Video analysis of the 1st episode of 'Mad Men'

Some thoughts on Mad Men: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Don Draper is a product of his time: he is sexist; he is racist; and he smokes! But he is also discreet, professional, and principled. Don Draper is the top ad man at Sterling Cooper because he can sell anything, even a lie, even death--the trick is to make it seem like happiness. Everything and everybody stays in their place, but, like the Dylan song goes, "times are a changin'" and Draper's changing, too, whether he wants to or not!

This period drama that looks at the world of advertising as a metaphor for the 60's-the most turbulent decade of the 20th century-is the history of America in a nutshell. What makes Don Draper appealing to me as a Black man is that despite the fact that he's racist, sexist, and steeped in the mindset of the establishment, he is conflicted as all of us are--if we are willing to admit it! He has secrets and isn't what or who he pretends to be. But, above anything else, he's principled. Don Draper is a microcosm of a nation at the epicenter of changes and revelations. This is 1 of the best written and directed series ever (created by Matthew Weiner), on par with Dallas of the 80's, a truly iconic, larger-than-life-flawed-everyman whom you can't help but like and respect even against your will. 

An examination of the 1st episode of Mad Men: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Here are some of the sociological perspectives I got from watching the 1st episode of Mad Men: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Discontentment

Don Draper is the top ad man at Sterling Cooper. In this episode, he needs to come up with a way to pitch a cigarette brand called Lucky Strike despite the fact that the government says that smoking causes cancer. Today, he’s meeting with the owner of Lucky Strike and if he doesn't come up with an angle around the FTCs findings, the agency will lose the account.

Don trying to figure out an angle to justify smoking is metaphor for him trying to justify maintaining a relationship and a life that he is not happy with; this is why he has a mistress which is just another dead-end relationship. At the meeting with Lucky Strike’s owner and son, Don’s pitch is not to disprove the FTCs findings that cigarettes are poisonous—all cigarettes are poisonous. What sets Lucky Strike apart from its competitors is that they are “roasted.” Just as he dances around the dangers of smoking, Don uses the temporary pleasure he gets from having a mistress to dance around the fact that he is not happy with his marriage. 

Living a double life

Greta Guttman from the agency’s Research Department enters the office and warns Don that they should police themselves to offset government regulations on their cigarette ads. Cigarettes are part of American life, she says, citing Freud’s theory that some people have a death wish. Sal quips “So we’re supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite? Ridiculous!”(this statement sums up the entire series as everyone is living some kind of double life starting with Don Draper who is actually a deserter named Richard Whitman who has stolen his identity off of a fellow soldier killed in action. Sal, who comes out as gay in a later episode, is pretending to be straight in a sexist, ultra-masculine culture.)

Sexism

In Mad men, women are exposed to sexism at work, in business and at home. 

• On Peggy Olsen’s 1st day at the agency, ad men make sexist remarks about her in an elevator
• The ad men place bets on who will have sex with Peggy 1st
• Don Draper walks out of a meeting with a female client for being ‘out of line’ by disagreeing with him and voicing her opinion
• Don Draper meets with a female client but assumes that the guy with her is the owner until she tells him that she’s the boss
• The doctor at the clinic asks Peggy, who’s getting a pap smear, if she’s married; warning her that “easy women” don’t get married and telling her not to become the “town pump” because his is  writing her prescription for birth control pills

Racism

There are many examples of racism in this episode. For instance, 

• The manager of a restaurant reprimands a male middle-aged waiter, who is Black, not to be too “chatty” with the customers when he sees the waiter speaking with Don Draper
• Except for Salvatore Romano who works in the agency’s Art Dept. and a young Jewish man who works in the mail room, there are no other ethnic groups represented at the agency
• Before finding a Jewish employee to represent the agency at a meeting with a potential Jewish client, Don makes a racist joke when Roger Sterling asks where they can to dig up a Jew for the meeting, asking Roger “Want me to run down to the deli and get someone?”
• Don recommends to Ms. Menken, who is Jewish, that her store offer coupons to increase business. Ms. Menken insists on raising prices to compete with her competitors who don’t offer coupons which angers Don because the coupons, on a deeper level, suggests that she, a Jew, is a 2nd class citizen and is, therefore, of lesser value than her White competitors 

Conforming to norms

Joan Holloway offers advice to Peggy Olsen, the new girl, on how she should accommodate her male superiors like keeping a bottle of Rye in her drawer for Don Draper to wearing shorter dresses to get her ankles to “sing.” Peggy is portrayed as a fish out of water. In the later episodes, her backstory reveals her as being raised by women and not exposed to the overt sexism she is exposed to at the agency. Joan is portrayed as the native who has shaped herself to survive in a world dominated by White males. As lead Secretary, her function is to teach Peggy how to conform.

Off the chain

At the striptease club, the ad men are at a table drinking and smoking and making passes at waitresses. Some girls arrive and sit with everyone except Sal. One of the girls makes a comment about the place: “It’s hot, it’s loud, and it’s filled with men!” Like alcohol, this environment frees the men of the civil restrictions imposed on them by society. (the striptease is a metaphor of the systematic liberation of the ad men’s egos, particularly, Pete’s who is about to be married and, in a sense, restricted from openly expressing himself). As the stripper on the stage peels off her clothes, Pete’s inhibitions fall away and he molests his date. Afterwards, he stops by Peggy’s apartment because, with her, he can privately express himself as Don Draper expresses his true self with his own mistress. When Peggy takes Pete into her place despite knowing that he is getting married in a few days, she is also agreeing to be a 2nd class citizen in his life as women are 2nd class citizens at Sterling Cooper.

Conclusion

Ultimately, this episode lays the groundwork for the changes that will take place in the agency but, most importantly, the changes that will impose themselves on society and the orderly world of Don Draper. The 1st seismic event marking the end of his world is Ms. Menken, the Jewish owner of the department store who embodies 2 oppressed groups challenging him and his world. Don Draper is an amalgam of the 60s, from the civil rights movement to the public’s disillusionment with the war in Vietnam.

Summary of 'Mad Men' Season 1 episode 1: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Hi, this is a summary of the very 1st episode of my all-time favorite series 'Mad Men'.

Don Draper is alone at a table in a restaurant writing on a napkin. He asks the Black waiter for a light and what brand of cigarettes he likes. The White manager reprimands the Black waiter for speaking to the customers. Don sends the manager to fetch him a drink and picks up his discussion with the waiter. The Black man tells Don that he loves smoking Old Gold and Don writes this down.

Don drops by his mistress’ apartment and they make love and afterwards they smoke cigarettes.

Workers stream into the Sterling Cooper office building. Young ad men surround the new girl in the elevator. The ad men make lewd remarks and ogle the new girl as if the Black elevator operator isn’t there.

A young ad man named Pete Campbell is on the phone with his fiancé telling her that he and some co workers are going to see a movie after work but they are actually going to a striptease club.

A tall curvy redhead in a tight dress and high heels walks the new girl, whose name is Peggy Olsen, to her desk beside Don Draper’s office. Joan Holloway is the head secretary. She schools Peggy on what the men in the office expect of her and advises her to wear a dress showing more of her legs.

Don is in his office changing into a fresh shirt and talking with his partner, Roger Sterling. They’re scheduled to meet the Jewish owner of a department store and they need to have someone there who is Jewish. They have no Jewish employees. Don makes a racist joke: “Want me to run down to the deli and get someone?”

When Roger leaves, Don looks at the purple heart the army gave him and puts it away. Salvatore Romano from the Art Department comes in to show Don a drawing he did for the Lucky Strike ad showing a man with his torso exposed smoking a cigarette; a neighbor posed for it. Don tells Sal to put a woman in the picture with the man. Sal goes over to the server tray to pour drinks. Greta Guttman from the Research Department comes in to advise Don that they should police themselves to offset government regulations on their cigarette ads. She cites Freud’s death wish theory and Sal interrupts her: “So we’re supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite? Ridiculous!”

Don doesn't think the issue is why people smoke but why people smoke Lucky Strike. She gives him a report on the dangers of smoking and he drops it in the trash can. When she leaves his office, he takes a drink and takes a nap on the couch. Peggy wakes him up; Pete Campbell wants to see him. Pete flirts with Peggy and makes a sexist comment about the excessive length of her dress. 

Pete and Don head towards the conference room. Pete says that he wants 1st crack at Peggy and Don warns him that he’ll wind up alone because nobody will like him. Don enters the conference room and a man and a woman are there. He gives the man a handshake and ignores the woman. The woman, not the man, is the owner of Menken's Department store. Don apologizes. The man with her is David, an employee of the agency Roger found in the mail room. David is also Jewish.

Peggy is in the doctor’s office at the clinic. She’s on the exam table with her feet in stirrups. The doctor comes into the room smoking and coughing. He is also Joan’s doctor. He asks Peggy if she’s married and orders her to spread her knees. He warns her that he’ll take her off the pills if she abuses them. He also warns her that “easy women” don’t find husbands. She tells him that she’s a responsible person. He writes her a prescription and warns her not to become “the town pump.” 

At the meeting with Ms. Menkin, Don and Cooper try to persuade her to offer coupons but she wants the store to have a high-end image. Don warns her that she is way out of line. He thinks that the idea of people going to a store because it’s expensive is a stupid and she reminds him that the customer-meaning herself-is always right. He leaves the meeting with Pete following him agreeing about Menken forgetting her place.

Joan takes Peggy to meet the switchboard operators who are all women. One of them comments on Peggy’s long dress, saying that Draper would like her legs if he could see them. 

Don and other ad men from various departments meet with the owners of Lucky Strike over the media’s claim linking cigarettes with cancer. Everyone in the conference room is smoking and coughing. The federal government is suing 1 of Lucky Strike’s competitors for making false health claims. Therefore, Sterling Cooper can no longer claim that Lucky Strike cigarettes are safe. Cooper turns the floor over to Don who is stumped. Pete seizes the opportunity and makes his pitch by comparing smoking to the dangers of driving a car. He cites Greta Guttman’s research; earlier, Greta told Don that no one else had seen her research! Pete tells the old man and his son that the agency can design an ad campaign that can tap into Freud’s death wish theory.

The old man dismisses Pete’s idea and he and his son get up to leave. The son makes a casual remark that their competitors have the same problem and Don stops them and goes over to the chalkboard. Lucky Strike can say anything that they want because none of their competitors could make any health claims either. Don asks the old man how their cigarettes are made and his answer is that they are “toasted,” which becomes the company’s new slogan. 

Roger and Don celebrate afterwards with cigarettes and alcohol. Roger brings up the possibility of the agency backing Presidential candidate Richard Nixon. Pete and others come in with more alcohol to celebrate. Everyone leaves except Pete who places a pass to the striptease lounge on Don’s Desk. Don lays into Pete for using Greta’s research at the Lucky Strike meeting. Peggy enters and Pete leaves. She places her hand on top of Don’s hand and thanks him for standing up to Pete on her behalf; Don takes her hand off of his hand and warns her not to let Pete go through his trash again. She is embarrassed. Don sends her home and tells her to come back tomorrow and get a fresh start. 

At the striptease club, the ad men are at a table drinking, smoking cigarettes, and flirting with waitresses. Their dates arrive and sit with everyone except Sal. One of the girls looks around and says, “It’s hot, it’s loud, and it’s filled with men!” Sal smiles and agrees with her. A stripper is on the stage starting her routine.Pete gropes the woman next to him. He forces his hand up her dress and she gets up and sits with one of the other ad men. The stripper peels off all of her clothes and the song ends. 

Don and Ms. Menken are in a restaurant with low lighting. He apologizes to her for walking out of the meeting and she agrees to another meeting. He asks her why she isn’t married and she tells him that she’s never been in love.

Pete shows up drunk at Peggy’s apartment. When he tells her that he’s getting married Sunday she invites him inside. 

After having dinner with Ms. Menken, Don goes home to his wife and their 2 children.