Breeder line from Mad Men

Seasons 1-5 are on Netflix streaming now. Since everyone seems to rave about the show, I thought I'd give it a look. I'm not sure if I'm enjoying it or not. The status of women back in 1960; the way men treated them; had me scowling at the screen all the time. There wasn't one man on there that I didn't want to shoot. Bastards.

Anyway, Betsy, Don Draper's combination of June Cleaver/Stepford Wife is taking riding lessons. After one lesson, she walks back to her car, stilling wearing jodhpurs and riding boots. She's carrying on a conversation with a fellow affluent wife. As she opens the car door and steps in, the other woman points out that Betsy is stilling wearing her horse manure encrusted boots. "Do you want to get that in your car?" she asks. With a pretty *shrug*, Betsy says "with kids, what does it matter?"

I don't recall, as a sprout from that time period myself, what kind of kid trash would accumulate in a car. Fast food eating wasn't as common, neither was the prevalence of stuff like juice boxes. Still, 50 years in the past, the attitude about kids and cars was the same.

I love that show, probably because it is so unlike today. I could never live in that timeframe and I think it is exactly what the time period was...women were ornaments and incubators. I mean it takes a good four seasons before Peggy (the secretary turned account exec) gets much respect at all...because she dared to shoot through the glass ceiling.

But the women are not as content as they appear (which is another thing happening in that time period)....keep watching.

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From a bottle cap message on a Magic Hat #9 beer: Condoms Prevent Minivans
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I want to pick up a bus full of unruly kids and feed them gummi bears and crack, then turn them loose in Hobby Lobby to ransack the place. They will all be wearing T shirts that say "You Could Have Prevented This."

i love that show! a few years ago for halloween a bunch of us went as characters from the show: i was betty, and my BFF (who was about 8 months preggo at the time) dressed up as the pregnant neighbor, complete with beehive, martini and cigarette. she is one of the few people who has changed very little with kids, thank jeebus. when invited to a cocktail party a mutual friend was having, she was told she could bring her toddler and my BFF said: "why would i want to do that?"

why can't they all be like that?

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L'enfer, c'est les autres.

Quote
navi8orgirl
But the women are not as content as they appear (which is another thing happening in that time period)....keep watching.

Oh, it's obvious that they aren't happy. The series reminded me of a movie with Paul Newman and his wife Joann Woodward. "Mr. and Mrs. Bridges" was set in an earlier time (pre-WWII) but the characters were much the same: affluent couple; husband is a lawyer, wife keeps the perfect-perfect home and tries to raise perfect-perfect kids. Mr. Bridges loves his wife but takes her for granted, is often dismissive and feels that his provision of a secure, affluent life for his family fulfills his obligation and they have no business asking him for more. Mrs. Bridges isn't happy, but since she lives such a "good life" she thinks she ought to be. She even tells a fellow affluent wife, who openly shows how she hates her life, and eventually has a nervous breakdown, "we are so lucky." That caused the friend to snap; she had no one who understood the shallowness of their existence - not even her best friend; so she commits suicide. Mr. Bridges is exasperated, telling his wife "her husband gave her everything. Just another selfish woman who didn't appreciate her life."

Mad Men is a demonstrative slice of history, fer sure. Those who don't understand the later Women's Liberation activism; the "bra burners"; and women later described as feminazis; should watch that show. When I was a sprig in the early 60s, I remember the coffee klatches between my mother and the other women in the neighborhood. They congregated in the kitchen, smoking and drinking coffee, filling the hours until it was time to fix dinner and have it on the table for Husband. The ironing board had a permanent spot in the living room, facing the tv, there was always a laundry basket on top of the washing machine, slowly filling with clothes.

It puts me in mind of the eHell moo who has become obsessed with the activities of the pizza man and the garbage men. And those SAHMs who are addicted to Facebook and the games. They have to find something to fill their shallow existence.