fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2305 ]

[ SECRET POST #2305 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2305 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Team Starkid]

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[Denise Donovan, Regina Spektor]

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[A Very Potter Musical]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 016 secrets from Secret Submission Post #329.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Watching Mad Men. Just finished S3. I looked a bit into fandom, and I hope this was just a fluke (or perhaps the result of later seasons), but I can't believe how everyone is fawning over Don Draper. He's...so awful. He's just an awful human being. He abuses the crap out of Betty (he actually threatened to kill her! WTF!), serially cheats on her, and is utterly horrible to basically everyone he meets. It really bothers me because I can't tell if it's just supposed to be because of the time period, or because the writers don't know any better, but I lean towards the latter.

When it's about the former, they make it clear through editing. Joan's rape is obviously styled as a rape. The ridiculous amount of smoking, or the littering they did in the picnic--they highlight this, sort of raise the eyebrow for the viewer. But other times Don just threatens to throw Betty out a window, and the show only remembers for a second.

And is everyone on this show a rapist and adulterer? Pete, Joan's loser doctor husband, Don, and Roger have either raped or been rapey. Basically every other husband has been unrepentant adulterers. And while some of that can be attributed to the era, they are way overemphasizing it.

And I just really, really hate Don, and the show is only half-aware of how bad he is. It's like they want him to be this Byronic archetype, very brooding, but also charming, but that kind of character doesn't work when you're trying to be serious about human portrayals. Who could take a guy like Don seriously in real life? His stupid cryptic comments, his blatantly intentional mysteriousness? It's weird because the show points out how stupid that is for other characters, like Kinsey, but Don gets away with it. Women--smart women, apparently--just can't resist his rude and hostile charms! So far he's had four major mistresses, and all of them have been portrayed as savvy and more independent than Betty, yet all of them just couldn't ~resist~ Don and his charm.

It's like Sex and the City but for men and in the '60s. But a ton more rapey.

It doesn't get better. This is why I stopped watching the show and left the fandom, sadly. :(

I can definitely agree with you on some of your points here. Don (although not as much in Season 5-6), Roger (although not as much in Seasons 4-6), and Pete (moreso in Season 4-6) all have affairs, which definitely gets old as a plot point the more you watch. I mean, I understand why they initially used the affairs as a plot device to emphasize their loneliness/unhappiness with their lives/unsure of what they want, but sometimes I wish they could show those things--or even fix those things--with some other trope.

Their treatment of women has been pretty consistent across the series thus far. I mean, life is incredibly difficult for women now, and it was worse just 50 years ago. But while the women on the show often get a ton of crap, they are by no stretch of the imagine weak or stupid. Peggy, Trudy, and Joan are the best examples of not putting up with shit. In regards to Betty, I was totally sympathetic to her up until mid-Season 3. Her treatment of Sally from Seasons 3-6 gets increasingly worse and more abusive. Betty even treats Henry Francis like crap as their relationship develops. And if Season 6 is anything to go by, it does not seem like she is improving in any aspect; if anything, I'd say she's getting worse while Sally is getting more and more badass. At this point in the series, even I'm hoping that Don snaps and just does her in so that we don't need to see her cruelty anymore. Side note, the Bobby Draper before this one quit the show because January Jones was such an Ice Queen. Honestly, I wasn't surprised to hear it: http://www.aoltv.com/2011/08/23/janaury-jones-warning-bobby-draper/

Don definitely has a lot of faults, which Weiner usually excuses through flashbacks to Don's past. The flashbacks at least give us backstory as to why he is the way he is, which doesn't excuse his behavior in most situations, but at least explains from where his rationales come. The women he cheats with often have their own reasons for cheating because some of them are even married themselves. Don's affairs are usually another example of him escaping the reality of his life, which he is often disappointed or unfulfilled by for whatever reason. The way he and other characters escape is also facilitated by alcohol, cigarettes, and--in later seasons--drugs. In speaking with my Baby Boomer mother whose father was a corporate man himself has attested to the amount of drinking and smoking that went on in the '50s and '60s.

If you ever want to talk Mad Men with me, I'd be more than happy to! :D

Edited 2013-04-25 23:49 (UTC)

Some of those are a bit...spoilery...:(

Ah well, nothing serious.

In any case, actually, I do like the women of the show. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Joan is my favorite character thus far. I like Peggy, but they seem to want her to be a main character without actually focusing much time on her. It's strange. I still like Betty, but what you've said has made me nervous. The level of abuse inflicted on her definitely means I don't give two craps that she cheated on Don (even if she apparently never slept with Henry and she almost immediately got a divorce, which still makes her a better person).

It's the men I have an issue with. Like I said, the show only seems to be half aware of how deeply messed up they are. I mean, they know Don is messed up, but it's like they also want him to be this kind of broody fantasy characters for guys to imagine them being--so tortured, so alluring--while safely able to distance themselves from the abusive part of his nature. It doesn't mesh well.

The flashbacks are another point of contention for me. They do seem to be used to excuse his behavior, and not just explain it. I suppose part of the problem is that it feels like other characters are frequently getting their comeuppance and karma flies back at them to tear a chunk out of their ass, but Don never really suffers that. There's this divorce, but I'll have to watch S4 to see what it actually does to him. If it hits him long, hard, and he never recovers from it--acceptable. But my guess is that's not what's going to happen...but who knows? Maybe this has been a really great character arc being set up, and I'll end up really loving him from now on.

Thanks! I don't really want to get into fandom since a lot of the show is unsavory to me, but I still really enjoy it. It's nice talking about it.

If you catch up, you should check on this Mad Men comm. It's still very, very active. :)

http://madmen-tv.livejournal.com/

I'm with you, I cannot stand Don and I think the show would be much better with a different lead character-- Pete, even, perhaps. It doesn't help that Don is supposed to be all charming and devastating, but Jon Hamm just looks confused and/or constipated most of the time.

That's how I feel. It's not that Don isn't leading man material, in that he's interesting and all, it's that I hate him anyway and he makes the show worse for me. I was surprised to find out everyone really hates Pete. He's certainly no worse than any of the other dickheads on the show, and definitely better than the likes of Don. Except raping that German au pair.

Constipated? I'm sure I don't know what you mean.

In regard to Pete, without any spoilers, I'll leave you with this: Wait. Just wait for it. I liked Pete in the same way I liked Betty, but again, he too takes a turn for the worse from Season 4 on.

That's not really making me confident towards the show getting any better. I'm jumping the gun, but I'm afraid that I'm going to see a lot of "Look, Don really isn't the horrible, horrible person you think he is--Betty turns into a raging psychopath (who isn't allowed to get away with it like Don is) and so does Pete!". Who knows? Well, you do. But still. I don't really want to see Don redeemed. He doesn't deserve it. I certainly don't want to see other characters thrown under the bus for him, which is what I fear.

Again, not trying to spoil here, but so far in Season 6, Don has done anything but redeem himself, while certain other characters are at least attempting to. It is definitely worth sticking with, if only for the drama aspect. And Peggy. You should definitely stick around for Peggy. :)

I had to quit watching the show because I despised all the male characters and it made me feel icky to watch them. I think the show is very well acted, beautifully costumed, and often very darkly humorous, but I only made it through the first season.

I get what you mean about Don. It's kind of endlessly annoying that every time he does something bad it's either glossed over or resolved in an episode. Things don't seem to stick to him like they do to some of the other characters and it's a bit frustrating. The most interesting thing about Don, really, is the non-sexual relationships he has with other people (his kids, Peggy, Joan and Anna especially) since that's when you really get to see him at his most human, but even with those people he has major moments of lies and dickery. I really hate the constant need to have a new mistress and the fact that apparently no woman in existence can resist the power of his dick, too. It gets a bit ridiculous after awhile.

I will say that I think most of the female characters get even better as the show progresses, though, and it is really fun to watch just to see what happens with them. Sally, Peggy, Joan and a character that you wouldn't have met yet but who comes in in season 4 are all really great and the primary reason that I'm still watching. If they weren't part of the show, I honestly would have given up by now.

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[ SECRET POST #2305 ]

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