Good
morning!
I’ve been
thinking a lot about the subject of my first “official” post, I wanted to find
the perfect TV show to
talk about. Then I realized that there are so many shows I like, that I’m
following now or that I’ve followed in the past, so I just decided to start
with the first thing that came to my mind.
In these
past months I’ve been watching non-stop Mad Men, a beautiful show that I had
never considered before, since when a friend of mine introduced me to it.
Mad Men is
an American TV show created by Matthew Weiner and first presented to the public
in 2007. Since then, 5 series have been produced and had a great success (the
show won several Emmys during the years).
There would
be so much to say about Mad Men: it is about advertising in the 60s and tells
the story of a group of ad men, better known as “Mad men” (Mad is the
abbreviation of Madison Avenue, the iconic street in New York where the best advertising
agencies had their offices). In the first episode we immediately have this
explanation, and we also find out that the men themselves coined this term.
Very much in Mad Men is about creativity, is about how to interest the public
and make it buy products. It is a very modern topic, if we think that even
today the main part of advertising is “to create a need” in people. If you feel
that you need something, you are very likely to buy it (even though you don’t
really need it). Advertising creates this need and Mad Men is very good in
showing us how this works (What about the problem of smoking? In the first
episode we are told that some medical researches show that smoking kills. Then
the main problem for the Mad people is to find a new way to convince the public
to buy cigarettes again).
But Mad Men
is not just this. As I said, there is so much to talk about, that one single
post is not enough. Plus, I don't want to give too many spoilers to those who have not seen the show yet. So for today I'm going to focus on one character only; there will be time to discuss the show in details, but I will announce it with a "spoiler alert" :)
The main
character of the show is, without a doubt, Don Draper (Jon Hamm).
Important
member of the Sterling and Cooper company, he started out as a simple creative
(a copy- writer) and now he’s become the guy who says yes/no to projects. At
the beginning of season one Don is married to Betty (January Jones) and has two
children, Sally (Kiernan Shipka) and Bobby (played by different children during the seasons) . They live in a nice house in the suburbs and, while
Betty stays home (as the perfect wife), Don goes everyday to Manhattan where
his job is.
What seems to be the “perfect” American family is actually just a mask.
Don is not faithful to Betty, he has several lovers around the city and he
doesn’t seem to regret his behaviour. Betty doesn’t know about her husband's infidelity
(or at least she seems not to know) and Don can live this double life without
any problem.
It doesn’t matter how hard we try to justify him, Don Draper is not a good man.
He is unfaithful and doesn’t seem to care that much about his family; plus, he is not even very thoughtful with his lovers.
But, and here's the contradiction, we can’t help loving him.
He just has something that attracts us to him and makes us think “oh well, it’s Don”. This is something that has “shocked” me from the very beginning: why do I like a character like that? What does he have to make me forgive him for what he does?
Well, left aside the fact that he’s a very handsome man (thank you Jon Hamm!), I guess that what is interesting in him is his psychology.
Don is a very complex man and we can’t say we know him well, even after five seasons. He has a difficult past, a story we are told along the seasons and that is supposed, in a way, to justify his behaviour.
Moreover, he’s very good at his job and gains a lot of respect for what he does.
But I think that for me, what makes me like him is his "unexpected heart”: sometimes, during the episodes, he is able to say something, do something very kind and thoughtful to someone, that you just want to hug him.
I’m thinking of the kindness he sometimes shows to his children, or the bond he establishes with Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), or the pure love he feels for Anna (Melinda Page Hamilton).
Don seems to be far away from us, he seems to live in a world of his own where we are not invited but sometimes, through these actions, he reminds us that he’s a man, like all of us, and that he has feelings.
It doesn’t matter how hard we try to justify him, Don Draper is not a good man.
He is unfaithful and doesn’t seem to care that much about his family; plus, he is not even very thoughtful with his lovers.
But, and here's the contradiction, we can’t help loving him.
He just has something that attracts us to him and makes us think “oh well, it’s Don”. This is something that has “shocked” me from the very beginning: why do I like a character like that? What does he have to make me forgive him for what he does?
Well, left aside the fact that he’s a very handsome man (thank you Jon Hamm!), I guess that what is interesting in him is his psychology.
Don is a very complex man and we can’t say we know him well, even after five seasons. He has a difficult past, a story we are told along the seasons and that is supposed, in a way, to justify his behaviour.
Moreover, he’s very good at his job and gains a lot of respect for what he does.
But I think that for me, what makes me like him is his "unexpected heart”: sometimes, during the episodes, he is able to say something, do something very kind and thoughtful to someone, that you just want to hug him.
I’m thinking of the kindness he sometimes shows to his children, or the bond he establishes with Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), or the pure love he feels for Anna (Melinda Page Hamilton).
Don seems to be far away from us, he seems to live in a world of his own where we are not invited but sometimes, through these actions, he reminds us that he’s a man, like all of us, and that he has feelings.
What do you think? Do you watch Mad Men? Do you like Don Draper?
Ok it's all for today, thank you for listening and stay tuned :)
H.
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