My 84.5-year-old mom is a Mad Men addict.
But guy shows generally aren’t.
This. That’s why none of the breakout, paradigm-challenging characters in the show are men. It’s very early for guys in one of the country’s kingpin industries to be going against that culture - or even to be all that aware of the rat race they’re in.
I’m a woman and I love it. Besides luscious visuals and great writing, keep in mind what Don Draper says about fictional female figures–men want her, women want to be her. Women love beautiful female characters as much as men do.
I’m a woman and I like it. I HATED it in the beginning but have warmed to the series as the story has unfolded. The hatred for the first season was mostly due to the fact that my blood pressure would rise when I would watch it because of how the women were treated. My husband (a huge fan of the show) would tell me to keep it in context, but because I work in an office environment as do the women on the show, my brain just couldn’t wrap around one of the ladies in the office not being able to retaliate for their treatment by the men and partners in the firm. Honestly, in most cases it was the small slights that got me going. I remember in one scene, Don Draper walks into his office past the coat rack and waits for his secretary so that he can hand her his coat and hat rather than doing it himself. I just seethed over that particular scene. Of course, I also got as angry when it happened in The Devil Wears Prada, so I am an equal opportunity hater :D.
These days, I’d actually expect more sexism from a chick flick/chick lit than in something that was targeted to men. In something targeted to men, yeah you’ll have some hotties who parade around vapidly, but you’ll also have the full strong, female characters who are the ones who get real lines and story purpose and they’re not presented as submissive to the men or anything else.
Fans of the show I know are pretty much split down gender lines (which is usually a sign of a good show). It’s pretty much the most openly feminist drama on television right now. As Weiner said, it’s called Mad Men but it’s almost always about the women, and while a lot of the stories are collected from women in his family some of those crazy kooky 1960s office antics are actually the experiences of writers and friends who only entered the workforce in the 1980s or after.
I don’t think I’ve ever even heard someone suggest that the show itself is sexist. I guess maybe those dolts who see Don Draper have a drink and are too stupid to observe his life spiraling out of control (the same kinds who thought Tony Soprano was the shit) might think the show’s sexist, but also that ‘Those were the days.’ Maybe they don’t get how horrible it was for Joan to marry her rapist, or the prejudices Peggy faces, but then they’re not going to get anything that’s not written on a 2x4 aimed at their head.
ETA changed ‘feminist series’ to ‘feminist drama’ since Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are pretty open with their feminism (though their shows’ outlook could be argued either way, I guess).
At one point Peggy demands equal pay as the male copywriters (“You know they passed a law!” – referring to the Equal Pay Act of 1963) and far from cowering the face of a federal lawsuit, Don literally laughs in her face and tells her she’s lucky to have a job that should go to a man and she should STFU if she knows what’s good for her.
My wife loves the show and not only because Jon Hamm is, let’s face it, breathtaking. I’ve enjoyed the couple of episodes that I’ve watched, but I don’t get what all the hype is about.
Which is why she is going to be amazing as Emma Frost in the new X-Men film. Emma Frost is Betty with superpowers.
Also, I’m a heterosexual male but, shit, I’d probably do Jon Hamm.