WK8

 The way me and my family watched television is quite telling of the social climate in it. My mother, brother and I were those who consumed TV series more, especially when I was younger. We would gather in the living room and watch all different types of shows (usually on Fox, Fox Life or Fox Crime) while my father, a history professor, would usually sit alone in the bedroom and watch documentaries or news. Whenever I felt bad that my father was kind of left out I would join him and watch documentaries even if I was not particularly interested in them at that point of time. It is funny to remember these instances since I realize that TV really had some power to connect people. It was always important that I wasn’t alone while watching TV. I’m not sure why. I remember this symbiosis me and my brother had, during weekends we would watch some of my favourite shows (like Bratz, Winx, Totally Spies and Tokyo Mew Mew) then we would move on to his favourite shows (Transformers, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, etc.) so it would be equal and no one would have to watch TV alone. Whenever someone refused to watch TV with me, I would simply not watch it at all.

In elementary school I would usually watch TV so I’d have something to talk about with my friends. We would usually play while pretending to be certain characters and would behave the way they do in shows so I guess this had an immense impact on my identity as well. Cartoon characters were not only a part of the TV culture but of my everyday life as well. Remembering about those days, or “ironically” watching some of those shows truly brings me joy and I can say that re-watching Totally Spies or BratZ is one of my favourite guilty pleasures.

When I started high school my interest in TV dropped. This is partially due to the fact that I was extremely busy with my school and my social life as well. I would only watch news with my father or Naruto with my younger brother, but only on weekends. As someone who grew up watching Naruto, I was interested in how the series would end, and since my brother was still in elementary school I had an “excuse” to watch it, however, not as religiously as in the past. The truth is that I never really developed a love for movies or series and I always preferred books, but if someone close to me suggested we watch some good movie, I wouldn’t refuse. However, it was still not my choice and I really did not care as much. I always felt that watching movies or series on my own was “useless”, which is contradictory since I can spend hours using social media, so I will only watch anything as long as it is WITH someone.

When on my own, I usually watch documentaries because in my mind I believe that it teaches me something. Sometimes I am really annoyed with this opinion of mine, since I am aware that movies are as deep and important just as books are. When I moved from my hometown to Novi Sad I never once turned on my TV, and the only instances in which I would decide to watch a movie or a series on my own is when I’m either sick or when I decide to procrastinate. In the end, I guess that my relationship with TV is truly a strange one but I guess I can say that it really brings people together.

When it comes to the TV series Mad Men, misogyny is present even in the first episode. It is deeply integrated not only in the minds of male characters but in female ones as well. ”Men who designed it made it to be simple enough for a woman to use” says Joan to Peggy.

In this series we see male characters who believe that their female colleagues have to be sexually available for them which is why female characters believe that they must be pretty and in shape at all times. While Peggy was standing in the elevator in front of her male colleagues, all of them made her feel uncomfortable, and one of them even commented something like “what a nice view” which shows us how women are treated like objects, like some pretty paysage that is only good for men to look at it and nothing else. After the elevator scene, one of them says “They (women, or in this case Peggy) gotta now what kind of a guy you are to know what the kind of a girl they need to be” showing how in men’s minds women do not have an identity or personal integrity whatsoever, it all depends on the male gaze. In the first episode, unfortunately, we see Peggy trying to appeal to this male gaze and flirt with her male colleagues, however, we get a feeling that she is uncomfortable. By the end of the episode the colleague who was making those nasty comments about her shows up in front of her apartment drunk, and they end up sleeping together. Their "affair" is not problematic only because he was verbally harassing her but because he is about to get married in a few days. This reminds me of that horrible thing we say to young girls that has become some sort of a trope in movies and series, that I've heard a million times "He is only mean to you because he likes you". We teach girls that any type of attention form a man is good and that they should be glad to be getting it.

Men make sexist jokes and believe to be superior to women, “I won’t let a woman talk to me this way” says the series' main character Don Draper to a rich and successful (but female) store owner.  We see the ugly side of our patriarchal society in this series that is presented without restrictions. Most scenes in this episode made me really mad, especially the one in which a doctor refused to prescribe contraceptive pills to Peggy believing that this may prevent her from finding a husband. “Easy women don’t find husbands” says he to his patient.

Although we have progressed a bit from the 1960s view of male and female roles in society, there are still many issues in the way women are treated, not only in the workplace but in life in general. Female characters are usually pretty flat and their only role is to please the main male character, to offer him support, food, sex, attention, etc.