Mad Men Episode 4

The episode opens with  Bruce Campbell in the office with the guys when his wife comes. He hesitantly listens to what she has to say while the guys tease him. His wife is trying to get him to go apartment shopping in which she is asking for him to spend the money that he doesn't have in order to make her happy.
On the home front, Don's wife is walking the dog when she spots the new neighbors husband trying to force his way in to see the kids as she walks on.
Bruce makes a stop by his parents to ask for a loan in order to pay for the apartment. His father stone walls him and can't seem to make any head way or get along with his father due to Bruce's profession. This forces Bruce to go to his father in law who readily says yes to helping with the apartment. In the office, Bruce is trying to exert his control over the office and over Don. Which causes Don to keep cutting him down, to keep making sure that he is on top despite Bruce having legitimate ideas and ads.
The rest of the episode focuses and personifies the growing unease of Bruce Campbell on both the home and work fronts. This comes to a head in this episode when Bruce finally over steps his boundaries as Don is trying to sell a client on an idea and Bruce stops it dead in its tracks by having already pitched an idea to the client and it is accepted, at which point Don effectively fires Bruce. When Don goes to tell Sterling about it, Sterling agrees to the firing until they are called into the senior partners office, at which point Don gets a piece on career politics in which Don learns he cannot fire Bruce Campbell due to his father. The episode ends with Bruce, his wife and his wife's parents looking out the window of the new apartment.
A continuing theme is simply that of the facade, specifically for Bruce. Not only does he put up with his peers at work, where he has to act like he is in charge with his wife. He also tries the same thing with his dad when asking him for money, putting on the tough face so that he can explain what it is to be an ad man. You also see him put on the i'm a guy and i'm in control when he talks to his wife about his meeting with his parents in which he lies and said that it went well. However it is growing more and more apparent that he is not in control of things because his wife pressures him and he submits, Don wins the arguments and such at work, and his father is still pushing him around.
The bible talks about not worrying about tomorrow, letting the cares of the day not bother you as you go to sleep, and not letting the sun set on your problems with other people. Bruce, keeps putting up this facade that i'm alright, I can do it, that i'm a man and nothing should get in the way of that. However because of this, he will have the most trouble of all. Not just because he doesn't talk about things, but because he is not taking care of the heart of the issues. Which would be his own heart, letting the pressures that his Father puts on him or that his wife puts on him, or even that work puts on him be lifted off and letting himself find a way to let that anger go. Coming up soon I have a feeling that we will see an episode of Bruce explode on himself and or others if he does not vent in a healthy way as the bible talks about. Another thing that the bible talks about in relation to this episode is the attitude, Bruce seems to be having a growing attitude of pride of which the bible speaks of heading that off, we see the examples of these great kings in the Old Testament that fell because pride or some form there of got in their way and brought a downfall to their worldly treasures. I think the challenge for me is that i need to stop continually cutting myself down with the past or even the things that I do now, which leads to the building up of myself in pride and let things go, give them to God and let him take care of my troubles.

Mad men episode 3

            The episode starts with Don on the train, when an old army buddy recognizes him and tries to start a conversation. Don decides to make small talk while seeming very contemplative about the whole thing. At the office, Pete Campbell is back from his honeymoon and the whole office seems to want to congratulate him minus Peggy. When he walks into his office, a group of Chinese people are sitting in the office having breakfast as a joke on Pete. He then has to deal with trying to get them out of his office. A little after this, Ms. Menken a client walks into a meeting with the men at which point she realizes that none of them have ever been to her store and so cannot accurately help her with advertising or changing her store, at which point Don fesses up and tells her he will visit. During the visit they kiss and she confesses to desiring him and he backs off citing marriage as the reason for not wanting to continue the relationship.

            When Don heads home he has to prepare for his daughter’s birthday party in which he must build a doll house for his daughter. During the party Don catches a married man making approaches on the new neighbor who is divorced, while his wife is kissing another man. The women during the party however break off and begin to talk about trivial matters while feeling out the new neighbor and her stance on things. After the party, Don goes out and gets a dog for his daughter as a gift.

            A theme that appeared was the façade that people have. Where the characters outwardly expressed joy and contentment but on the inside or when no one was looking they showed signs of displeasure either with themselves or the situations that they are in. We saw this after the incident between Don and Ms. Menken, or with Peggy as she told Pete that all was well and wouldn’t mention a thing about their tryst.

            The New Testament makes a point to talk about such a thing. In not just mentioning that we should be honest with one another, speaking truth or honoring each other with actions, but the reality that when we sin, there becomes a level of guilt and pain that we begin to suffer from. Not talking out our issues with God or with another person can tend to do the same thing. We begin to bottle things up and don’t take care of the issues that we harbor. At points this causes us to fall back on the things that tend to cause us to sin. 

Episode 2: Mad Men

            In the second episode of Mad Men, we begin to see a lot more information about all of the characters. It starts out with a dinner consisting of Don and his wife, and then Roger and his wife as well. In which the subject of having a nanny and thus childhood comes up. In this case, we learn that Don does not talk about or care to mention his childhood or that he had a nanny, his wife has learned to not ask about his family in any way shape or form because he tends to stonewall her. As the episode goes on, Peggy becomes a little more comfortable with Joan Harris another secretary whom is good at getting the guys to do what they want. Don’s wife Betty shows us a side of what it means to be a housewife in which her and a friend are talking about a new neighbor and discussing what it would be like to be divorced and living on your own. A little bit later the episode shows Betty driving with her kids in the car past that newly divorced and new neighbor as she is moving in when all of a sudden her hands start shaking on the wheel and she loses control at a slow speed. Betty then crashes the car, which starts a conversation with Don about whether or not she needs to see a psychiatrist. All the while Don is seeing and sleeping with an artist in the city when he stays there instead of going home, and we begin to see a little more about that relationship as well, in which he desires her and she wants him to stay more.          

            One of the major themes of this episode is that of uncertainty or rather what it means to be human, trying to work out all of the stresses of life and how that actually ends up. For example Don deals with the stresses of family, a wife and her problems, work issues and so on by sleeping with another woman. He tends to stop working and just disappear for sometime in order to relieve himself of stress. His wife on the other hand, she does not know what to do and so her body shuts down on her because of the pressures of Don not talking, taking care of the kids, and worries of being a housewife. Peggy, the secretary tends to put more effort into working and so she spends more time at the office than she does anywhere else, not wanting to socialize much or doing anything else. The uncertainties of life for these characters are being handled in a variety of ways and you can begin to see the reality of how unhealthy that is.

            I think that it is interesting that from that era till now the only difference we see between dealing with stress in the ways that these characters do is to make sleeping around, seeing a psychiatrist, or working devilishly more acceptable. However the bible is almost completely opposite of this style of stress relief because that is a human way of dealing with things. The bible rather continuously says not to sleep with someone other than whom you’re married to. It does not help any situation out except by relieving your immediate flesh needs. Seeking outside help is probably one of the best things to do however, because we need to be able to talk. I think however that it would be better to seek out someone whom can relate in a Christian way and encourage us in Christ not just in flesh. Lastly, pouring ourselves into our work might get things done in the short term, but it is important not to be able to burn out. God does not want people who are not able to do work, but people who can stand up and do the things he asked.

Season 1 Episode 1-mad men

The first episode of Mad Men is placed in the 1960's and starts kind of slowly, getting to know the main character played by Jon Hamm. However you quickly realize that it is purposefully slow because Don Draper played by mr. Hamm is a slow and calculating guy testing out the room in order to get a feel for why people smoke. From there, the story quickly moves on to others of the cast including a new secretary for Don (Peggy), the woman that Don sleeps with which (Midge), the men he works with and at the end, it shows Don's wife and kids although we do not know them as of yet.

The episode itself weaves in and out of romance with gender role issues. In the beginning, the new secretary is getting shown around the office with a veteran to the business, a woman whom knows how to get her way with the men around the office. She tells Peggy about the things to do/not to do and tries to teach her how to act with the men the way they are. Meaning that the men throughout the episode treat women like an item that they own and can play with whenever they want, through the way that they talk and act with those around them. The middle of the episode shows Don trying to work out a complex advertising issue in which the tobacco company needs help creating a slogan. An up and coming exec, is right there with him vying for his position. As the episode ends, we are introduced to a Jewish business woman whom Don struggles to come to terms with due to the fact that she is a woman and he is not. The last scenes are an introductiong to Don's wife and kids.

A theme written into this episode would be that of power struggles, specifically in the area of gender roles/dominance. As this is a show based on the 1960's, this is no surprise to me because of history books we can understand that women in business or as the boss in a business was not a common or acceptable thing until the 1990's and even more so in the 2000's. In the 1960's however, women were still viewed as housewives or strictly secretaries in which men ruled over anything and everything except when it came to the day to day things with the kids. This is something that is shown in Don's work place in the first episode, where the secretaries and even the Jewish business woman was talked down to and slandered due to their social status in America at the time. We see that this plays out in Don's interaction with his wife briefly in how she seeks out his thoughts and feelings after him coming home.

Another theme noted throughout this episode were the liberties that were taken to remain blissfully unaware of certain realities. What I mean by this is that in the scene with Don, Salvatore and Greta (the research Dr.), we see Don throw away any research that the dr. had done in preperation for the meeting with the tobacco company lucky strikes in which Don had to create an ad for. The interaction showed a level of wanting to remain unaware yet strikingly in the know of what cigarrettes do to a person. Another scene to example this, was when Don was pitching a slogan to the tobacco company, his slogan was happiness in which the campaign would be to keep people happy and satisfied without the worries of death due to cancer (smoking).

Ultimately it would be safe to say that scripture denies these attitudes as for the first theme, the bible speaks to not letting gender roles get in the way of doing what God has called us to. Paul speaks about this in Acts 18:2 and 1 Cor. 16:19 if only by addressing priscilla before acquilla indicating the wife's importance to the christian church. It also speaks to the fact that despite male dominance in Roman history, at this point, Paul is saying to respect the women whom do a lot. Even Genesis speaks to this as although Adam was created first, Eve was created as an equal to Adam not as a servant as most would interpret. The bible also makes mention about remaining aware of the issues around us so that we are not tricked into believing things not of God. Acts 20:31 is Paul talking about being on guard against such people trying to tear apart the church, but he warns to remain awake and alert so as to fend off such attacks. I know that sound almost like i'm trying to pull something from nothing, but the attitudes in which we become unaware of different things such as in this episode, gender issues or health risks are the same in which I see as christians we become unattentive to the things of satan and those items start sneaking in and taking over how we think and feel.