Television and Cultural Forms

Television and Cultural Forms

Television is a part of our everyday lives and it is present in most households. From my earliest days I remember being entertained with television and cartoons at the time. It started with “Tom and Jerry” and Disney movies, that was my earliest memory. Every night before going to sleep, my dad, my sister and I, occasionally mum when she was not busy, would sit on the couch before bed and watch “Bear in the Big Blue House”. Even today I think fondly of those moments and my dad still sings the intro songs to us when he feels nostalgic. As I started school, different kind of program was popular. Ultra became a channel all my friends would watch, with cartoons such as “Winx” and “Bratz” being particularly popular. I still base some of my personality on the characters of those shows. My sister and I would watch TV daily and at that time we got the TV in our bedroom, which would stay up all night because she was afraid of the dark. Upon starting secondary school times changed and I stopped watching TV as much. I moved to online show watching. It seemed like a better option, allowing me to choose what I want to watch and when I want to watch it. I currently do not have a TV in my room, so I rarely watch anything other than football games on it, but even that at times can be found on the computer or a phone screen. Nowadays I prefer watching shows on Netflix or any other streaming service that offers my favourite shows. Watching the shows online is something I find very beneficial because I can either binge watch the entire season in one sitting or watch the episodes with months separating them. I appreciate the luxury of moving at my own pace and choosing the content I am interested in, something that TV does not offer yet. Still, just a few days ago I watched “Home Alone 2” in the living room with my entire family. Even though we have all seen this film more times than I can count, this is our holiday tradition. Sharing the laughter and quality time with a family film in a comfortable holiday atmosphere has always been a concept I was fond of. My mum loves resting when she comes home from work, turning the TV on and taking a nap. My dad is not good with technology and works a lot, so he occasionally catches a film on the TV or watches football with me. My younger sister is a new generation, so she does everything online, TV is a background noise for her so she can watch Tik Tok or whatever a new app of the month is. 

Mad Men

Mad Men is a TV show focusing on an advertising agency in the 50's and 60’s and its most successful workers. The show talks about cultural and social values from both critical and nostalgic point and in a way compares the time then to the time now. Looking at it from the critical standpoint, the show, through its main characters, talks about men, women and the social treatment of both.

Male main characters of the show would be its protagonist, Don Draper and a new guy, Pete Campell. Don knows and fulfills his role in a society. He is a successful businessman, a husband and a father. Men are expected to have a high status in a social group, which makes Don approved of by society’s standards. Another thing that is a given is that a man has to look good. He has to be tall, white and handsome, dress for success and occupy the maximum space with his body. Don is a prime example of that. Talking about male behaviour that is suggested, men have to be loud, authoritative, dominant and aggressive. They have to be stern and unapproachable, even emotionally unavailable. Don Draper represents all of that, everything a society asks for. On the other hand, Pete Campell is the complete opposite. He is not successful, he is actually a disappointment to his parents, because of whom he got the job in the first place. Pete is not as tall or as handsome, he is clumsy and silly. As far as behaviour goes, Pete Campell is not as loud, he is not emotionally unavailable to the same extent as Donald, he does not have a big group of friends. Though society’s eyes, he is not someone you would want to be. Don is an Old Man, while Pete is a New Man. While Donald represents everything a society wants, the New Man is everything men actually are. Even Don himself is not a perfect man, he gets insecure, he cheats and even he is not happy. 

Female characters and social expectations for them are shown through 3 women: Peggy Olson, Joan Holloway and Betty Draper. All three of these women differ, but the role they are expected to take are the same. It is up to women to be mothers and wives, cook and clean. Their goal is supposed to be to be wives and mothers, disregarding any professional ambitions they might have. Talking about looks, women have to be skinny, voluptuous, gorgeous and dressed in a way to emphasise their physical attributes. The show actually states three rules: 1. Dress for success (women should dress for fellas), 2. Be attentive (the only way to prosper in a professional world is to offer sexual favours) and 3. Watch your figure (since women are unable to engage with men on an intellectual level, they must at least look good). Women are expected to be weak, dependant, always available (both emotionally and sexually), welcoming and subordinate. One of the three characters personifies that, Betty Draper. She is a wife of Don Draper, a stay at home mum and a housewife. Betty is gorgeous and she sees her identity through her physical appearance. She is the Old Woman, a term dedicated to women before the change, before the second wave of feminism. New Woman would be both Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway, even though they differ drastically too. Peggy is someone who follows the lead of a man to succeed in the male world. She refuses to blend it, dress as what seems appropriate and overly sexual. As a rebel, society often challenges her and she does suffer when she puts work life over her personal life. Women have to work twice as hard to be successful. On the other side,we have Joan who uses her attractiveness in her favour. She is constantly battling her desire for domestic life and her ambitions, knowing she cannot have both. The sexism she experiences and men exploiting her is so common that she learns how to use it in order to become successful. Both Joan and Peggy are New Women because they want to have it all and fight for the equality they know they deserve, each in their own way.

All these characters, both male and female, represent the show’s response to gender roles of society. While they all individually differ between themselves, they provide a multiple perspective on how social expectations of men and women affect one’s identity.