Desperate workwives
The women of Mad Men may bring home the bacon, but they ain't happy about it
By Catherine Disabato
Published: October 1st, 2007 | 2:11pm
Mad Men is the story of Don Draper, creative director at ad agency Sterling Cooper, whose offices are on the 23rd floor of a glossy Madison Avenue building, circa 1960. Draper works with a swarm of other men: copywriters, artists, and executives whose only job seems to be getting battered down by older, better executives — hence the show’s title. Draper is the show’s central character and its main focus. Yet far more dynamic than most of the male characters are the show’s female characters--though one wouldn’t think so given their retro-gendered occupations.
Peggy Olson is Don’s naïve-looking secretary. Betty Draper is Don’s quietly suffering wife. Midge Daniels is his independent, bohemian mistress. Rachel Menken is the head of a women’s department store. And Joan Holloway is in charge of Sterling Cooper’s secretaries: the “girls” who sit in a nest of desks, surrounded by their boss’ offices, and who dutifully answer phones, type, and fulfill their male boss’ every request. Taken together, Mad Men’s female characters create an archetype of all the things women were allowed to be in 1960 — so what’s the draw for a modern, post–feminist revolution audience?
Creating a show like Mad Men means agreeing to perform a juggling act of a sort. In the 1960s, racism and sexism were prevalent in the home and workplace in ways that may push serious buttons with today’s TV audience. When all the women in a show are, by historical necessity, housewives or secretaries (and the ones who don’t play ball, like the store owner, are chastised for it), producers have to find a way to keep from alienating a modern audience. The goal is making pre–feminist revolution characters appeal to today’s savvier viewers.
This is where the writers’ role comes in, because even though these archetypal female characters are confined by their circumstances, all of the women in Mad Men use resources they have at hand to pull themselves upward. Joan uses her sex appeal, because she believes it’s the only thing she’s got. Midge uses her independence; she chooses not to marry and thus become the property of her husband. Peggy uses her wit and manages to land a job writing ad copy. In fact, Mad Men does a better job at portraying female characters than most TV shows set in 2007.
In one episode, Betty is offered a modeling job if Don will leave Sterling Cooper for another ad agency. Don doesn’t leave, and Betty doesn’t get the job, though she does participate in a preliminary fashion shoot. The art director points out that even though Betty wasn’t selected, she has enough portfolio photos to start work as a model. At home, Don tells her that she can pursue modeling if it will make her happy. Betty, however, decides that she’s not going to work, preferring to be that happy housewife. Yet, in the final scene, Betty guns down a flock of pigeons her neighbor keeps as pets. She’s clearly trapped and well aware of the fact. She wants to be what society dictates she should be so badly that she’s willing, in essence, to trap herself.
In most modern television shows, especially those aimed at girls ages 13-17, the female characters are happy to function within their prescribed gender roles. What Mad Men does is point out that just because women can be CEOs and aren’t cat-called in the work place doesn’t mean that men and women have reached a state of equality. Though shows like Mad Men (and Veronica Mars and, to an extent, Ugly Betty) are making waves, there are far more Laguna Beach and OC clones. The sad fact is that the women in Mad Men do more to portray the complex gender (and work) politics of 2007 than the women in the OC ever will.
Issue #36
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