Mad Men Season 5 running thread

The best are the people who rail about how the show is "sexist" because it shows sexism taking place.

Um, art is not advocacy.

These are the same people who think "Lolita" promotes pedophilia, I'm sure.

 

Yeah, one of my old co-workers was like that. I heard her say to someone else that Mad Men is a terrible show so I asked her why. She said because it's sexist. I also later found out that she had seen like one episode. When I tried to talk to her about how it's not sexist (and pointed out that it was a feminist who got me into the show), she got mad at me for not just accepting her argument.

 

typical woman's reaction [#ducking]

 

Anyone who thinks it's sexist, how, should review the first half of the first season.

Now THAT's sexist.

 

I think you can make a pretty compelling case that the majority of interesting characters on Mad Men are women.

One of Gross' complaints (that's not quite the right word, but close enough) was that she wanted Don to end up with Dr. Faye, the marketing expert. And that she didn't really like seeing Don Draper drunk so much, with puke on his shirt, in The Suitcase. And Weiner's answer was quite good. He essentially said, "I understand that people root for certain things to happen on television, but real life -- which is what I'm trying to depict -- is much more complicated. People often don't make the choices we think are best for them."

Weiner's explanation for why Don chose to get engaged to Megan was really quite good. You can see why David Chase thought Weiner was such a good fit for The Sopranos, even though he didn't join them until late in the run, because they view "storytelling" in similar ways. This is, ultimately, art. And quite frequently, art is not about giving people what they want on screen. It's about serving the story in an honest way.

 

Mad Men is an inherently feminist show. It vilifies the men as abusive alcoholics, many of whom can't even perform the tasks of their jobs without a woman's help. Meanwhile, Joan Holloway and Peggy Olson are portrayed as heroines whose bad decisions are the direct results of interaction with men.

 

I love this series like my life, but it's extraordinarily-progressive in the telling, and it's starting to get just a wee bit gratuitous. Balance is all.

 

I knew it was a fever dream as soon as Don opened the door. How would that woman, who he slept with years before, know where he lived with Megan? Yeah, she could have looked in the phone book but hedidn't ask, "How did you know where I lived?" He asked "How did you get in here?" And it was still during the day. How would the woman know he was at home and his wife was still at work?

 

This is great.

What Don Draper needs and what Don Draper wants are in completely different galaxies. Dr. Faye was perfect - independent, smart, sexy, strong, successful, caring and accepting of Don. They built something that looked like it could last a lifetime. Then Megan comes along and Don falls for her. And I'm grateful Weiner has the balls to be honest.

 

Weiner established his escape hatch, there, when he showed Faye was lousy with kids, and Megan was good. The. End.

 

It was certainly made a point. But was she "lousy" or just inexperienced? I guess, in the end, does it matter? Don might be a womanizer, drunkard, asshole or whatever you want to title him, but he loves his kids. A lot.

 

To me the dream sequence was about how badly Don wants his marriage to Megan to work and his personal fear that he'll screw it all up again through his own weaknesses.