Why Don Draper IS Lounge

[davidraphael]

Mad Men fanatic here!
I agree with above comments that Roger Sterling is the better dresser

 

[Snowdrop]

I know I shouldn't, I know he's a chauvinistic, womanising, deeply flawed character... But I love Don Draper.
There's something about his outwardly confident swagger that's very appealing, and of course it doesn't hurt that he's incredibly handsome.
That 'devil may care' attitude, the suits, the slicked back hair, the scotch in one hand and cigarette in the other - I really can't help myself!

I also think it's very interesting to watch him repeatedly strive to live the life he assumes he should; we saw him struggle with Betty's idea of suburban heaven, and then Meagan and the super trendy, 'modern' life that she introduced Don to. We knew he didn't belong in either from the very start, but it was interesting to watch him struggle to reach this conclusion each time.
Have to say though, I've never been a fan of any of the women they've matched Don up with, as both Betty and Meagan seem to be pretty vapid and shallow characters that I found increasingly irritating (Betty especially) as the seasons went on.

My mother watches too, and she prefers Roger Sterling because she likes his sense of humour, and I can definitely see the appeal of him too.

I loved Mad Men from the very beginning. The sets, the costumes, everything is so slick and well put together. I can't wait for the new season!

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

[video=youtube;j03RWXoGoYU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j03RWXoGoYU[/video]

I have that 45. *proud*

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

When it comes to Lounge culture there is a man who really does epitomise *the culture through and through. Don Draper.
The character of Don Draper is that *he is a guy that looks great in formalwear,business wear and casualwear He has great taste in clothes and has great taste in women, he has money, is successful, confident, well groomed and basically he looks a million bucks.
Even the women he goes for have that certain x factor.

Sure Don Draper's a fictional character but there is something to take away from his persona.
He is controlling,takes care of business, and he is very stylish, so to me there is something that we can all learn from Don Draper*

he never *loses sight of who he is*and his true individuality

As a man he is not the kind of guy is gonna be under the thumb from the little woman.

Don Draper is the epitome of lounge, he's cool, classy,intelligent, well off and a true independent and decisive man.

Sir, there is something seriously wrong with your keypad! Every time you type Nick Charles, the name Don Draper appears on the screen.
Please have this corrected soon. Thank you.

 

[Aerojoe]

I love to watch Mad Men for both the 60s fashions and decor which I adore, as well as the storylines.

I like the 1960s ambientation too. The problem is that the series time line went forward too fast. I think last season was in 1965 already. The closer they come to the 1970s, the worse. I can't imagine Don Draper in bell bottom trousers, wearing an over sized clown tie and a shirt with gigantic collar laps :eeek:

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I like the 1960s ambientation too. The problem is that the series time line went forward too fast. I think last season was in 1965 already. The closer they come to the 1970s, the worse. I can't imagine Don Draper in bell bottom trousers, wearing an over sized clown tie and a shirt with gigantic collar laps :eeek:

Yes, it will jump the shark at that point, for sure!

(What does ambientation mean? )

 

[Aerojoe]

(What does ambientation mean? )

I mean the whole picture of the 1960s decade. Not only fashions but people smoking and drinking at work, attitudes, vintage cars, music... I'm a big fan of 1960s music

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I mean the whole picture of the 1960s decade. Not only fashions but people smoking and drinking at work, attitudes, vintage cars, music... I'm a big fan of 1960s music

I love the 60s, but not smoking and drinking! I stopped both long ago, thus the "square" in my name.

 

[Aerojoe]

When I first saw this tv show, I thought scriptwriters were using all that drinking and smoking as a contrast against what today is considered morally correct.

I think they were provoking on purpose and this provocation is part of the show success. Today, a lot of people are tired of having to be morally correct ad nauseam all the time and in every situation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When I first saw this tv show, I thought scriptwriters were using all that drinking and smoking as a contrast against what today is considered morally correct.

That's exactly what they were doing. It's basically a Generation-Xer's view of what they believe that era to have been, using a great deal of exaggeration to make the point.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Sir, there is something seriously wrong with your keypad! Every time you type Nick Charles, the name Don Draper appears on the screen.
Please have this corrected soon. Thank you.

:eusa_clap YES. And he treats he wife just like she deserves too ;-)

 

[Aerojoe]

It's basically a Generation-Xer's view of what they believe that era to have been, using a great deal of exaggeration to make the point.

I totally agree. I didn't live the 1960s either but it is hard to believe that some attitudes you can see in this show were real. For instance all the sexism. At the office, men treat their female workmates like whores and at home they treat their wives like a piece of crap. I don't think a guy that is supposed to be a gentleman, to have an education or a minimum degree of politeness, can have this kind of behavior in the real world, even during the 60s.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

When I first saw this tv show, I thought scriptwriters were using all that drinking and smoking as a contrast against what today is considered morally correct.

I think they were provoking on purpose and this provocation is part of the show success. Today, a lot of people are tired of having to be morally correct ad nauseam all the time and in every situation.

Yes, and it's a vicarious thrill to watch.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I totally agree. I didn't live the 1960s either but it has hard to believe that some attitudes you can see in this show were real. For instance all the sexism. At the office, men treat their female workmates like whores and at home they treat their wives like a piece of crap. I don't think a guy that is supposed to be a gentleman, to have an education or a minimum degree of politeness, can have this kind of behavior in the real world, even during the 60s.

That part is accurate in many place even today, sadly.

 

[davidraphael]

That's exactly what they were doing. It's basically a Generation-Xer's view of what they believe that era to have been, using a great deal of exaggeration to make the point.

Exaggeration?

I knew some of the guys who worked in newspapers and in media companies in London in the mid-late 60s.

They all had bars in their offices and smoked like chimneys: 80-100 a cigarettes a day.

They'd start drinking vodka or cognac as soon as they arrived at work and get through at a bottle a day at least.
They'd work until lunch, go to the pub, drink more, then sleep in their offices until around 9pm, then they would start work again and go through until 3 or 4 in the morning. Then they'd go into Soho to a club for a drink before they went home (or at least went somewhere).

I really don't see much exaggeration in Mad Men. Compared with some of the stories I've heard, I thought it was actually quite tame.

Some of this London media culture was captured in Keith Waterhouse's play "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell" "The play's title refers to the magazine's habit of printing a one-line apology on a blank page when he was too drunk or hung-over to produce the required copy"


Come to think of it, I also knew many people who worked in media in the 80s and 90s (indeed, I worked in it myself). Only the drug changed. So much cocaine was being taken it's hard to fathom how anything got done. I knew one company that used to DHL/courier pounds of the stuff across town to its other branch in 35mm film cans. I remember speaking to one producer who had no idea that it was Thursday because he had been awake since Monday.

The biggest exaggeration in Mad Men is that there's no way the guys who live these kinds of lives look like Roger Sterling and Don Draper. All the guys I knew ended up looking like Charles Bukowski!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The exaggeration is in the presentation of such behavior as typical of the period itself, not simply as typical for that specific industry. The success of the show has made "Mad Men era" as much a synonym for 1959-65 as "flapper era" is considered a synonym for 1922-29, and in neither case is the image truly representative of the whole.

 

[Aerojoe]

They all had bars in their offices and smoked like chimneys: 80-100 a cigarettes a day.

They'd start drinking vodka or cognac as soon as they arrived at work and get through at a bottle a day at least.
They'd work until lunch, go to the pub, drink more, then sleep in their offices until around 9pm, then they would start work again and go through until 3 or 4 in the morning. Then they'd go into Soho to a club for a drink before they went home (or at least went somewhere).

So crowded was the cemetery :eeek:

I once had to work with a drunk boss. This man put a double shot of whiskey in his coffee at 8 in the morning :eusa_doh: When he ended up all drunk he was absolutely disgusting. However, in my country this behavior is against law. You can't drink at work. If he had been reported, he would have been fired at once.

 

[O2BSwank]

I watched the show the first season and I liked the "era" coolness. However I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Never did in my opinion. It's all a fantasy but then movies and television always are. I don't have a problem with people making Don Draper an icon any more than seeing Bogart's Phillip Marlowe as an icon. I grew up in the sixties but would only have been eleven years old in 1965. Missed out on the "Summer of Love".

 

[sheeplady]

I totally agree. I didn't live the 1960s either but it is hard to believe that some attitudes you can see in this show were real. For instance all the sexism. At the office, men treat their female workmates like whores and at home they treat their wives like a piece of crap. I don't think a guy that is supposed to be a gentleman, to have an education or a minimum degree of politeness, can have this kind of behavior in the real world, even during the 60s.

I think it highly depended on industry. One of the researcher's I know did a study of men's attitudes towards diversity in the workplace at several major non-IT companies with long standing IT departments. Plenty of the male workers (particularly those who had been with the company a long time) commented that since women had gotten into their industry (corporate IT) they simply couldn't act the way they felt they should be able to and they had to curtail their tongues. They couldn't drink on the job anymore, they couldn't use slurs (sexual or racial), they couldn't tell dirty jokes, you couldn't call the secretary the girl anymore or take her out to lunch, and you couldn't comment on a woman's sexual features. Some of the comments were basically "those women came here and ruined all our fun." Not to add that many of the men felt they were actively discriminated against (women were chosen over men) which didn't help their attitudes.

So... while I am sure that it wasn't like this everyplace and in every industry, yet alone every company or department in an industry, I'm willing to believe that sexism existed really strongly in some places. Every workplace culture is different and I can imagine that in the 60s, these particular companies were extremely sexist. It was just stunning and shocking.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Sexism, or any kind of ism will never go away.

My mom is a mechanic at the plant where we work and has been doing that job for 15 years about. It's always been a struggle for her making it in a man's world. She can do the job just as good, if not better than some of the fellas at work, and deserves every bit of respect and pay she gets. I do think it's unfortunate that she had to work twice as hard to get there.