Mad Men Enters the Civil Rights Era

Posted on March 25, 2012 at 8:00 am

There was no question that “Mad Men” would get around to the civil rights movement. From the start, racism was the carbon monoxide of the show: a poison that couldn’t always be detected over the pungent scent of cigarettes, sexism, anti-Semitism, alcoholism, homophobia and adultery, but that sooner or later was bound to turn noxious.

That promise was made in the opening scene of the premiere episode of Season 1. The first face on screen is a black one in profile, that of a waiter carrying a tray of cocktails across a bar crowded with white, mostly male customers. The camera closes in on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), scribbling ideas on a napkin for a Lucky Strike campaign. Asking for a light, he notices that the busboy, an older black man, smokes Old Gold, and Don asks him why he is so loyal to that brand.

“Is Sam here bothering you?” a white bartender interjects before the busboy has uttered a word. Shooting the black man a warning look, the bartender tells Don, “He can be a little chatty.”

It was the dawn of the 1960s, and that kind of humiliation was so commonplace that both Don and the busboy shrug it off.

What I find especially interesting about this is that, contrary to most depictions of the racism of the era, there is no attempt to portray the white characters as aware of or concerned about the casually bigoted arrogance of the time. Don Draper is only interested in how to help his clients. But I suppose that reflects an element of self-interest that played a role in the era’s changes as well.

Related Tags:

Television

New Documentary from Morgan Spurlock About Comic-Con

Posted on March 24, 2012 at 3:27 pm

I am a total Comic-Con fangirl (already counting the days to this year’s Con in July), so I am very excited about a new documentary from Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me,” “Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”) called (prepare for a “Star Wars” joke): “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope.” Prepare for Fanboy ecstasy: It is presented by Joss Whedon and Stan Lee. It will be available on VOD April 6 and you can check the Facebook page for theatrical release details and more information.

Have you ever imagined a place where Vulcans and vampires get along? Where wizards and wookies can be themselves? Welcome to Comic-Con San Diego. What started as a fringe comic book convention for 500 fans has grown into the pop culture event of the year that influences every form of entertainment, now attended by over 140,000 strong.

“Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope” explores this amazing cultural phenomenon by following the lives of five attendees as they descend upon the ultimate geek mecca at San Diego Comic-Con 2010:

*      Eric, an aspiring illustrator, is hoping to impress publishers and land a job;

*      Holly, a costume and creature designer, hopes her creations will win the big prize;

*      Chuck, a long-time comic book dealer, is looking for a big sale to pay off his debts;

*      Skip, longtime amateur illustrator wants to be discovered at this year’s event;

*      James, a young fan, hopes his girlfriend will accept a dramatic proposal.

One on one interviews with Comic-Con Veterans who have turned their passions into professions include Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, Matt Groening, Seth Rogen, Eli Roth and others are shared throughout the film along with up close and up front coverage of all the panels, parades, photos, costumes, crowds and camaraderie that make up one of the largest fan gatherings in the U.S.

Related Tags:

Not specified

Appalling Critiques of Jennifer Lawrence’s Body in “Hunger Games”

Posted on March 24, 2012 at 10:58 am

Thanks very much to L.V. Anderson for a piece in Slate about truly horrifying discussions of Jennifer Lawrence’s body in reviews of “The Hunger Games.”

A baffling, infuriating trend has cropped up in reviews of The Hunger Games: critics bodysnarking on Jennifer Lawrence. “A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss,” writes the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis, “but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission.” The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy comments that Lawrence’s “lingering baby fat shows here.” And—most bluntly—Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells calls Lawrence a “fairly tall, big-boned lady” who’s “too big” for Josh Hutcherson, who plays Katniss’s romantic interest.

As Anderson points out, Lawrence is very slender and attractive. If she does not look super-model skinny (the kind of severely underweight body recently outlawed in Israel for models in ads in an effort to combat eating disorders), I consider it a major step forward to give audiences heroine whose body communicates health and strength.

Oh, and one other appalling — and revealing — aspect of Wells’ comment. Why make the obligation of physical suitability on Lawrence? Why not say that Hutcherson, who is in a supporting role, is too small for her?

To add insult to injury — and some more insult, too — Wells advises his readers to beware of the reviews of “The Hunger Games” by female critics “as they’re probably more susceptible to the lore of this young-female-adult-propelled franchise than most.” Um, “most?” Who would that be again?”

Once again, the male gaze, or Wells’ male gaze, is the norm and everyone else is just an outlier. Thanks to Matt Singer of indieWire for pointing out that there is no statistically significant difference between the ratio of positive to negative reviews of this film by male and female critics.

Related Tags:

Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Mad Men-era Ads in Newsweek

Posted on March 24, 2012 at 8:00 am

Newsweek salutes the long-awaited return of “Mad Men” with a special issue this week, including examples of real and unabashedly sexist ads that ran in the magazine back in the 1960’s. These are what the real Mad Men of the era were working on, along with some pioneering and underpaid Mad Women like Peggy.

As another ad of the era would say, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” (Of course, that was an ad for a “women’s” cigarette!“)

Smile of the Week: Forgetfulness by Billy Collins

Posted on March 23, 2012 at 3:59 pm

Ah, that explains why I can never remember anything!

Related Tags:

Shorts