One more 1960s bias of note, courtesy of Mad Men… Fat, of course.
Mad Men Season 5 Premiere: (Episode 1) A Little Kiss
The real surprise in the Mad Men Season 5 premiere? Not only are Don and Megan married – they’re happy. We rejoin our favorite characters after 17 months of the show’s hiatus, and knowing Don Draper, we expect trouble in paradise. But we’re wrong. Not only has our hero married his former secretary Megan, played […]
Mad Men: Sand, Sex, and Chinks in the Chinese Wall
A touch of sand It’s just an innocent ride home from Jones Beach, right? A little bit of sand clinging to Peggy’s skin. A crowded car. Peggy is jammed onto Abe’s lap as he strokes her arm, brushing off the sand. Is that sunburn on her face, or the undeniable color of chemistry? Right. They […]
Why You Should Be Watching Mad Men (Especially if You’re a Woman)
The heart of the matter All those sayings… about a woman’s place, about a woman’s power, about the capacities – and limitations – that are inherently female. Must I really enumerate them? Can’t you rattle them off in your head? They’ve been planted there since you were a child, you know – whether you’re 30 […]
Why We Love Our Television Heroes: Mad Men Episode 6
Bigger than life. Flashy. Flawed. Cagey, corrupt, capricious. We love our television heroes, and our anti-heroes. Big screen or small screen, we escape into fictional lives, finding points in common, or nothing in common at all. Mad Men is the perfect example of this phenomenon, as the Emmy award winning drama – again, just last […]
Mad Men Season 4 Episode 4: The Rejection
Mad Men continues to do what it does best, revealing characters in all their complexity. “The Rejection” is filled with nifty elements which seed future story lines as bad news transforms into opportunities for some, and drives others into deeper despair. Of course, we don’t yet know which paths our favorite characters will take as […]
Mad Men: Christmas Comes But Once a Year
“Christmas comes but once a year” For the sake of our hero, Don Draper – and for his daughter, Sally – we’re grateful that Christmas comes but once a year, and of course the New Year celebration as well. We’re reminded by the latest Mad Men episode that holidays are painful for those who are […]
Mad Men Rocks the Boat with Season 4 Premiere
“Who is Don Draper?” Did I hear that correctly? Was it really the opening line for Season 4? Will it set the stage for whatever is to come? Identity: New Don Draper, new firm, new players, new show If Season 3 of AMC TV’s Emmy-award winning drama Mad Men was all about unveiling the secret […]
Memory, Myth, and Mad Men
We’re two days away from Mad Men Season 4, premiering on July 25th! For those of us who can’t get enough of this Emmy-award winning drama with its seductive and complex characters, the slick and subtle depiction of the sixties, and plot twists for our favorite actors to navigate, it’s worth a few minutes to […]
Mad Men: The Confrontation (Episode 11)
Last week’s Mad Men was an exercise in subtlety and restraint. While it is titled “The Gypsy and the Hobo” (for the Halloween costumes worn by the Draper children), I’d like to focus on the exchange between the main characters, as Don can no longer duck the past he’s hidden from his wife for a […]