Mad Men 1.1

[seraphcelene]

Caught an the first episode of Mad Men and while it seems very well written, and promises to be chock full of fun, wicked, scandalous hijinks, I don't think that it's for me. The steel-girded femininst in me is railing at the rampant misogny. Makes my skin crawl. I can handle that kind of thing in movies for brief periods of time, but the idea of a series full of this kind of sentiment is painful.

VK was a super creep. I'm confused by Peggy, there are secrets there, I can tell. Her boss, Mr. Draper, is such a jackass and I feel absolutely no sympathy for him. In fact I didn't really connect with any of the characters. Miss Mencken was the only one who actually piqued my interest, probably she was the only character that I came to identifying with.

I am such a sucker for kick ass women characters, and the limited, strained and restrained women just make me frustrated.

So, no Mad Men for me.

Comments

[lettered.livejournal.com]

I was worried I wouldn't like this show, for the reasons you state. I usually really can't stand stories in which I don't like any of the characters. And yet, I really really like this show so far.

Part of it is the misogyny, racism, anti-Semitism, prejudice, and general bigotry are so rampant that they're an excellent commentary in themselves. There's absolutely no attempt to either excuse it or provide a hero to oppose it. I don't know quite how to articulate why this feels so different than so many other things I've watched in which all the characters are disgusting...while I try to think up words for it I'm definitely going to keep on watching.

But I definitely understand not liking it. I'm very surprised I don't hate it.

[lettered.livejournal.com]

I did quite like Miss Mencken though.

[seraphcelene]

I know! She kinda rocked, didn't she!?

[seraphcelene]

Part of it is the misogyny, racism, anti-Semitism, prejudice, and general bigotry are so rampant that they're an excellent commentary in themselves. There's absolutely no attempt to either excuse it or provide a hero to oppose it. I don't know quite how to articulate why this feels so different than so many other things I've watched in which all the characters are disgusting...while I try to think up words for it I'm definitely going to keep on watching.

That's my conflict with it. It makes me angry and antsy and twists my guts, so I don't enjoy watching it, however, I can recognize the quality of the show as, as you say, "an excellent commentary", as well as the production value, writing, and acting. I like to attempt to be objective when reading or watching this kind of thing, but for some reason, I can't quite manage it with this, maybe because it hits so many buttons all at the same time.