Why Do Women Love Mad Men?
Virtually all of the show’s women are wives, secretaries, waitresses, models, or stewardesses and the one professional woman in the piece, Peggy, is at the bottom of Sterling Cooper’s white-collar hierarchy. Here is an America that today’s professional woman didn’t merely reject. She burned it to the ground and danced on its ashes.
Though women’s fondness for fictitious sexy rascals has been there forever and will never go away, Don’s misbehavior comes as part of a package that women find hard to resist. In Don’s world, women aren’t likely to rise to the top in the working world but they assume total command of the household. They may not know where their men are in the evenings when they say they’re at “business dinners” (and frequently are, with young models or foxy department-store heiresses) but that leaves them plenty of time to conduct discreet little flirtations of their own.
And if Don and Co. close off large portions of their manly doings behind a wall of omertà, that means the women don’t have to listen to any sniveling about their men’s anxieties, their feelings, their doubts. The men know their mission is to take charge, work hard, and give their families what they need financially, not emotionally. Emotions are women’s work. The astonishing number of women with advanced degrees who today elect to drop their careers and stay home with the children shows that equality did not make women quite as happy as they thought it would. Maybe the working world is what men have always considered it to be: not a source of freedom or self-actualization but a necessary routine, a duty, a bore.
The women who watch the show aren’t just sighing with lust for Don. They’re sighing with relief in contemplation of a world that, though unfair and imperfect, is carefully ordered and stable, at least on the surface. Yet Mad Men is a testament to how important surfaces can be when there is a consensus that the unpleasant parts of the past ought to be enthusiastically buried. There’s no monster of the deep so fearsome that it can’t be chased away for a moment or two with a pitcher of martinis.
“There’s no monster of the deep so fearsome that it can’t be chased away for a moment or two with a pitcher of martinis.”
Amen to that — a truer word was never spoken.
Are we are watching the same show?
Mad Men is more than Don Draper, which is a good thing since for most of last season he behaved despicably. The women on the show are quite interesting and their storylines are why I continue to tune in. The show is visually stunning, the period details accurate, and the music helps set the mood. What may be its greatest appeal is it is a nice contrast to our current “tell everything to everyone” culture. And the economic prosperity and optimism–oh how I miss that!!
TO: All
RE: Entertainment Imitates Life
Sounds like all the symptoms of a sick society to me.
Glad I gave up on television back in the late ’90s.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The medicine for a sick mind is the study of history. -- Livy]
“Why Do Women Love Mad Men?”
I don’t know…they certainly voted en masse for Obama, who is certifiably insane. I think dim-witted, Oprah-following types dream of sleeping with such losers.
I have another idea. I haven’t seen a single episode of the show, but I love the commercials. Why? Because of the clothes, makeup, and hairstyles.
Gotta admit that I’m fascinated by it. I grew up in the 60s. I was too young to understand what was going on with the adults around me, but there was always this taut undercurrent. Neighbors hung out with each other day and night, then would never speak to each other again. Little Debbie’s father had to lay down in the dark bedroom during a party because he didn’t feel well (drank too much). My father would socialize with colleagues and then, after an expected commission didn’t come through, we were forbidden to ever mention those colleagues names. Eventually, grown-ups traded keys with each other at cocktail parties (I thought it was nice that your friends would let you borrow their cars for a night when you were tired of your own). I look at Mad Men as a window into the world of my parents generation. Not very pretty or very subtle, but it is what it was.
The reason why I have maintained interest in this series since the very first episode is because I look at it as America before the left took over every aspect of our culture. Although the show is probably considered of the soap opera genre, which I normally detest; this is a non-outlandish sophisticated soap definitely worth watching. As far as I’m concerned, AMCTV has the only original programming worthy of viewing on television today.
A show about America, before political correctness, is definitely worth a view.
Mad Men!? I get mad enough watching our country go down the tubes.Who cares about some fantasy show about immorality in the ’60′s? Grow up and deal with THIS reality!Our country is in trouble!
My friends and I watch Mad Men because it realistically depicts marriage in that period and the subordination of women in the workplace. The writing and acting are fine, and because (in my case) Jon Hamm is what we used to call “a dreamboat.” SNL replayed his hosting episode last night and once more I was impressed by his comic sense and his versatility. One wonders why he has not become a leading man in the tradition of Cary Grant.
That said, it is definitely a show written by liberals, and the fact that many in the cast are played as Republicans is probably no accident.
“Sounds like all the symptoms of a sick society to me. Glad I gave up on television back in the late ’90s.”
Make sure you don’t read any Shakespeare, history or watch any classic movies like “Gone with the Wind.” They’re loaded with such stuff. it must be nice to be a linear descendant of people who huffily objected to the printing press, for making available for reading by “common people”, all manner of material that wasn’t religous or even in Latin. Progress is terrible isn’t it?
Chuck P–it may be worth a look. The last show I liked as much was the old b&w “Perry Mason”.
Back to the article, I suspect that men love Don Draper or want to be him. Don and Roger are both predictable characters, with Roger involved with a string of young ladies who resemble his daughter. (icky) I will say this for both of them, they don’t whine. Perhaps I should re-evaluate, men in suits who don’t whine. OK, perhaps my heart is melting a bit.
I’m with Anneke. I, too, grew up in the 60s but was too young to understand what was going on. This show fills in the blanks, explains what I experienced in adult ways, and, frankly, has some pretty stellar acting. Plus, Jon Hamm is some major eye-candy.
Rick (#8), I spend most of my days in panic mode because of what too many people are ignoring in this country. My Cassandra meter is broken. A little escapism keeps me (somewhat) sane. You do what you have to do to survive.
I can’t get through five minutes at a time of this tawdry show. The characters are all despicable (except, predictably, the jumped-up secretary). It is a liberal perversion of Leave it to Beaver. Oh, look at how ugly was traditional America!
Did some of this go on? Yes. Still does… in a different form. But there were also champions of virtue. There were lots of strong men who believed in things. There were just things that one did because they were right. Lots of things. And these were everyday men, men of decency and wisdom. They had codes of behavior. Some codes were bad, but most were very good.
To get a sense of what men were like then, just look at John McCain. Forget his politics, which can be very misguided. Look at his character. Sure, he displays some very naked ambition, and for this, he will bend the truth… to a point… but not beyond! He has also been ferocious in standing on certain principles. He won the Pub nomination, because he spoke of Freedom and Leadership and Principles. He lost the election, because of his statement that the fundamentals of the economy were still strong. He grew up learning that a Prez should not talk down the economy. He stuck to that. He is an example of the typical dichotomies of that former era.
I’ve reviewed the debates. No one else was inspiring. Huckabee was, when moral questions came to the fore, but he spoke not of Leadership. Romney was boring. When the subject turned wonky, he was great. Reminded me of Jindal – competent, but uninspiring. Paul was similar – wonky (and loony, at times).
I didn’t care for McCain’s politics, but he defined himself with values and principles like men of his day. Huckabee finished second, because he defined his morals. The people on this show Mad Men have no values whatsoever. The show simply dishes dirt with panache. Women always find classy villains sexy. I’m a man. I see only dirt and villains.
Don Draper is a tabula rasa, a blank slate, given his real self is buried deep & hidden from view from his family & colleagues; he is a mystery & appears to be suave & debonair, yet he is scum of the earth who regularly cheats on his wife at the drop of his hat. The other men in this show are equally low for different reasons. Mad Men is a tinted liberal shades of gloom beneath the neon glow of rosy colors on the surface.
Who is Don Draper? When we know the answer, the show will be over. However, Don Draper is not the only character on the show; it has a multiple character cast; sometimes, Don Draper plays minimal role in some stories, but he is certainly the lead in the show.
I have been a ‘stewardess’ and a secretary and when I inadvertently tuned in this show I sank further and further down in the sofa and cringed. When the first episode ended so did my cringing. The show is so very reminiscent of the early 60s and is so well acted by everyone. I can’t wait for the start of Season 3 tonight. I am 72 years old.
How interesting! It’s great to hear that the show is actually accurate from a lady who lived through the era!
My mother was from that time, and confirms fully how the real business world office worked. I think she sees many of her former workplace colleagues there on the screen. Does she want those days to come back? Well she is retired now, but she says the same thing as the article, no one sniveled in those days, they would have fired you, or taken you out back for a blanket party. About time we looked back and saw JFK and the men of his time.
The show gets a lot of hype. But S1 had 900K viewers ,and S2 only 1.5 million. So most women find it boring. It makes no real money, AMC is using it as prestige builder for folks, not money-maker. AMC like most cable nets makes money from cable fees not advertisers.
The show is basically a female fantasy of bad boys they cannot resist, being beautiful victims. Its a woman’s idea of a man, as distorted as the idea of waifs kicking butt for geek amusement.
The broader theme of various bad boys being loved by their female fans (Rescue Me’s lead character rapes his Ex-wife, former Buffy showrunner Marti Noxon, now writing Mad Men, had Buffy raped by vampire boyfriend Spike and fall in love with him over it), has been large for years. It’s fundamentally a lazy fantasy, a man who is hunky, violent, and bad who makes the female character a beautiful victim people feel sorry for, and yet has her violent male testosterone dose every day. The way Dalrymple noted his female patients AND NURSES chose violent and abusive men every turn, in “Life at the Bottom.”
This theme has limited appeal (as seen by the ratings) but gets a lot of fuss because it is “shocking.”
Far more artful was the sadly cancelled “Life” with Damien Lewis (Band of Brothers), as a cop freed from a wrongful conviction by DNA, searching for the conspiracy that framed him while solving the puzzling cases coming his way, and becoming connected once again to the world and others. It was a masterful portrait of masculine behavior, at once compassionate and shockingly tough, self-sacrificing and angry, with a theme of controlling anger so that the hero does not slide from hero to villain.
Oh, and though it got little attention and audience, the women who did watch LOVED the very traditional male character, who was not a bad boy at all. Not the least of which was his relationship to his troubled, substance abusing female partner who comes to trust him implicitly.
I love Mad Men because it depicts a specific era in America in exquisite detail; the costuming, the mores, the language, the historical events. It is extremely well written, no fluff piece. The roles are clearly defined along with all of the constrictions of those roles in society. The storyline also has an element of impending disaster, deep dark secrets may be revealed that is compelling. None of these elements exist in current TV. This is the only TV “show” that I watch. Otherwise, it is news, current events, history or TMC movies from the 30s and 40s. Mad Men has no equal on TV
Don Draper has a manly manjaw, God damn it!
It’s that kinda jaw that split the atom, built the Apollo rockets, and made sweet love to the Mid-west.
Wow, some of the comments here were really good – especially Anneke’s. My parents also hung out with a group of friends with kids. I was the youngest of my siblings by several years, so I was way too young to even know there was anything going on beneath the surface. And just like Anneke said, one day they stopped speaking. It was over. My elder brother and sisters to this day speculate over what might have happened.
As for why women love Don Draper? Because he is a mystery. A classically handsome tortured man. He’s deeply damaged, and unable to trust or be happy – his character is classic in the sense that this character has been in the culture since the Greeks and probably well before that.
The appeal of the show is that so many topics which are now verboten, thanks to the Archie Bunker era cannot be examined in the modern context, so we must travel back when non pc attitudes prevailed in order to re-examine gender roles, racial relations, childrearing, etc.
i’m a woman and i hate, hate, hate mad men. i watched two episodes and hated both of them and refuse to watch it ever again.
i haven’t read through the comments list yet, but i’m looking forward to seeing what other women have to say.
i have to agree with the commenter who said the characters are all despicable… pretty much the same reason i didn’t/don’t like desperate housewives…
call me whatever you want to call me… just don’t make me watch this crap. i much prefer better off ted. heh. now that’s funny.
and if i want period costumes and stunning visuals… i don’t know. i’m sure i can find a better way to see them than spending an hour a week in the muck with the low lives that populate this show.
A show where men are men, women are women, everyone looks great, and there is tons of gossip – what’s not to like? Sounds like US magazine on the screen.
If you want men to love it, replace 80% of the dialog with car chases and ninja sword fights.
These people have no place in my home. Kelly, Yeah! Yeah!
So you think Don Draper is attractive – try again. He is the type of guy you run from- bad news from the start.
But I like the clothes.
aclay1… i guess the men i know, including my brothers, father, uncles, grandfather, and my friends aren’t men then… at least not according to your definition.
i did once date a guy who was a jerk like this… only one and only once though. i learned my lesson and am thankful there are no creeps like this in my life now.
thank God.
I love Mad Men! It’s one of the few shows that both my husband and I can’t wait to watch together. Like many, I was a child of that generation of men and women and see my parents and their parties, etc., through new eyes. I saw my mother struggle with the same things that Betty Draper does. It’s also a wonderful excuse, if one is needed, to play “dress up” and drink cocktails – a whole world of make believe. I especially love the women – Joan Holloway in particular – part of it is the total appreciation for a “real” woman with real curves.
Yes, it’s depressing sometimes – well, most of the time – but it’s just so beautifully done. I feel for each of the characters – each with his or her own struggles/secrets – especially Sal, Joan and Peggy.
Never seen the show. Gerard links to an interesting review of the Hitchcockian camera work in Retro the camera…Mad Men
I Think women love the Draper character because they see good in him and imagine he could be brought out of the “darkness” of sexism and they like the show because the it exposes unfair treatment of women at an interesting historical remove, the implication being that here in 2009 women are still confronting the legacy of fifties sexism.
In short, women don’t see Draper as evil but as victim of his own prejudices, and this gives rise to hope that he and the system can be changed for the benefit of all.
Mad Men is great. And the way the individual dramas and relationships unfold is very compelling. But the fact remains despite all the resaearch and the (most times) quite brilliant writing, it is sometimes betrayed by anachronisms, and the behaviours, however honestly attempted, are seen and editorialised through the eyes of the young writers.
But then it’s drama. I started working in advertising in 1968, a little after Mad Men, but the types in the agency were pretty much the same. The reality is that although people’s views, attitudes and behaviours were somewhat different then, most people – men, women, senior, junior – just got on with their lives. If you had told my boss, a senior VP, married with three children, that he could be having an affair, he would have looked at you with astonishment, if not a little fear! All very normal, but you wouldn’t want to build a TV show around him!
No, the reality is that every generation – 50′s, 60′s…..90′s, 00′s – thinks they know everything. That the sum of all human wisdom, knowledge and behaviour is invested in “us”. But just think; many who have posted here have or will have children who, in thirty or forty years time will be writing dramas that look at today and what we believed, with astonishment, condescension , and perhaps a little contempt. (Mind you I shudder to think what they will regard as acceptable behaviour!)
Marc Malone, you should watch yourself brining up John McCain as a paragon of virtue. Ask his first wife about John she may have something to say about his “honor”. I voted for the man myself but just remember ever decent and honorable man probably has a few people who view him as the scum of the earth. For those who don’t know about his first wife here you go…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html
Mad Men and Mad T.V pretty much reflect our core beliefs. It seems that our Mad Men cycle of life is the best and only way and ultimately, in retrospect, we’re just providing material for Mad T.V.
I love Mad Men. I think it is a great period piece that is superbly acted and the sets and costuming are beautiful. With that being said; I find it incredible to look back at the reality of women in the workplace and at home and see how far we have evolved. We (women) decided that it was not our plot in life to sit back and let men oogle, demean, and harass us just because we were “the weaker of the sexes”. Don Draper’s wife is a perfect example: she does everything “right” the way society at that time deemed “acceptable” ; married a handsome man with a god job, moved out of the city to the suburbs and had children. Now she is miserable because she knows she is “stuck” society would not accept her if she decided to leave her cheating husband and has no way of financially supporting herself and her children. So what does she do? She puts on a fake face and makes the “best” of her plot in life by drinking, smoking and ignoring her children. I can tell you lovely people out there reading this comment that because of what my parents witnessed in their own households in the 60′s they instilled in me a greater sense of self-worth and female empowerment. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not a marching member of “NOW” or anything like that. But I do know that I will not nor ever tolerate being treated a fraction of the way the women in this show are treated. So yeah, Don Draper is absolutely gorgeous, and mysterious and all of that stuff. But it is also nice to know that later in that decade that those same women that are depicted in this show took a stand for their basic human rights too and I owe ALOT to those women.
Don’t forget, the writers made sure Don had a rough childhood. In fact, they never forget to remind us of it. If that isn’t victimology even hard-edged feminists can identify with, I don’t know what is.
We’ve never watched “Mad Men.” 2 years ago it appeared to be a replacement for “The Sopranos,” which my hubby loves and I don’t. Maybe because I was so young in the early 60s, my parents were so miserable together and my dad was the consummate workaholic,achiever, the premise of this show leaves me cold. Yet so does any touchy-feely crap on Lifetime, etc.
We have just about given up on TV and are collecting and reading a lot of books. Until “Fringe” and “N.C.I.S” come back in the fall, our TV is off mostly. However, having read this, we might give “Mad Men” a try if we can find an early episode available online…
It’s certainly stylish and well-crafted, attending to all the details of time, place, and dress. But the few times I’ve watched Mad Men, what struck me most was the injection of current sensibilities and attitudes into a period that the writers can only imagine — it’s almost cartoonish in the characterizations.
It’s a sad commentary that the best of the craft is devoted to sordid story lines and debauched characters. Way beyond a portrayal of mere human frailty, this is a weird romanticizing of depravity for entertainment.
Clare Spark nails it: “… it is definitely a show written by liberals, and the fact that many in the cast are played as Republicans is probably no accident.”
Mad Men is Alinskying a happy time. The leftists who write the show need to trash stable marriages, excellent high school math scores, rare teen pregnancy and movies that don’t debauch children.
And children were free then, because Mom was home–your time wasn’t schedueled, your weekends were with friends not an ex-parent, you could roam at will.
Good point cheeflo. The show is very cartoonish with their characterizations.
And it can’t be emphasized enough that MM is run by liberals. Their goal was to show the audience just how horrible life was back then.(and the corollary- how great it is today) Of course, back then kids were learning the 3 r’s from non-pc textbooks and actually spent a good amount of time playing outside. Obesity wasn’t a problem and the great majority of families actually sat down at the dinner table and ate meals together.
#17 Whiskey. I remember when Spike tried to rape Buffy. It was AFTER they had started having sex with each other. She ended it and he tried to rape her. They never had sex again even after he got his soul back. She did, more or less, forgive him. But that’s the Christain thing to do, especially since he earned it.
AWESOME article! I don’t watch the show–it’s a little too trashy and depressing for me–but it’s fascinating (not to mention GORGEOUS) and I know a lot about it.
The best line: “Maybe the working world is what men have always considered it to be: not a source of freedom or self-actualization but a necessary routine, a duty, a bore.”
You nail it in an entertaining, stylish way worthy of your subject.
My father owned a one man advertising agency in the 1960′s. Often we discussed advertising at the dinner table and in the evening. He was an artist. He did not like what he called “idea men”. Every customer had them. They had advertising ideas. My dad was the one who created the actual ads. He knew what made a good ad. He liked a Mondreon layout. His largest client’s art director asked for a kickback. Dad would not do it. Subsequently, the account went to a much larger out of town agency. He never talked about it even once. My mom told me. I suppose he had to let her know why there would be a reduction in family income. To supplement his income, he took a job delivering orders for medicine. This only lasted a week. One day he delivered to a woman wearing a see through nighty. He quit rather than be tempted into ruining his marriage. Again, the 411 came to me through my mom. Mad Men captures the era in looks. It is too bad that there is no one on the series who is not despicable for whom to root. I began my career with a high tech company in the 1970′s. I could tell you of my personal story of office ingtrigue and politics that would make your head spin. No ten year cultural stretch is without people and their good and bad behavior. If Mad Men is written by the left and they are impuning marriage and standards, then, the hypocrisy is glaring. The non standards they have bequeathed to us over the years in changing America has produced booming rates of the highly undesirable activity and outcomes depicted in the seamier side of Mad Men. Oh didn’t I say, I do like the show.
#13: “It is a liberal perversion of Leave it to Beaver.”
Uh, Marc … are you referring to the TV series or the porn flim?
The problem is, at heart, Don Draper is a weasel and a coward. In the first season, he ran away from his childhood family because he didn’t like his dad, left his brother to hang himself for the rejection and then tried to run away from his adult family when a co-worker threatened to blow the whistle on his youthful act of running away.
The only thing manly about him is he drinks, smokes, and cheats on his wife. He’s one of the least interesting characters on the show.
13 marc malone and 21 kelly: I agree 100%: if i were younger I’d use it as a dating test: “Like Mad men? Yes? Check please!”
I’ve watched the last two seasons on line so I got a whole dose of the show at once. I think people in the comments are taking the show way to seriously. It is a quality drama with a very interesting subject, the early 1960s right before the whole country went into a period of about fifteen years of pure insanity. I like looking back on the period around the time I was born. It is more about how the WWII generation raised out of depression and conflict “kicked ass” for 20 years and made America the superpower that we still hang on to today.
Are the characters reprobates, drunks and liars? You bet. But in comparison to Oprah, Bill Mahr, Bill Moyers, Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews or Rachel Maddow. At least Mad Men have balls where these guys I just mentioned, don’t.
I have been watching Mad Man since its first episode, and enjoyed it, but last nights Season 3 opener was a complete dud. The scene where a heterosexual, and a homosexual were cheating on their wives at the same time, and the act was interrupted by a fire drill has put me more in the camp of #36 Bob’s post.
I am hoping they do not turn this into a 60′s version of ‘Desperate Housewives’, but I’m afraid that is where it is headed. This is the only show that I have loyally watched, and am now having my doubts about it.
#30 Todd – Well, I agree. I did say that they had values, some bad, but mostly good, did I not? I certainly wasn’t lionizing him. But make no mistake, while a mixed bag, McCain at times stands tall, like other men of his time.
(Btw, I didn’t vote for him. I live in WA. Deep Blue territory. I voted Constitution Party as a protest against the Pubs choosing a Conservative Democrat to represent them.)
Thanks for all the agreements with my post. Nice to be appreciated.
#41 biblio44 – Was such weak, poor-taste snark really necessary?
My criticism could stand a little clarification. They do get a lot of things right, but they fail to balance it with displays of the really good, even noble, values of the times. That’s why the characters seem despicable to me. They have no redeeming virtues. I’m a man. I don’t hope there is something there to be salvaged, and thus love to be found. WYSIWYG.
I have seen every episode of Mad Men. I remember those days of the early 60′s and am fascinated by the hairstyles and wardrobes. But, it also reminds me of how much our culture has changed in my lifetime. I have also been in advertising and marketing and, believe me, those were the glory days of the industry!
I think part of the attraction of MM is that many of the characters (especially upper management) seem to have dream jobs. And they have everything else as well..good looks, health, money, sex, attractive friends and mates. And yet,…..they all seem unfulfilled. Perhaps, MM (and especially Don Draper) is a commentary on the “American Dream” or an expose on the futility of materialism.
Interesting analysis of what women like from a male non-fan who clearly isn’t observing the ironies of the show. How many women did you consult before proclaiming this theory?
How many of the women who love Mad Men do you think really share your nostalgia for a pre-feminist society? Do you watch war movies because you literally want to be in the middle of a war? Or is it to see glimpses of familiar inner conflicts rendered archetypally large?
Do you think the women who love Mad Men would describe all of the characters as “despicable?” That they watch it only to judge themselves better, or to fantasize about being bad, or to consider themselves heroicized for being so?
Literary writing isn’t made of such black and white moral shading; nor is a loyal, educated fanbase. If these characters’ lives and conflicts were already resolved in our minds, there would be nothing to watch.
#48 android – Patton said that, “Compared to war, all men’s other endeavors pale to insignificance.” I agree. Nothing ruins a war movie more than “familiar inner conflicts writ large”.
No, women would not characterize all the characters as despicable, especially single women. They are notoriously bad judges of character. They voted overwhelmingly for Obama.
This kind of show is already resolved in my mind. There ARE no plot ironies. None. It’s like watching an egg falling towards the kitchen floor. I know it will break and be a mess. When you understand human nature well enough, you can predict what certain types in certain situations will do with great accuracy. I’m rarely surprised anymore, unless I don’t have the bead on someone yet.
I don’t protest the show because of their protrayal of all the bad values and behaviors. They most certainly did exist. I just hate that there are no representations of all the good and great in men of the time. They are cartoonish, two-dimensional depictions. Blech!
“What do women want? The answer is obvious. They want Don Draper. But they don’t know why.”
Are you speaking of the fictional women on the show, or are you speaking for all women who watch the show? I hope it’s not the latter.
Don’s wife Betty (January Jones) drives drunk, horrifically mismanages her children, and has an affair of her own with a stranger.
What the hell? I hate it when people resort to such vagaries. Since when has Betty ever drove a car, while drunk? Please, name the episode. And by the way, she manages Bobby and Sally a hell of a lot better than Don does. I don’t recall him ever being around when needed. Or even bothering to discipline his children, until Betty forced him to do so in this last episode. Apparently, the only thing you got right was that she had sex with a stranger.
An article about the show is sure generating a lot of comments for a TV drama that few watch. I watched an episode just to see what all the fuss was about, and found it sort of boring. I think the thesis of the show is anti-family and anti-society, which is viewed as trendy and hip, so it legitimates a kind of pile-on fantasy mongering. What’s significant is that it was the Mick Jagger or Elvis sort of bad boy that used to appeal to women, and now it’s this guy in a well tailored suit. It’s all about status, or rather status combined with sex appeal that has been legitimated (so one needn’t be ashamed). During the ’60s the lie told to women was more subtle: that they were joining a “movement,” with a hierarchy that had been legitimated by “the struggle.” What we have now is a more “mature” hedonism.
MM lost me with Betty’s affair. She was the one character who seemed to stick to her principles, however flawed. Now, the sole purpose of the show appears to be liberal loathing of American society — capitalism is bad, family is pointless, everyone is a hypocrite so anything you do is OK. How boring and disappointing.
Wow, this review is hilarious! Good job at completely failing to understand women. I’ve met many women who love this show, but not a single one who would “sigh with relief in contemplation” of the Mad Men world, nor a single one who would want to be married to Don.
But of course there will be out of touch men who interpret peoples’ respect for a brilliantly NIHILISTIC drama as genuine approval of the time period. We like it because of how utterly brutal, chaotic, and heartwrenching it is, not because we want to live in their world.
I don’t watch it, but I believe from comments I have read it gives the liberal white man haters an excuse to continue their reverse discrimination with a warped clear conscience.
PS I have a Hispanic surname, support border security, oppose amnesty, was 100% feminist supportive until I finally realized it is a “really screw the man anyway we can fairness has no place here” movement.
Anyone who thinks “Mad Men” should aim to accurately depict life in the early 1960s suffers from a fundamental misunderstanding of what television/Hollywood does.
Certainly, some aspects of that era are accurately portrayed, and in stunning fashion. But when it comes to presenting a worldview, TV shows and movies are not supposed to be accurate. They’re not supposed to show you the whole picture. It’s all pretty much propaganda, which means some things are going to be omitted, while other things will be highlighted, depending on the agenda.
The much-maligned “Leave it to Beaver” does give us a good insight into how life was during the early ’60s; “Mad Men” gives another. Neither, however, gives the entire picture.
In postwar America, many families did spend more time together like the Cleavers; Dad was a stable force who provided for his family, while Mom enjoyed staying home taking care of home and hearth.
Then again, the immorality and debauchary depicted in “Mad Men” also existed. Some dads molested their children and beat their wives. Some women cheated on their hard-working, faithful husbands and abused their chidren.
We’re not shown the seedier side of life in “Leave it to Beaver,” and we’re not shown the good side of human nature in “Mad Men.” And that’s because they’re pieces of propaganda which have different goals.
But propaganda can be entertaining; in fact, it’s crucial to the process — if it weren’t entertaining it wouldn’t draw us in. “All in the Family” was pure propaganda, and I loved it. How many housewives do you know who literally ran to fetch their husbands’ beers like Edith did?
Like “All in the Family,” “Mad Men” is a great TV show. You just have to realize going in that it’s going to present a certain worldview. As long as you bear that in mind, you can enjoy it for the entertainment aspect of it.
As to the central question of why women like the show, it’s simple: Bad boy syndrome. Many women find bad boys sexy, but their sensibilities can’t tolerate the very reasons for the badness. So they convince themselves they can change their bad boys, at least until they finally realize he won’t change.
Women watch the show hoping some woman will come along to change Don Draper. After all, while he’s certainly a lout, it’s also been made clear that he isn’t all bad. And he was abused as a kid — perfect reasons for a starry-eyed bad boy groupie to hang her hat on when deciding whether to continue putting up with her boy’s badness.
“It’s not his fault; his dad beat him. And he has a chivalrous side, too. He’s only bad because he’s trying to cover up his fears and insecurities from having been abused. If I can help him get over those fears, he’ll stop being bad.”
Textbook stuff. Will some woman come along to save Don Draper from his demons? Stay tuned…
are you serious with this article? Uh, maybe women like the show because its smart and portrays women in a complex, respectful and feminist light…which is the complete opposite of your sexist, stereotpyical article.
Women love the pretty dresses… duh.
I’ve watched the first three seasons. While I do believe there were some entertaining moments, I just don’t think it warrants all of the praise and awards it’s been given. I’d rather watch Friday Night Lights. FNL has characters I can relate to. None of the Mad Men characters are likable, except maybe Peggy, but she’s only tolerable sometimes. Pete’s a weasel, John is a pervert, and Don is full of himself. If it weren’t for the affairs and sex, the show would actually be quite boring ’cause I don’t give a damn about their lame ads or how they come up with their copy.
Women love pretty dresses