I'm halfway through season one and I'm starting to get the impression that this is a show for women. I had a suspicion about it from the start but figured it couldn't be because the the male characters weren't attractive enough. And yet the premise is suppose to be about life in the cut-throat advertising world but so far most of the drama revolves around having affairs, marital problems, and catfights - the most interesting thing that's happened so far is Draper's wife slapping the divorced single mom at the supermarket. The parts that are suppose to depict the competitive business world they live in is just a business meeting where draper gets up and says "Gentlemen... let me ask you something: Got milk?" Again, it seems like boilerplate "high stakes business drama" that the women viewers are suppose to take in the appearance but not the substance of to intuit the social status of each man.
I read some online discussions about it to figure out the viewership demographics and to find out what specifically people like about it beyond the melodrama, and a lot of the bring up the 'enigma' of Draper's character, which is something I've gotten no sense of myself. Other characters constantly hint about how they don't know anything about him, but I don't notice any idiosyncrasies about him that demand explanations that are suppose to make me care; dude sleeps with lots of women and feels conflicted about it, but I figured that was an attempt by the writer's to give a conscience to the standard licentious male protag. If this is a major thing that's suppose to drive the course of the show then it leaves me uneasy because this 'mystery box' style of writing is something I've started to loathe because of the bad payoffs: am I in for more melodrama here?
There's also the incessant browbeating about muh racism and muh sexism, which irks me because I'm a turbochud, but I can tolerate that as long as there are other redeeming qualities to watch for. So far what I like about the shows are brainstorming sessions where Draper comes up his insights about society or human psychology in order to make ads; that at least shows promise about some interesting things the show might have to say. I also like the quips from the male characters; the female sass is pretty grating though.
So am I off the mark here for clocking this as womenslop? I watched like two seasons of downton abbey before I clued in because I'm neurodivergent so my radars are probably way overcorrected when it comes to period drama. What's drama's appraisal?
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IMHO it's purely a vibes show. If you like the 1960s aesthetic and dreaming about smoking in the office and grabbing your secretary's butt without repercussions, Mad Men is your jam.
None of the story matters. Don Draper's big mysterious secret is
to the point where when it comes out in the show no one even gives a shit.
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I wish you were my secretary that i could force to get an abortion and then fire due to the emotional fallout. Ultimately resulting in you being committed to a mental facility. I tell my wife you were just crazy and everything in that letter you wrote was a lie. But deep down, she knows.
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No, really. What are the in-show consequences that Don Draperis really Armin Tamzarian ? Pete tries to blackmail him but fails because no one cares. His life continues the same as before.
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Who cares about the consequences? It was a cool piece about his backstory and I liked the wartime scene.
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