This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet.

Snyder ,'Chosen'


Cable Drama: Still Waiting for the Cable Guy to Show Up with the Thread Name...

To be determined... (but it's definitely [NAFDA])


DavidS - Sep 21, 2010 5:44:19 am PDT #6847 of 12003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

it could easily be read as "Go white privelidged male, with your manpain!"

I don't know how you can watch it without getting a constant reminder of This Is White Male Privilege At Work. They constantly expose the white men as slopping around in their privilege like pigs in shit, and they show how shitty it is.

That's exactly why characters we like indulge in all the casual racism and sexism, homophobia and antisemitism. They like the way the game plays because it's rigged in their favor and they never once stop to think about how it's rigged.


Jessica - Sep 21, 2010 5:47:27 am PDT #6848 of 12003
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I don't know how you can watch it without getting a constant reminder of This Is White Male Privilege At Work.

Well, first you have to understand the concept of privilege and know that you have it. Many people do not.


DavidS - Sep 21, 2010 5:51:02 am PDT #6849 of 12003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Well, first you have to understand the concept of privilege and know that you have it. Many people do not.

Whether you understand the concept or not, that's what the show is exhibiting. It doesn't show the white guys misbehaving as outliers or socially unacceptable. It shows that their dickishness (I use the word advisedly) is the culture. It also shows how the women - Joan in particular - both supports and suffers from that system. How everybody participates to maintain that status quo; that's pretty much this season's subplot about the friction between Peggy and Joan.


Jessica - Sep 21, 2010 5:54:29 am PDT #6850 of 12003
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Whether you understand the concept or not, that's what the show is exhibiting.

I agree, but that doesn't mean that a large portion of people watching it are missing the point. This board evolved out of a shared love of overanalyzing a TV show - we are not a representative sample of the general viewing population.


DavidS - Sep 21, 2010 6:10:36 am PDT #6851 of 12003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

we are not a representative sample of the general viewing population.

Judging from the active fora I've seen eagerly awaiting in-depth analysis for Mad Men (AV Club, Sepinwall, Goodman, Coates, Tom & Lorenzo...) I think most people watching the show are in it for the complexity.

I don't see people talking about it now the way they did in the first season when there was much more interest in the look, and Don Draper as Superstud.


Jessica - Sep 21, 2010 6:16:11 am PDT #6852 of 12003
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

9. When will the 800 pound elephant in the room be dealt with: There is something amiss with Sally. She is oddly adult at times and is clearly the victim of more than parental dysfunction and divorce. The signals are all present: I would suggest that Sally was in fact molested by her grandfather. Thus, the root-spring of her sexual acting out earlier in this season.

I keep seeing this suggestion (that Sally was molested by Gene), and I have to ask if any of these bloggers remember being that age. Being "oddly adult at times" is what puberty IS. Figuring out masturbation? Ditto.


DavidS - Sep 21, 2010 6:26:59 am PDT #6853 of 12003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I concur, Jess. I see a lot of projection in those statements and assumptions. I don't think that's where Weiner is going at all.

Sally's not even particularly messed up. She's a pretty normal kid going through a divorce.


Theodosia - Sep 21, 2010 6:52:25 am PDT #6854 of 12003
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

Plus, Sally has supersmart parents, and that tends to rub off.

I just hope the child psych can actually help.

I tend to think that most of Betty's damage came from her mother's actions.


§ ita § - Sep 21, 2010 6:55:56 am PDT #6855 of 12003
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Judging from the active fora I've seen eagerly awaiting in-depth analysis for Mad Men (AV Club, Sepinwall, Goodman, Coates, Tom & Lorenzo...) I think most people watching the show are in it for the complexity.

Anyone in a forum to discuss a TV show is quite probably in the minority. That's just not how most people consume the medium.


Jessica - Sep 21, 2010 6:56:37 am PDT #6856 of 12003
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Anyone in a forum to discuss a TV show is quite probably in the minority

Exactly.