Television and Cultural forms

    For as long as I can remember I've been a big television buff, whether it be movies, TV shows or anything in between. Television is a big part of society and it will stay that way for a long time, no matter in what form. 

    I have distinct memories of me waking up as early as possible in the mornings so I could watch Tom and Jerry or SpongeBob with my grandma and grandpa. From the age of 5, I would religiously follow these shows. This continued far into my teenage life, however, I began to have less and less time for these shows because school kept me busy and I slowly lost motivation to get up that early in the morning. Gradually I started watching everything else besides those shows. I spent most of my time studying and hanging out with friends so the only shows or movies I would watch on the TV were the ones that aired later in the afternoon or evening and I also started to watch it with my mom. Over time, watching shows in the evening became a tradition for my mom and me, we couldn't go one day without sitting in front of the TV and watching crime shows or popular movies that were being shown. Now, when I am quite older not much has changed. Even though there are streaming apps that allow me to watch anything I want whenever I want, I see no appeal in it. The only time I turn to Netflix or something similar is when there is a show/movie that I heard of and am desperate to watch but it isn't being shown on any channel on my TV.  Apart from that, I still sit every night with my mom and watch CSI, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer and any movie/show we find interesting. There are many shows and movies that are constantly on TV and it can get quite hard to find something I haven't yet watched. However, this tradition that I have with my mom isn't about the shows or movies per se, we don't really care if we watched one episode of a show a hundred times, what is special is the company itself. Television is there to only provide us with something we can do together. 

    I am so used to watching TV with my mom that when she isn't home I need to have the TV on at all times, because it gives me the sense of her being there and keeping me company. 

MAD MEN

    As society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. While Mad Men may seem to be just another sexist show dominated by chauvinist men and submissive women, it is, in fact, a time piece. Set in the 1960s in New York, Mad Men follows the competitive, seductive, and oftentimes ruthless lives of the men and women of Madison Avenue’s advertising agencies.

    A lot of alluring qualities constitute the Mad Men experience: the way it evokes nostalgia, even from those who did not live in the era; its interrogations into identities, and how these interrogations of the past illuminate viewers’ concepts of the present and, of course, the striking differences in sex roles and sexuality in the workplace that simultaneously celebrates and challenges views of gendered progress in contemporary times. Gender relations are treated from a social representation perspective. This theme is present in every episode of the TV show and it elaborates various social representation of the relations between men and women.

The show focuses on the mysterious figure of Don Draper, a successful business man, desired by women and feared by men. He is the representation of the idea that men had the power and the control and the world was in their hands. They are represented as self-assured, financially independent, charming, professional. In the show, most often men are the sole providers in the family, which makes them entitled to behave arrogantly or indifferent sometimes with their wives. This is the case of Don Draper who has a beautiful wife and two children that he adores. Nevertheless, he is inclined towards searching for happiness in other parts, as he is involved in several adulterous romantic affairs throughout the show. On the other hand, women were perceived as sexual objects or as procreators, as their single accepted role in the society was that of a mother and a housewife, taking care of the children and the chores, and permanently serving him, the man. However, the show also indicates the rise of feminine power, a social revolution, as women become self-aware of their abilities and start to emancipate. The proponent of this image is Peggy Olson, Don’s ex secretary, who becomes a copywriter at Sterling Cooper after her ideas were recognized as valuable, and developed into an advertisement. She finds out that being in the men’s world is no easy job and she confronts rejection, obstacles, even backstabbing from both men and women.

    Mad Men is the representation of a sexist society, in which men are the engine of the society. The show is a mirror of today's society, exploring social aspects that are still existent today, although they are not so much debated.