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New York, 6:36 PM
Tue Nov 10
74 posts in the last 24 hours
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06:20 PM
True, all kinds of crazy shit. Some day, she may even decide to make a song that you'd want to hear more than once. Then again, so many of other people are doing that... it wouldn't be that special. #ladygagabadromancevideo
06:01 PM
Personally, I don't hate her, and I don't identify her primarily as a privileged person in her world. Her husband has a lot more privilege and agency than her, and he treats her terribly.
The "She should just leave" crowd, which turned into the "Henry Francis is just another Don Draper; she should just leave and be single" crowd, is misguided in my opinion. Note how much more receptive the lawyer was to her prospects when came in with HF. She would lose her kids for sure without another husband and she doesn't want to do that. She has no assets to her name, not even her father's house, not because she hasn't been working, but because she's been laboring for free for Don for all these years. She couldn't get hired anywhere, even for peanuts as a secretary. She has no credit, she couldn't get a loan, what would you have her do?
As for her and HF not knowing each other for long, the long courtships of today were not the norm then. Part of the reason for this was the economic imperative for women to marry, and part of this was the social and legal barriers to premarital sex, including the illegality of abortion and restricted access to b.c.
Henry Francis is not dismissive of her thoughts and desires. He treats her like an adult, and so far, he's been honest with her. He seems not to need to be married to advance his career, as Don does. I hardly see where the comparison is between the two men. #madmen
06:25 PM
Betty's problems represent conflicts long before and long after the 1960s, so why are we pretending that Betty should have made a choice to leave without support, when we all know people who feel just as trapped in the 21st century? Some laws may have changed, but some attitudes haven't. #madmen
06:35 PM
It amazes me that the attitude proliferates among Jezzies about a woman fifty years ago. #madmen
06:01 PM
05:51 PM
05:51 PM
But, a Vegas divorce is a much more logical and saner conclusion to their horribly fraught sham of a marriage.
At last, an end to his multiple affairs and her petulant, listless sulking, all of which deeply impacted their children. May he find peace with the teacher, and her with the silver fox she ran away with.
What a depiction of the loneliness and the hell of a bad marriage! Riveting to watch.
05:44 PM
The brilliance of Betty's breakdown, and the gorgeous Feminine Mystique melodrama of it all, is predicated on the fact that she is allowed, and able to do so because she has Carla. She has the luxury of having this massive collapse and sitting for days in the same gorgeous dress because she knows someone else will make sure things function.
That's not to say her distress is not real or heartbreaking. It is, but Betty's proto-feminist awakening is set against the backdrop of Carla's constant presence which is, I think, the most interesting part of that story arc. At the end of it all, Betty can fly away with her new man and Don can start all over because they are able to leave the kids at home with Carla while they are off finding themselves in their new lives. But at the same time, every season, the ability of all the characters to coast on the priveleges given them by their race and class has been slipping. I'm extremely interested to see how this continues. #madmen
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06:22 PM
I don't get this. There have been a lot of scenes of Betty asking for his help with discipline, and him responding with apathy before he goes out again to fuck somebody.
When the Kennedy stuff was going on, Don didn't want the kids to see, but Betty didn't think it was realistic to hide it from them. When they were having the "living room" talk about their impending divorce, he lied to the kids about how he wasn't really leaving, to make himself look better for the moment, against Betty's head shaking. Betty is depressed and often curt with the kids, but she's involved and aware of their lives and doesn't treat them like dolls.
Don identifies with his children, in a way, because he feels sorry for himself for his bad childhood. I think laying down with Sally after his memory of his father dying was more for him than for her. He very badly wants his children to have a better childhood, but his way of ensuring that is to lock Betty into full time parenting. I think the first time he had a flashback to his family was when he sabotaged Betty's opportunity to get back into modeling. #madmen
05:32 PM
I think Mad Men is predicated exactly on knowing what IS coming next. And this is becoming a problem. There's an increasing distance I feel from the show, as if we're complicit in every little anachronism. We're supposed to laugh along with the confusion over a "chip and dip" set, and we're supposed to tut-tut when Betty refers to "your people" when talking to Carla.
I think this is a show that's great to analyze, but not great for interpretation. It feels (to me, anyway) as if we're all supposed to view it through a narrow prism, namely Matt Weiner's. #madmen
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05:18 PM
THIS. Wow Latoya, you just absolutely nailed for me the reason why I found this season oddly less-enjoyable and engaging than the previous two (except the season finale, which was awesome). I liked Betty a lot more in the previous two seasons, she seemed to have more, I don't know, chutzpah. I particularly enjoyed that incident with the shotgun that you mentioned. It seems like that Betty has vanished.
I would add that, for me, I know the reason I like and forgive many of the male characters (Don and Roger particularly) for their failings: it's simple - charm. Betty and Pete are charmless. I'm not saying it's right, but it's true.
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