Mad Men: a brief, spoilery review

I decided, out of nowhere, to watch all of Mad Men, which I just finished watching the other night. And yes, it’s beautiful and period (at least with respect to clothing and props), and it’s incredibly unsubtle about the deep serious links to Issues Of Today.

It is also misogynistic, and not just because it’s set in a period we have all decided was entirely, irredeemably misogynistic. (It cannot even be bothered to have non-white characters for some nice old-fashioned racism.)

Now, on the one hand, though the main character is clearly Don, the important secondary characters are three women (Don’s wife Betty, the sole female copywriter Peggy, and the head of the secretarial pool Joan) and one man (another employee, Paul): these four characters are all about equally well developed, though there are arguments about this. The less important secondary characters and tertiary characters are mostly, though not entirely, men. But that’s about the only thing that veers away from misogyny.

The show doesn’t just portray an environment of casual sexism, it revels in it, making sure to show that women who tried to use what little power was available were doomed to failure and looking miserable, making sure to show an entirely unnecessary rape (in fairness, it was a clear rape, despite being an acquaintance rape).

The men are, sure, alcoholics, but until the end of season 2, this wasn’t shown to be a problem for anyone. The women, on the other hand, are neurotic, or hysterical, or catty and hating other women. Because women never, ever supported each other and were all crazy. Most women were happy to have affairs with married men; the rest were desperate for attention and love from their husbands who didn’t actually like them.

The stereotype of the shrewish, harpy wife is an old one, and if you look at it more generally, it’s a wife who wouldn’t just willingly accept whatever she was given without ever wanting more. It’s odd that, in the 60s, none of the main female characters in the show really want more from their personal lives than what they have. Peggy might want more from her job — but note she does many secretarial duties while in meetings as a copywriter — but she doesn’t want much from relationships, because she doesn’t have any. (That speech she gave to Paul, though nice, was not warranted by the plot.)

And despite all this: the show is in many ways a good show, a show where they are clearly trying not to be too sexist without realising their blind spots. The show tries to show the sexism of the times as a bad thing, and to an extent it succeeds, but it fails totally when it comes to sexism that’s around now.