The women of "Mad Men"

I just finished watching the first three seasons of the show Mad Men. While I don't think it was the best show I have ever seen I did keep me mostly entertained. It was thought provoking to say the least. A few years ago I read a book called "No Logo" that was about the advertisement industry's manipulation of the American consumer. Most people do not realize how much we are manipulated but advertisement watching a dramatization of this industry was what originally attracted me to watching the show. I could do an entire post on the industry, and maybe one day I will but "Mad Men" doesn't really examine the ad industry. It doesn't make any judgements on the industry's manipulation. The manipulation is there and acknowledged but none of the writers or characters experience any real angst about it. In spite of this disappointment, what kept me watching was the general portrayal of the early 1960's and more specifically the portrayal of women in that time period.

There are three major women characters of note in the show. First, Peggy Olsen is a young woman from Brooklyn who starts at the ad firm as a secretary and eventually works her way up as the first woman copywriter in the firm. Initially, she is portrayed as a mouse-ish school girl virgin. She has no concept of her sexuality and femininity. While she is clearly competent she has no idea how to act in a male dominated office. It is very interesting watching her grow and develop, watching her insecurities melt away, watching he learn that she has just as much value as any man.

Joan Hollaway is the very smart, very savvy, very sexy office manager who leaves the firm to marry a doctor. She has the abilities to take down or build up any person she chooses. But unlike most of the men in the show she uses her brains for good and not evil. She is smarter than her husband the doctor, better spoken that the slickest ad men, and classier then the wealthiest debutant. I find myself wanting to know more and more what makes her tick.

Finally, Bitsy Draper is the suburban stepford housewife of the main character. In season one we are shown a character who is hopelessly devoted to her husband even though she knows he cheats on her and lies to her. Eventually, it becomes too much and she leaves him. However, in typical mainline fashion not until she has another rich man lined up to take his place. For me her story is the saddest and the most typical.

Each of these women have an character arc which is sometimes depressing but always interesting. The show pulls no punches when dealing with women and their roles in the early 1960's. It shows the harassment, assault, and lack of choice that women of that time were forced to deal with openly. Of course all of these things are around today of course but they are much more suppressed and behind closed doors.

I have often heard people who call themselves conservatives recall this time period fondly. All I can say is this was a hard time to be a woman. Any woman who takes for granted the freedom she has today should watch this show and see how things have changed.

Oh and PS the costuming of these women is great!

Logic sucks

I am the kind of person who is attracted to things that are bad for me. Sometimes I manage to cut bad things out of my life and I am a better person for that. But I still miss the bad things. I miss them allot. I like to consider myself a person who loves logic but I still can't overcome longing for the things I should logically want out of my life.

A few words on Vampires, Morality, and Power

I have always found the idea of Vampires very interesting. Yesterday NPR did an interesting article on Vampires specifically looking at Vampire popularity throughout history. The article addressed the fact that right now, Vampire works are going through a resurgence in popularity. It further ties this popular resurgence and other resurgences of the Vampire cannon to times of change and uncertainty in the general population. The article argued that Vampires are popular now because of economic and environmental uncertainly, in the 1980's because of the Cold War terror, in the 1930's because of the depression, and when Bram Stoker's Dracula was produced because the first big wave of immigration occurring in Great Britain. The strength and immortality of the Vampire is attractive to a society that feels vulnerable.

The article went further though to discuss how the current generation of Vampires are different from those in the past because they are looking for morality. Specifically, we can look at the Vampires in True Blood who want to main stream, join society, and drink exclusively artificial blood. Similarly, we can look to the Cullen family in the Twilight series who survive without taking human lives but rather by drinking animal blood. The article argues that these modern Vampires are searching for morality today because society is searching form morality in a corrupt world in a way that hasn't happened before.

I think the first premis is intersting and true, however, the second premis of this article is a fallacy. Specifically, I believe this anology is false because if we accept the first premis that people are looking for stenght then the second premis that individuals in power are searching for morality. It can't be denied that the Vampire in society is an individual of power. Therefore, I think if the Vampire was a in fact a mirror of modern society then it would be more blood thirsty and unfeeling than ever. We simply are not living in a time enlightenment and compassion. This is especially true for the people in power. Is Vampire CEO being generous to his employees. No. Is Vampire politician putting deminsihing corporate welfare in favor of creating real health care coverage for the people in this country. No. Is war-machine looking for peaceful solutions to the world's problems. I don't think I need to answer that. In today's society to be called liberal is an insult. Furthermore I think that the majority of the people in this world know that our leadership is amoral, greedy and corrupt and expect nothing better from them. It is an old say but true today more than ever, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutly.

I guess Vampires are fictional and so a the moral Vampires are fictional as well. Here is the link to the article if you are interested: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123115545&sc=fb&cc=fp

Unacceptable

Its been a year and half since the voters of this country elected President Obama. Organized labor was a huge reason for Obama's election and he has unequivocally failed us. He promised to support the Employee Free Choice Act and hasn't. He promised to stop giving corporate subsidies to to business who violate employees rights, he hasn't. Maybe some of this is understandable, if not acceptable because of the economic crisis and his attempt to get consensus for health care reform. However, what is completely unacceptable is his failure to appoint new members to the National Labor Relations Board. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the federal agency that regulates labor law. Right now the Board only has 2 sitting members and 3 are needed to hear cases. That means no cases are being heard and employers have been able to violate the law with even more abandon than normally. Unacceptable.

PR is not news

So there a few websites that I look at nearly every day. I like to keep up to date with the news so I read NYT online. I love my friends so I keep up with them on facebook. I check my email a few times per day etc. I'm obsessed with becoming a better poker player so there are a number of poker sites I read on a daily basis. None of these sites anger me as much as the final site I look at on a daily basis... nymets.com!

That site just kills me because it is claims to report news to the teams fans. But these reports make "Faux News" actually look "fair and balanced." I'm sick of reading stories about how great this player or that player is going to be this year or how Mets management has put together a competitive team. Now I hope in September to eat my words, but, I do not believe that the 2010 Mets are going to be a competitive team. There are a number of reasons and as inept as Mets management is I don't know if there is anything that can be done about the team for this season.

Of course the most ironic thing about this rant is I can't even direct it at the Mets, because MLB controls all income and content related to official team websites. I'm sure every team site is similar. I wonder what the Pittsburgh Pirate site says.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

"All I did was was marry him. You are the ones who gave him power."

I just finished reading "American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld. I have read all of Ms. Sittenfeld's novels and found her first two "Prep" and "Man of My Dreams" to be pulpy, neurotic, fun. The characters were flawed in a way that I could relate to. Alice Blackwell is a much different character and "American Wife" is a much different book that Sittenfeld's previous efforts.

"American Wife" is a fictional portrayal of the life of former first lady Laura Bush. There are a number of similarities between the life of Alice Blackwell and Ms. Bush. Each of the four parts of the book are broken up to the address where Blackwell lived, her childhood home, her single person apartment, her first home with her husband, and the White House. Parts one through three in, my so humble opinion, are well written and page turning. They lay out a life of a person a think I would like to spend time with. Alice Blackwell is a smart, compassionate, proud woman who because a happy wife and mother. Part 4 however deviates from this formula.

In the fourth part of this novel Alice Blackwell changes her fundamental philosophy of marriage and her life. It is quite unbelievable. During Bush's reelection campaign I remember having a sharp debate with my fellow progressives about Ms. Bush's complicity for her husband's actions. My debating opponents seemed to take a stance very similar to Ms. Sittenfeld's, that Ms. Bush loves her husband but strongly disagrees with him politically and probably suffers an amazing amount of guilt for her complicity with his actions. My friends and Ms. Sittenfeld's proof for theses statements are Ms. Bush's clear intelligence. I disagreed then and I disagree now. Ms. Bush is intelligent, knew what she was doing at every point in her adult life. She didn't stand with her husband because of some antiquated "stand by your man" notion. It is too easy an out for her. We all agree that she made her bed, but I believe that she has no problem at all sleeping in it. This was not a change in her fundamental philosophy, it is her fundamental philosophy her whole life. It is a bad philosophy but one so many people, especially women adopt.

Overall, I would say "American Wife" is a thoughtful read. If you are in love with W. you may not like part 4. But if you aren't, read this section with a critical eye none-the-less.