Rewatching Mad Men...strong warning for racism but not sexism

[nestoftables]

I've been watching Mad Men for a second time. It's on Amazon Prime now. Before one episode there is a warning that there will be a scene with blackface (haven't rewatched that episode yet so I can't remember the details). The warning says they know it is offensive but have decided to keep the scene in for historical accuracy. Fair enough to point it out to people.

But some of the sexism and misogyny (which is constant) in the programme is awful. Do programmes ever have warnings for that?

Not trying to compare sexism and racism. Of course they intersect. Just noticing how normalised watching scenes where women are treated as objects or second class is.

I haven't seen the racism warning but I've been really shocked by the sexism and misogyny in the programme. I get that it's set in the 50s/60s and they're reflecting the accepted behaviour of the time but I've stopped watching it because I spent too much time feeling very very uncomfortable. It's shocking.

But do you not think that’s the point of the sexist themes? To highlight how it was for women back then. I don’t think it’s just incidental to the story lines. Peggy’s pregnancy was very profound insight into how single parenthood was viewed. And Betty’s unravelling as a SAHM, it is a social commentary on women’s issues of the time.

Yes I find it very interesting to watch and notice all the sexism. I do wonder if some people may have watched it and not noticed a lot of the things...as the sexism is so much part of it as you say.

Warning about sexism in MM would be like warning about time travel in Dr Who; it’s kind of the point of the show, surely?

Yes, I suppose it was just the specific warning that we would see something terrible when each episode includes awful stuff.

The sexism and misogyny is a central theme of the programme, so I don't think it warrants a warning. The way Peggy, Betty and Joan's lives pan out in the face of that misogyny is what makes the show for me. I think in this case the warning was for the blackface, which I think is fair enough.

I find it quite odd that anyone would watch something set in the 1950s or indeed the 1850s and not expect the attitudes to be those consistent with the period. I don't think we do ourselves any favours by airbrushing them out. We should be shocked, that's what helps change things.

I'm not sure about warnings being needed tbh. I'm an adult. I can see sexism in a film/tv programme without freaking out. If I don't like it I'll switch it off. Warnings for extreme violence or sexual abuse etc, absolutely. Warnings for known historic attitudes/views which might offend? Not so sure.

Ok fair enough

I watched one episode of that, the subject matter should have been ideal

But it was so horrible watching a workplace that might as well have been populated by aliens, I gave up. That's not a criticism, just an observation.

Blackface is quite specific, akin to N word usage. Also if memory serves it's a main character (roger?) partaking so might stand out if left unremarked. They don't put racism warnings at the top of later episodes about the black staff at the firm (whatever it's called by then!) as it's a storyline rather than a standalone symbolic act.

Honestly it's stupid to do it for the episode you mention, and it would be stupid to do it for sexism as well.

I remember some time ago watching an interview with John McWhorter about a trigger warning for something to do with racism on tv or film (I can't remember if it was fiction or a documentary they were talking about), and he basically said, look, how ignorant and fragile do people think we (meaning black people) are?

There are certain words and scenarios that have gone way beyond any sensible treatment, they are almost treated like they have some sort of magical power to hurt people if depicted or mentioned. Often without even any respect for context.

We're all adults I hope. There are times I just want to watch something gentle, so I watch gardening shows or something like that. If I watch something like The Fall, I expect some difficult material and if I find I'm not up for it I turn it off.

The racist scene is Roger Sterling 'doing a turn' in blackface at a big party, some of the guests are shown to be uncomfortable.
I do agree with you to a point op, there is a scene where Joan is raped in her office and another one after that where one of her collegues accuses her of 'asking to be raped' and so far as my memory serves me neither of those episodes came with trigger warnings.
There are also scenes which show Don manhandling and verbally abusing Betty and possibly Megan also.
Thats not just sexism, it's violence and abuse that could trigger survivors.
Im not mad on trigger warnings as a thing but some consistency would be more fair.

I can see the point of trigger warnings on threads here, so a person just browsing doesn't suddenly find themselves reading something particularly shocking.

But in an arts situation I think it's generally unhelpful. I saw a series of short films recently where two had trigger warnings, one for sexual violence, the other either racism or homophobia. No trigger warning on the very upsetting film that included school bullying, drug use and sudden parental death leaving an orphan.

The problem I have with trigger warnings is that they put me on edge waiting for the sexual violence rather than getting absorbed in a story. And they don't actually protect anyone from triggers as everything can't be warned about so inevitably someone would find some other things particularly upsetting.

Back to the start of the thread, a lot of mad men was horrifyingly sexist, but it was showing ways in which women dealt with that situation.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/05/trigger-warnings-can-be-counterproductive

Brilliant
Thought provoking
Intelligent
And yes it was just like that.
That's the whole point
Times have changed.

I think putting in a warning for blackface is pretty stupid too. What do they think will happen, people will unexpectedly see it and faint? It reminds me of old magazines that had had bare breasted photos of people from far away lands in their local dress, but they used black blobs or bars to avoid shocking delicate readers.

These people need to go binge watch Blazing Saddles and Look Who's Coming to Dinner until they stop having the vapours.

Gosh, this is a very old thread, didn't realize until I saw an old username!

We love playing ‘spot the warning’ when watching old films and tv shows.

War films with much bloodshed and murder will get a ‘Smoking and alcohol use’ warning.

it’s so pathetic.