“Mad Men” — Ladies Room
In the fish tank.
I feel like all you need to know about Mad Men, and by extension 1960 corporate America, was summed up early in this week’s episode when Peggy walked into the ladies room and saw one of the other secretaries (I think it was Kristin Schaal’s character) bawling her eyes out. It’s that sense of having to spend your waking hours in a perpetual state of objectification; where the ladies room presents the one place for sanctuary. The irony being this was also the primary location for beautification — preparing oneself to go back into the wild of the office space. More after the jump…
We’ve all gotten new jobs working for some corporate entity (well, I suppose not all of us, but still…) where on your first day they sit you down to watch “The Sexual Harassment Video” — complete with plaid pants, horrible acting, cheesy synth-music and god-awful screen Chyrons. It is often the funniest thing you will do all day. Yet here, on this brilliant series, where the acting is pitch perfect, the suits are well tailored and the music nonexistent those same situations suddenly become horrifyingly real and far more shocking than any bit of violence or sex we’ve become so very used to watching on television.
Mad Men is currently the best (and perhaps most important) series showing in all of television. Maybe companies should start swapping out their grade-z in-house videos for a few episodes of this.
The first episode of the series went to great lengths to set up this world that we’ve likely forgotten, and in doing so mostly showcased the titular men in all of their cocky, womanizing, drunk, racist glory. This week much of the action was from the point of view of the women around these men. Peggy, the nebbish newbie-secretary, trying to figure out the rules (or lack of rules) for her new environment finds out that even the “nice” guys are looking for little more than a window of opportunity. On the home front, we get a better sense of Betty, Don’s suburban housewife, who is suffering from some form of anxiety (and why shouldn’t she be, after all a divorcée just moved onto the block!) causing her hands to go numb. Betty ultimately sees a psychiatrist, recommended by her husband and we’re all left thinking that maybe everything is going to be OK. Those thoughts were quickly put to bed when Don rings up his friend the shrink and asks to find out exactly what Betty told him. So much for doctor/patient confidentiality.
The show’s innovative because we’re getting to look at an era that seems long gone and yet nags at us with uncomfortable familiarity throughout. I suspect it works as well as it does because it isn’t visually stylized. The details of the era look pitch perfect, but unlike a lot of period movies the the creators don’t try to tack on an added layer of sepia or technicolor or any sort of distancing filter that makes us think were looking at anything other than reality. It’s weird, but how often do we really get to see the past in complete visual clarity without that clarity being heightened?
On the lighter side, there are a few scenes that initially play as horror shows but upon reflection aren’t nearly as damning as everyone had told us they should be (maybe). These scenes typically revolved around what kids were or weren’t allowed to do “back in the day.” For starters, we see two kids climbing from the front seat to the back seat and then back to the front again while riding in the car. When I’m watching this all I can think about is, “Oh my god, these kids are going to die brutal deaths.” But then Betty wrecks the car and everyone is fine. Maybe because she was driving slowly, but more likely because she was more or less driving a tank. You didn’t need seatbelts when you’re surrounded by two tons of steal. A second jump-out-of-your-seat moment came when one of the kids was playing while wearing a large plastic garment back over her head. The only concern by the parent is that the clothes that were originally in the bag would now be wrinkled. The kid was fine… and happy.
The thing is, all of our parents grew up like this, and for the most part they all made it out alive. When I was a kid the car seat could still be used in the front, but apparently doing that today is akin to just setting your baby on fire and throwing it off a cliff. I don’t know, are we turning into a generation of coddled adults? The expression is “better safe than sorry” and I’m sure many lives have been saved, but safe isn’t nearly as much fun as dangerous. I guess now I’m starting to sound like a cranky old man (probably because but deep down that’s what I’ve become). I’m going to find some playground equipment made of rusted metal and splintered wood. You should drop what you’re doing and check out Mad Men.
