Kelly Jo from the new Dunderhead Nation Podcast joins me to talk about the Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series for two years in a row; Mad Men.
We also talk a bit about the Fall tv shows before our internet connection goes out.
I announce the winner of the Write My Outro contest.
Click here to listen.
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Listening to you and Kelly talk about Betty and want to chime in. Y’all talked about how she has everything but doesn’t appreciate it. That’s the point. Betty has all the trappings that a woman of that era aspired to, but it’s not fulfilling for her. The 60s are a time of change when women and what they should want was changing. Betty is one type of 60s woman; the divorced neighbor was another; Don’s boho mistress was another; Rachel the dept. store owner, another. Same with Joan and Peggy. The show makes each of these characters pretty black and white so that the contrasts stand out. So Betty has yet to evolve with more modern thinking, but mainly so that she remains a foil for the other women Don gets attracted to.
Back to more Betty specifics. As you said, this is the era when adults didn’t define their self-worth by their childrens’ accomplishments, therefore Betty gets no satisfaction or pride in having the children or anything they achieve. That new teacher (and I haven’t seen last night’s) and her progressive ideas about Sally’s feeling when Grandpa Gene died stand in contrast to both Betty and Don.
I also really have to disagree about Don’s treatment of Betty. Don views Betty as an accessory to his life, not a whole person. He treats her interest the same way he treats Bobby and Sally’s. He’ll pay attention for a few minutes, but he doesn’t take it anywhere close to seriously. When he writes on her phone list this demonstrates it. His business is real; hers is just play. He also fails to treat her anywhere close to a partner or intellectual equal. The way he lectured her about his contract is evidence of that. And don’t forget he’s lied to her their entire relationship about who he actually is. His name is Dick, not Don, and his wife with whom he’s had 3 children has no idea.
Now none of this is to say that I think Betty is a person I’d want to be friends with or like. But that’s the thing about Mad Men. Like the characters in LOST, everyone on Mad Men is to great extent unlikable in the cold harsh light of day. And while I’d never want to be married to Don Draper, I still can’t help but like him. And while I’d never want to be Betty Draper, I sure can’t help wishing I looked like her and spoke Italian like her.
BTW, Alan Sepinwall and Mo Ryan both always have great blog posts after the episodes with tons of the little details that make Mad Men great. Check ‘em out if you aren’t already.