"The show takes place in the 1960s, but so much is about today. It's just a lens through which you're seeing these stories that happen everyday in everybody's lives."- Carly Wrey, Mad Men Staff Writer
I should be studying for finals, but I can't help but lament the end of Mad Men tonight. Easily one of the most important TV series to air, the show pushed the boundaries on sexism and gender inequality in ways that are much more poignant, albeit representative and candid, of the treatment of women in a man's world, than do the more female centric shows on TV today. Mad Men didn't alienate its male viewership, it lured them in with the romance of Don Draper's life-- a man who seems to have it all: money, looks, women, and yet still can't get enough.
But seeping through the cracks of the vain facade this show paints of Madison Avenue are the Betties, the Peggies, and the Joans--victims of the tornado men that pass through their lives, charm them, then leave them torn to their foundations as the next account, or the next woman, waltz in with a $500 dollar mink coat and an old-fashioned in hand.
No one on this show is a hero- everyone makes choices bad enough to vilify them in the eyes of the viewership. Its the fates of the characters that justify the place they hold in this smoky world which, despite the passage of time, is not so different from ours today. The penultimate episode, The Milk and Honey Road, seems to have marked the end of Joan and Betty's story. It doesn't end well for either of them.
And it shouldn't. It would be disingenuous for the show to wave a white flag in the face of feminism, a movement that only began to gain traction in the year the episode is set. This is a time when women didn't win--they were resented and not taken seriously. Its no surprise that Betty, Don's vain and waifish housewife, has been the most abhorred character in the series. Its no coincidence that Joan, the deliberate eye-candy for the show's male characters and viewers alike, gets barely a nod for closure in the context of her plot line. The show kills Betty and overlooks Joan, just as viewers had.
There's still some hope that Peggy, the ugly duckling of the three female leads, will end up with some semblance of a happy ending. A career girl who has given up her love life for the sake of her job, Peggy may very well end up getting the promotion she deserves and finally ousting Don. But for the women on this show, it'll never be the full package. The series has done an excellent job of thwarting any chance Peggy has at having a family, pairing her with men who either resent her ambition or are subservient to it. While plenty of feminists, myself included, may be willing to fuck the patriarchy and move through our careers on our own, that's not what Peggy wants. In the very first episode she's seen holding a book on how to be a good wife. Peggy has always wanted love and has never gotten it. It would be out of character for her to get it now.
Mad Men's finesse lies in its ability to give its characters exactly the opposite of what they deserve. Note how the sleaziest man on this show, Pete Campbell, a rapist and a cheater, ends up with a million dollar contract and his ex-wife returning to him after a 20 second apology and promise of a better life. While we anticipate the resolution of Don's double life tonight, we shouldn't be surprised when the last shot of the show is Don in a 3 button suit delivering a new pitch with a view of the Manhattan skyline through the windows of McCaan behind him. Because no matter how shitty these characters are, they are Mad Men, who know they will never have it better than they did on Madison Avenue. They'll do anything to keep it, and they'll succeed, because Madison Avenue is happy to have them.
That's not true of the Mad Women, who, like the men, will always yearn for more. But when they realize that the place that killed their marriages and their dignity is still better than anywhere else, they won't get a boozy welcome back party. Unfortunately, thats still true today. That's why Mad Men is so important, because despite the change in suit-cuts and hairstyles, the players don't change. And they haven't changed on Wall St. or Madison Avenue either.
While the world has changed around feminism, the sad truth is that the attitudes surrounding women still echo back to those of 40 years ago. And these attitudes are still killing Betties and overlooking Joans and resenting Peggies all over the world. So when you watch tonight, please think about the implications of each character's fate, and whether you think its justified by their actions. Then think about if its justified by society.
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