WK8 Material culture: Television and Cultural forms

Like any other kid, I started watching cartoons seriously at the early age of three or four. However, I was particularly picky about them, so I ended up watching Peter Pan at least once a day. In the beginning, my parents or grandparents used to watch it with me, but it became boring to them after about three days of consecutive repetition and they hoped it would become uninteresting for me as well. Unfortunately for everyone living with me, my obsession with Peter, Tinkerbell, and Wonderland lasted for an unbelievable year or two throughout which all of us managed to learn by heart every sentence of Disney's masterpiece. During the next two or three years, I became fond of other cartoons while still watching Peter Pan occasionally.

The next (and the last) stage of my television-viewing habits happened when I was in elementary school. My baby sister was the absolute queen of the remote control at the time and I voluntarily decided to obey Her Majesty as I was no longer interested in TV programs, but only watched Winx or Strawberry Shortcake for the sake of spending some quality time with her.

The following major phase occurred when I switched from watching television to watching movies and TV series on the Internet in high school. I used to binge-watch many popular TV shows online even though that habit usually cost me a healthy amount of sleep, thereby making it difficult to concentrate in class. Nowadays, I enjoy watching Marvel's superhero stories with my roommate or comedies with my boyfriend and never spend my free time in front of a TV screen with tennis matches being the only exception.

Mad Men

Mad Men, a TV show created by Matthew Weiner, depicts the American society of the '50s and '60s and relationships between people at both home and workplace on the example of employees of an advertising agency. Although the atmosphere of the show may appear somewhat nostalgic, it should be seen as a representation of flaws that were present in a male-dominated society.

Don Draper, the main male character of Mad Men, is a typical demonstration of the 1950s ideals of what a man should look and behave like. He is white, strong, tall, and well-dressed. He is a successful businessman who fulfills the masculine duty of providing for his family, while his wife takes care of their house and children. Therefore, he feels as nothing is forbidden, not even treating his beautiful wife improperly or having affairs with other women. He is a man, therefore he is dominant and expects women to behave submissively.

When discussing female characters, Don's wife and former secretary should be mentioned. Betty Draper is shown as a perfect woman of the time because she is skinny and gorgeous and her only purpose in life is to keep her husband pleased, children happy and home clean. Unlike her, Peggy Olson stands for feminism and the power of women. While fighting hard for her place in the world of men, she faces numerous difficulties and challenges and has to neglect her private life for the sake of her career, thus illustrating that being a prosperous and independent woman in the mentioned era was a much more demanding task than being a man of the same qualities.

As Mad Men is without a doubt a show about a sexist society it should serve as an educational example to the audience on how to overcome gender roles that are, unfortunately, still present.