Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., April 30, 2009 Iyyar 6, 5769 | | Israel Time: 21:03 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File TLV 100

Fall guys By Ruta Kupfer Tags: Mad Men, Israel News In the opening credits of "Mad Men," a person is seen falling from a skyscraper. During his slow descent, a sort of free-fall sky dive, the man, series hero Don Draper, passes products advertised by the advertising agency where he works. This descent is obviously a nod to the period in which the series is set, the early 1960s: a combination of the falling man from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film "Vertigo" and the skyscraper from that great director's 1959 film "North by Northwest" (the series also contains numerous references to "The Birds"). But from the viewer's standpoint, this symbolic fall, in a television series that focuses on the downfall of man in New York - the ostensible center of the world - is also a reference to the September 11th disaster, and to the people who committed suicide after the 1929 stock market crash by jumping from those same buildings: that is, also a reference to the current global crisis and the implications many see in the collapse for the American way of life, which Madison Avenue had such a role in promoting and idealizing. In a telephone conversation with the show's creator, Matthew Weiner, I point out that the second season of his award-winning series about Madison Avenue ended in the U.S. just as Wall Street collapsed. "I don't even know what to tell you," he says in amazement. "There were some lucky things that happened on my end [too with] the timing. I mean, I wrote the pilot some nine years ago and was ready to go." Advertisement The plunge from the skyscraper is not the only thing with multilayered meaning in this series, arguably the best show on U.S. TV now; the soundtrack, the set - everything is charged with intention, depth and significance. Even the name "Mad Men," invented by ad executives themselves (as the opening credits note), has a dual meaning: It is a nickname for the men who work on Madison Avenue, but of course also contains the element of madness. And yet, after all that, the show really seems to be about women. "Mad Men," which debuted in the United States in July 2007, received the 2008 Emmy Award for best drama series the first series on the AMC network to win that prestigious award. Plus, it has reaped numerous other prizes, including six Golden Globes. It ran for two short seasons of 12 episodes each. The second season, set two years after the first, in 1962, will be shown on Hot 3 starting May 16 (it has already run on Hot VOD), precisely when the third season will begin filming in Hollywood. Weiner wrote the first episode in 2000, and on that basis, David Chase hired Weiner to work on his own popular series, "The Sopranos," as head screenwriter. So "Mad Men" went on a creative hiatus lasting several years, which is why the show's relevance to current affairs is even more prescient and impressive. Were there other reasons besides "The Sopranos" for the delays in production of "Mad Men"? Weiner: "I wanted to go on air although I had no idea if anybody would want to air it - it had so many things going against it. It was a period piece and because it's about advertising, there were all kinds of things people didn't like about it. The smoking was very hard to put to American culture ... Working [on 'The Sopranos'] for over four years made my show better. I was much more qualified after working with David Chase and Terry Winter and all those actors: It helped ['Mad Men'] be more than what I originally intended. "I wrote it the pilot when I was 35, I was born in 1965 and it had to do with where I was with my life [and also] about what went wrong. Despite the United States' dominance in the 20th century, it really seemed that in 1960, in particular, New York was the center of the universe, in a very positive way. Things seemed to have eroded from that point on. "I always wonder - was it materialism? Was it the onset of the war? Was it technology that made us both great and insecure? But something happened and that was what I was feeling at the time. Even in popular culture, if you look at the depth of the literature that was popular at that time, you have a huge percentage of the population reading things like 'Catch 22.' You won't find books of that caliber on the best-seller list today." In the show's second season, Joan Holloway, the office manager, tells Peggy Olson, the sole female copywriter among all the men, that she will have to "learn to speak their language." Has the language changed? "I think they're still speaking the same language, which is a man's language. Which is to say a combination of bravado, fear, conformity. The workplace is always defined by 'us' and 'them'; it's always the man's world - in every business, even in businesses where you wouldn't expect it. So women are faced with what to do with their sexuality, because it's in conflict with success and can also be an asset ... "Peggy wants to do what Don does, and Joan wants to do what Betty [Don's suburban housewife] does. If your goal is just to get married - not that that isn't an important role - you can behave in a different way than if your job is to be a superstar in a business environment." The show's fans typically split along gender lines - men identifying perhaps with Draper (the wonderful Jon Hamm, a sort of latter-day Cary Grant or Clark Gable), whereas women prefer Peggy (a mousy Elizabeth Moss) over Don's beautiful wife, Betty (January Jones, reminiscent of Grace Kelly). "They're both wish-fulfillments," Weiner says. "I identify with Peggy, too, but I identify with Don also. A lot of women identify with Joan." The status of women is key in the show, in both major spheres: the home and the office. At work they suffer constant sexual harassment, are not appreciated and become objects of affection or rejection. When Peggy scores a professional success, a colleague comments: "It's incredible, almost like watching a monkey ride a bicycle." In the second season one of the characters is raped by her fiance. The women at home seem to be going out of their minds with boredom. Don has a legion of women in his life - lovers, secretaries, colleagues, his absent mother, and of course his wife; each one represents a different aspect of the burgeoning women's liberation movement. His attitude toward Betty is very paternalistic, and exceeds all bounds when her psychologist calls Don without her knowledge to brief him on the details of her therapy. That scene is particularly infuriating, the feeling that she will never have "a room of her own." "Yes, that's exactly what [the show] is on: 'A room of one's own.' 'Nose-job generation' Matthew Weiner was born straight into the '60s cultural revolution. How does he relate to a world that had become history by the time he came of age? "My parents were steeped in the culture of the '50s," he explains. "Part of that is the complexity of being Jewish in that generation - really trying to fit in to what I jokingly call the 'nose-job generation.' The reason I understand it is that this world didn't disappear until the mid-'70s. My parents had liberal politics and went through the whole tumble of the '60s, and my mother went back to school in 1972. I was raised with educated women who really did not get to explore their potential. But on some level - I know this sounds judgmental, but it's only an observation - they took it out on their families. I think a lot of them did not want to be moms. "By the way, having a wife with a career and four children, I see that this battle is still going on. My generation had children much later in life, but there is still a huge complexity: What is the value of four years of Harvard law school if you're going to have a family?" Nevertheless, things have changed. In the first season there is a scene in which a neighbor slaps someone else's child, and the boy's father defends the neighbor. Today you will not see a parent striking his own kid in public. "Are you kidding me? Today, you get penalized for sending your kid [to school] with a peanut-butter sandwich. A lot has changed. Legislation about how people are treated in the workplace has changed, but there is still an attitude underneath - political correctness aside - that still has not changed. Maybe nowadays it's easier to present it in extreme worlds, like that of the mafia. Don Draper is to a great degree reminiscent of Tony Soprano, and therefore there is also a similarity in their relationships with their wives. Both men live in a world whose values are about to come apart. In both cases the wives collaborate with their oppressors. These are the 'last days of Pompeii' for both of them. "Any comparison to 'Sopranos' is a compliment for me," adds Weiner, who has clearly been asked about this too many times. "I am thrilled that anyone would even refer to it and my show in the same breath." There is also a European element in "Mad Men," which has an impact on Don, the symbol of the all-powerful man. In the second season, he and other American colleagues meet with European peers, and one of the latter openly and shockingly declares his homosexuality. On another occasion Don is surprised by the permissiveness he sees among Europeans on the West Coast. "In these encounters I wanted to show that what we term the 'sexual revolution' was not exactly nailed down in time," Weiner says. "Don has a girlfriend in the '50s; there was free love even then. The European Kurt comes from a culture that enables him to say that he's gay, but part of this also has to do with his personality ... He's flamboyant and there were also people like him, open about their sexual inclination, in the art world, for example. It was easier for a choreographer to be openly gay than for a senior company executive. "In the episode about the European family that Don encounters, I was referring to something else - a class of heathens, wealthy people who exist to this day, for whom the ordinary rules of society do not apply ... Draper could have fit into a world like that, but he was frightened. It is really perverse, to an extent, to adopt that sort of lifestyle. Through them you realize that certain social rules are there as safety rails, and are not necessarily a bad thing." A propos evil, the ad agency at the center of the show advertises everything that is considered negative today - cigarettes, aerosol deodorants, president Richard Nixon. In the first season, the agency is offered the account for the Israeli tourism ministry. Were you hinting at something? "Obviously Israel is important to me, and Don Draper is as much in a process of assimilation as everyone else in that culture. That's why I did the episodes where he has a relationship with a Jewish woman, and also I wanted to remind [the audience] that there was a time when America had a love affair with Israel. Israel's not bad for us - and by the way they didn't get that account." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Swine killed over flu Egypt orders pigs killed in anticipation of pandemic. Obama greets Israel U.S. President salutes Israel's 61st independence day.

Read & React Israel to EU: Criticism of Netanyahu government unacceptable Responses: 256 British airline apologizes for deleting Israel from map Responses: 87 Ari Shavit: Obama in 2012, after he fails to deal with Iran Responses: 99 Peres: Bombing Iran may not be the 'best solution' Responses: 96 More Headlines 19:21 Two more suspected swine flu cases as Health Ministry raises alert 19:41 'Galilee Freedom Fighters': Israeli Arab terror suspects are our operatives 19:40 Police grill Lieberman for fourth time in graft probe 19:34 British airline apologizes for deleting Israel from map 20:31 Saudi Arabia: U.S. lied, Saudi king did not speak with Peres 19:19 Palestinian hijacker of Achille Lauro cruise released from jail 18:34 Exposed: Director of Nazis' anti-Jewish propaganda 21:43 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel 20:02 UN: Gaza still awaiting aid pledged for reconstruction 16:15 Report: Turkey ends war crimes probe of Israel over Gaza op 17:22 Lawyer: 8-year-old Saudi girl divorces 50-year-old husband 17:07 Israel to EU: Criticism of Netanyahu government unacceptable 10:55 Parents in shock as court acquits two mobsters in murder of girl Previous Editions Select Day 29 apr 28 apr 27 apr 26 apr 24 apr 23 apr 22 apr 21 apr 20 apr 19 apr 17 apr 16 apr

Special Offers Advertisement Spring Specials-Dan Hotels Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$ The Meier on Rothschild Tower Masterpiece Residence in the Heart of Tel Aviv Dead Sea Skin Care Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off! Camp Kimama Israel 2009 The best place for your children this summer Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations Jewish Singles Personal Ads Find the love of your life on JDate.com Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results

Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved