Mad Men: "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency"

One thing I've learned about the AMC show Mad Men is if something doesn't make sense, then I probably wasn't paying attention. E.g., the lawn tractor scene in this week's episode -- it seemed to come out of nowhere, no? And oh, uh-huh, yeah. Touché. That was entirely the point.

So what does the tractor scene represent, exactly? What does it mean? Probably only Matthew Weiner can say for sure, but I think it embodies multiple metaphors and foreshadows more than one volatile event of the 1960s.

Starting with:

• The JFK assassination. Think about it. The lurching, slow-moving vehicle. The optimistic young leader, a hybrid of sorts, as victim. Joan's (aka Jackie's) bloody dress. That feeling of horrendous tragedy coming fast and out of nowhere to blow everything apart, despite the slow-motion sensation leading up to it. More on the JFK angle at Pandagon.

But also:

• The Vietnam War. The violence of it, the blood that spattered everywhere. The mangled, lost limbs -- Guy's foot, but also Roger's reference to a severed arm. The talk about how getting drafted is no big deal. And, oh yeah, it was 4th of July weekend. British and American mingling together, in an uneasy balance of power where the British had control, yet were handed a defeat with the loss of their promising young leader. All of this recalls the violent history and original meaning of that particular day, the 4th of July. War. More on the Vietnam angle at Slate.

And we can't forget:

• The Civil Rights Movement. Here we have the lawnmower as the symbol of suburbia, a suburbia that was rumbling with discontent in the early 60s, a suburbia formerly somewhat neutralized under an American version of the Pax Romana. The fact that it's a woman on the tractor emphasizes women's close connection to suburbia, although originally there is both a man and a woman on the tractor waving and smiling at the group, almost in a political fashion (back to Kennedy again). The man (Smitty?) is driving and yelling, "I'm going home!" The next time we see the tractor, the original smiling pair is gone, which perhaps represents a white, patriarchal, mechanized society setting a seemingly benign course that ultimately spins out of control. The solitary woman on the tractor could be a nod to the forthcoming feminist movement, which, along with the other Civil Rights movements, aspired to chop up the old order through activism and protests. Or, it could also be viewed as another example of women being scapegoated for the mistakes of others, usually men, i.e., Ken shouldn't have brought the tractor to work in the first place.

One last thing that strikes me about this scene is the deep ignorance of it. No one in the room, with the exception of Ken (who doesn't try very hard to stop it), recognizes the inherent danger of a machine on the loose, not even the drivers. And only Joan has the presence of mind to deal with the aftermath. So if the lawn tractor ultimately represents a juggernaut of radical change, it is one that explodes within a society mostly ignorant of its coming, a society on the very brink of awakening and consciousness-raising.

Watch the scene again. What's your take?

Peggy Olson is Awesome, Part Deux

She asks Don for a raise, invoking equal pay for equal work. In freaking 1963.

He tells her it's not a good time.

She hits back with, "What if this is MY time?"

Swoon.

Peggy Olson is Awesome, Let Me Count the Ways (in quotes)

"I am one of those girls."

"I'm sleeping with Don. It's really working out."

"Eugene, I'm in the persuasion business, and frankly, I'm disappointed by your presentation."

"Well, one day you're there and then all of a sudden there's less of you. And you wonder where that part went, if it's living somewhere outside of you, and you keep thinking maybe you'll get it back. And then you realize, it's just gone."

"I'm Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana."

"You two can go. I'm in a very good place right now."

"I am so high."

Spotting Feminist Themes on TV

One of my favorite topics is analyzing feminist themes on television, as well as gender portrayals of both male and female characters. Having just marathoned the entire Felicity series this summer, some of my thoughts about feminism, gender roles, and relationship equality within that particular show can be found here (with an expanded version here).

Also, a couple related links that caught my eye:

Are feminist TV characters a thing of the past? via After Ellen.

20 feminist TV characters at Jezebel.

Although everyone's list of this type would probably be different, I thought three notable absences from these were Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show (& probably Sondra too), Maggie O'Connell from Northern Exposure, and Elaine Benes from Seinfeld. Who would you add?

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

And check out various blogger perspectives on "The Meaning of MJ" via Feministing.

Women in Hollywood: Are There Any?

Here are some statistics that really piss me off concerning behind-the-scenes employment of women in Hollywood (i.e., directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, cinematographers). Pulled from Dr. Martha M. Lauzen's 2009 Celluloid Ceiling Report, these numbers are freaking appalling:

• Women comprised 16% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films during 2008, representing a decline of 3 percentage points from 2001 and an increase of one percentage point from 2007.
  
• Women accounted for 9% of directors in 2008, an increase of three percentage points from 2007. This figure represents no change from the percentage of women directing in 1998.
  
• Twenty-two percent (22%) of the films released in 2008 employed no women directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, or editors. No films failed to employ a man in at least one of these roles. (emphasis mine)

For further reading about the state of women and movies, go here and here.

Hell, Yes: Women’s History Relevant All Year

I came across this article today from The Centre Daily Times in Pennsylvania, written by Nalini Krishnankutty. Entitled Women's History Relevant All Year, it does a nice job of breaking down the basic issues involving the status of women in the United States. Her number one question goes something like this: "Doesn't it tell us something that women are a majority of the population but still a minority in government leadership?"

This is a bottom-line fact that feminists never forget -- when a majority of the population play a minority role in representative government, something is wrong. Equality has not been reached. Yet, some people in the men's movement tend to assume right off the bat that equality has been obtained, and not only that, men are now at a disadvantage. Riiight. What's scary is that many who say these things, truly believe them. Um yeah, maybe your male privilege is showing? And it's a privilege so powerful and blinding, by the way, that you might not even be aware of it?

Krishnankutty also reminds us that the theme of the 2009 Women's History Month was "Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet," and highlights the women scientists and ecofeminists who have consistently been at the forefront of the environmental movement, including Ellen Swallow Richards, Maria Sanford, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Rachel Carson, Grace Thorpe, and Vandana Shiva. All except Shiva, who Krishnankutty focuses on herself, were acknowledged by President Obama in his Women’s History Month proclamation. Check it out... it's a good read.

And check out Krishnankutty's article if you get the chance. It's a simple yet effective example of how mainstream and accessible feminism can be.

Here's also a blog post by Krishnankutty I found thought-provoking: Could Gender Diversity Have Lessened the Financial Crisis? Interesting stuff.

Earth Day Quotes of the Day

"In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life." -- Vandana Shiva, Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." -- Aldo Leopold

"The greatest support for the feminist, antipatriarchal movement can be found in the ecological movement." -- Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth

"The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured, it must not be destroyed." -- Hildegard of Bingen