Mad Men on Netflix - what's it all about?!

[Italiangreyhound]

Mad Men leaves Netflix in a couple of days, I'm on season 6 and hoping to finish it before it leaves Netflix.

I find it visually stunning, all those lovely dresses, and very well written.

But, what's it all about?

It's hard to know what kind of drama it is, not a comedy, or a tragedy, but with elements of both.

Anyone watched it all and want to share their thoughts?

I’ve thought about this a lot over the years, and I think it boils down to men using women (and their hard work, diligence and intelligence) to further their own interests and goals.

The same analysis could be applied to the inter-generational conflict, as well. There’s a really interesting scene where Don puts Revolver on the stereo, and can’t cope with Tomorrow Never Knows so throws a tantrum. Yet, by 1970, he has assimilated the younger generation’s ideas to such an extent that he’s cynically leading with them to create an iconic ad campaign.

I watched it again recently and realised that Don is a very damaged and unlikeable man. His looks allow him to get away with a lot, along with the dodgy morals of the times.

I realised today that the Michael Ginsberg character looks like Bob from Bob's burgers!

I think it was BBC 2 or 4 initially. It inspired me to up my glassware game but also made me think a lot about womens' roles at home and in the workplace. It is so easy to forget how relatively recent it was that women were expected to give up careers when they got married.

I think the early episodes are a bit more broad brush "oh look didn't they smoke alot". But as it gets into it it's far more existential about things like thinking you want a certain kind of life and then being dissatisfied.

It's interesting that some major things happened, the first heart transplant I think.

And how quickly people start kidding people at work! But then I knew Peggy"a boss was going to kiss her in season 6.

What's the concenus on Joan's character?

Kissing people at work.

Damn I was hoping to rewatch it!

loved the fashion!

It’s either on Apple or Disney + - I saw it there yesterday because I am on season 6 and won’t finish it before it leaves Netflix, and then was happy I had found it.

This is my second time around and so much of it is some of the best writing in a show…how they made all the characters a mix of good and bad qualities - I sometimes think some of the scenes are actual creative perfection.

Oh no, I wonder where it will land next I was hoping to watch it again soon but we aren't on Netflix atm . I loved it .

@fashionqueen0123
And
@chattyness

You've got two days to re-watch!!

Yes, I saw it was on Disney and Apple.

One of the best endings up there with the ending of Breaking Bad

We quote this line to each other a LOT.
HOW did Pete get smacked in the mouth as little as he did???!

if it’s moving to Disney that’s ok we have that!

Are any of you Frasier fans?

Trevor Einhorn was a child actor who was the second one to play the character Frederick Crane on the original Frasier.

He plays one of Peggy's team in season 6.

It’s superb. I loved the ending. Fave episode was the John Deere fiasco 😂😂

I think he gets away with so much because of his awful upbringing which is supposed to make us feel sympathy for him.
The very first episode is so clever the way it portrays Don as a single man, going to visit a woman (mistress!) then carrying on with his work.
Then he goes home to Betty and the kids who we don't know about up to that point!
My favourite tv show ever.

My user name is inspired by the show 🤩

I think it’s mostly about fear and dread simmering under the glamour. The 50s American Dream had this fear of communism, failure, impotence, and being fired. The men live in constant fear of being sacked, and when the cooler 60s kids like Ginsberg and Peggy move up, the older guys fear what they can’t understand (this car is a lemon.). Betty fears ‘is this it?’; Sally fears never getting her parents’ approval.

Joan is underestimated and undervalued for so long. For the first season, she only sees herself in the currency of the men, and plays into that. But her self-worth grows, and her sense of self evolves.

Find Don very controlling. The way his mistress is encouraged to stay in bed all day and won't know when he is coming back.

Pete is the worst, the raping the au pair after he gets her a new dress is unforgivable.

A lot of it is about growing up motherless too.

i loved it
different times as shown - the littering!
different attitudes
the fashion

It's one of those series that moves round a lot, I'm sure I watched it on Prime about 3 years ago or maybe it was Sky, definitely not Netflix or Disney. I am probably due another watch and need to sign back up to Disney so I will watch it on there. I was born in the late 50s and it is very much of the time of the 60s

I saw it as a soapy drama where the pacing and plots got very uneven as the series were extended long past the original idea.

[whisper it] I thought it was extremely patchy, much too pleased with itself and the end was pathetic. But I still watched all of it and the look of it was fantastic. I’ve read so much about that era and I thought the female characters were very thin and appeared imagined by either men or women who’d never met the real working women of that era like my mum.