggest the double consciousness or dual perspective of the black maids/coffee workers/bellhops that occasionally pop onto the screen. Shit — show the maid come home to her family at 1am after working her ass off making Don’s dinner party a success. Show the coffee server observing all the shit she sees in the office and contrast that with her reality as she commutes home…

Saying that b/c there are no black characters, therefore the story can’t analyze race in the same way it dissects gender is just a cop out. I like this show, but I am utterly perplexed by its silences here. For all its interest in showing the cracks beneath the surface of the picture-perfect 60s, they are missing the mark.

By: urbanartiste

urbanartiste — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:14:58 +0000

I understand the difference between portraying x and endorsing x, but there will always be someone that will watch this and enjoy the “isms” in it. I personally can’t stand this show, but I watched it once after reading so many articles about the writer and he seemed smug.

An older cousin who worked in that era asked me if I watched it. She said she lived it and can’t stand to watch it. It brought back so much frustration and anger for her. I just hope the show will progress to the time when all those marginalized in that work environment start to take it over. But I am not holding my breath after reading some of the negative responses by the writer/creator when asked about the changes that will inevitably take place. You can’t stay in 1960 forever.

At this point in our time don’t we need more shows promoting equality and the progress for the future rather than stepping back? I really doubt the people that need to be less prejudice will watch this show and have an enlightenment. It is usually the ones that get it already that are discussing this show.

By: Cola Johnson

Cola Johnson — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:11:50 +0000

Oh, I love this show so much. I wish to death I could watch the second season right now. I only saw the first episode on Hulu.

Thanks so much for this review. I’ve been seeing a lot of people denouncing it roundly as sexist, and it pains me to see people misunderstand the intentions of the writer.