This blog article linked to us, and subsequently we learned that the author is a Basketcase, but I wanted to make sure everyone sees it. Aulelia is a black woman based in London, offering a unique and personal perspective on the portrayal of black characters, especially Sheila.
Sheila’s physical beauty means she is contradicting the view that beauty is wholly Eurocentric or only Eurocentric.
I love this observation! Black women of 1963 were generally only regarded as beautiful if they had European features; thin lips, pointed nose, lighter skin, etc. Sheila is none of these things. She is a great beauty with obviously African features.
Many Basketcases (myself included) were unhappy with how the Sheila storyline played out. But Aulelia sees it differently:
Sheila as a character hinted to the fact that black women in society is an ambigious position from the point of view of non-blacks during that time.
I hope we continue to see interesting black actors, and actors of other races, behave as more than background in Mad Men.
25 Responses to “3 Reflections of Black Women”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Thank you for the compliment.
I loved Sheila's character. She was a nice addition to the show.
Again, the way that femininity is expressed in Mad Men is done
in such a complex and textured way and I hope I could show that
you can watch this show as an ethnic minority and feel like you can be part of it, even if it is not wholly representative.
I was not unhappy with how the Sheila storyline played out, insofar as it was true to the world of S2. And I think it may have moved Paul along his arc a bit to allow MM to touch on race issues more in future seasons. But given that S-C is a bit retrograde as an ad agency, I think it would have been unrealistic for MM to turn cutting edge at this point.
On a related note, in "The Inheritance," there is that good scene where Viola tells Betty that her dad is sick, and Betty replies something like, "You don't know good it is to hear someone say that." Viola got to be that rare MM truth-teller (even more rare since Rachel left us). And the Betty-Viola exchange also revealed another facet of Betty.
I was a little bummed to see Sheila leave the show, but as a child of parents who had a serious bi-racial relationship not that long after when Mad Men was set, I hated Paul a little bit for dallying with her as a status symbol and was happy to hear she dumped his butt like he deserved. It's been great to see race relations taking their place in the MM universe, and in a very real way, which is to say, in a subtle way. This wouldn't have been something the boys at SC were particularly aware of or focused on, but as the 60s progress they won't be able to avoid its intrusion into the country's consciousness.
I mean, I doubt Hollis is going to become a member of the Nation of Islam, but I would expect more and more attention to race as we go on, and I can't wait for it!
I liked the introduction of Sheila in S2 — though I admit I would have preferred to see her introduced by herself, rather than as Paul's girlfriend (or accessory?). I know that many women in the show are presented in relationship to men, so it would have been a stretch to find a context for Sheila as an individual. I can appreciate this.
And Karl, I was not unhappy with the way that storyline turned out either. I wasn't sure that Paul wanted Sheila for herself, or for the extra measure of difference her presence in his life offered him — it seemed the trip they took together answered that for her.
But what I didn't like about that story arc was that it seemed to end in our loss of Sheila. I hope it's not the last we've seen of her, but it's hard for me to imagine why she'd come back.
Thanks for this post, Deb.
Hmmm interesting.
Has there been any other black men..other then the Elevator guy?
I do love Betty's maid. What was her name? I would love to get some background on her.
@ #5 briome
It's coming.
I wasn't unhappy that they broke up, I was just unhappy that there was all this build-up and then it happened off-camera.
The only black men with lines have been Hollis and the busboy from Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.
@ #5 briome
Carla is the part-time housekeeper at the Drapers; Viola was apparently the housekeeper or nanny to Betty growing up (see #2 above).
@hullabaloo
Are you sure? From the way Don said, "I wouldn't want to be that guy." when Roger told him one of the other agencies (BBDO? Grey? I didn't catch the name) had hired a black guy, not to mention the way Roger said it, I would be kind of surprised to see SC starting to integrate its executive or copy staff.
Then again, maybe the new management will bring in more people of color from the former British Colonies.
Julia, hull meant that an interview with the woman who plays Carla is coming.
Also, Don wouldn't want to be the first black guy at any white ad agency. He knows how it feels to be isolated. But once someone else has broken the ice, I think it becomes more possible.
I still don't think we have seen the end of Sheila's importance in Paul's arc. I agree that the off-camera breakup was disapointing. But I can't believe their isn't more to the story of the freedom ride. Paul's last scene in the bus was telling us something (that he wasn't all that forward in his thinking after all? That he is more naive than we think?) What happened there? What kind of idiotic thing did he say or do that made Sheila dump him before they got back to New York?
I will be really disapointed if there isn't more about them later.
I am really fascinated to see what direction Series 3 (if it ever reaches England) will take in regards to ethnicity and how far ahead the show will go.
@Jen L, that scene with Paul on the bus was so rich and textured. But I do agree that he is naive especially when he said: "Consumer has no colour" [sic] or something along those lines.
Weiner addressed some of this in his interview; he wanted to portray a little of the complexity of the kind of people who did those freedom rides; yes, self-important, yes, naive, yes, kind of a jerk, but also really important to the change that occurred.
Sheila’s physical beauty means she is contradicting the view that beauty is wholly Eurocentric or only Eurocentric.
In some ways this could be applied to other women in the Mad Men world as well. Certainly Joan and Peggy are of European descent, but they, like Sheila, do not represent the modern ideal of female beauty, which is based on a Betty-like look – very skinny with almost no curves. When MM thought about the Jackie/Marilyn campaign, the show was also noting the transition from a curvy ideal to a skinny one. To a modern audience, then, both Sheila and Joan represent a very different "beautiful," as does Peggy, but for very different reasons.
One thing I do love about MM is that the show has not succombed to the trend nowadays of shows filled with only ideally beautiful people, both male and female. Look at "Gossip Girl" or the new 90210, or any soap opera and you enter a world where literally everyone fits the modern ideal of attractive. MM, on the other hand, gives us Peggy, who is not beautiful, except inside – the same could be said for Freddy or Pete or Harry.
I find that kind of relentless beauty disturbing. Like Private Practice; can't stand it.
@CPT_Doom, I see what you are saying in regards to how Peggy and Joan are other forms of 'beauty' that do not conform to the stereotype but I would not say that they are 'like' Sheila in the same sense because the fact they are white, [and not mixed-race or Asian or black,] already would have made them appear 'beautiful' to some people living during the time of Mad Men who thought that white people were the ultimate paradigm of beauty.
I mean to be completely frank with you, when I was watching the first series of MM, I did think that if they had a black actress feature as a potential love interest, in my heart of hearts, I thought she would be a light-skinned black woman a la Halle Berry, Beyonce Knowles etc simply because colourism in the past was a huge problem [and still is to a large degree].
But the fact that Artese is a dark-skinned black woman almost sort of made a larger point that here was a woman being introduced who 100% was on the other side of the spectrum of what 'female' beauty was supposed to be, ie not white.
Thank goodness we now live in times where beauty is not confined to a narrow-mindset as it was during those hard times.
I am loving the Mad Men discussions.
P/S – I think Peggy is a beauty, personally.
P/S – I think Peggy is a beauty, personally.
I was gonna say.
"I was a little bummed to see Sheila leave the show, but as a child of parents who had a serious bi-racial relationship not that long after when Mad Men was set, I hated Paul a little bit for dallying with her as a status symbol and was happy to hear she dumped his butt like he deserved."
Hate him for what? The only thing we were shown was that Paul didn't want to go to Mississippi for the voter registration drive . . . and that he pretended that he finally wanted to go when Don cut him off from the California trip.
Weiner never bothered to show how Paul and Sheila's relationship ended. He just told us. And this is poor storytelling on his part. What? He lacked the guts to do this?
Rosie: Hate him for what?
Julia: I hated Paul a little bit for dallying with her as a status symbol.
Maybe I don't understand the question.
I'm excited and intrigued to see what position race will play in series 3, too.
I was just watching the beginning of series 2 again today on my laptop and that one bit where Don's daughter goes with him to the office on Palm Sunday [ep no..?] and when she asks Kinsey if Sheila was his maid…it was really hit me, that one tiny scene.
Which is why this programme is very effective. It deals with how people saw things in a subtler way.
S2, Ep. 4 — The aptly-named "Three Sundays."
Also, only slightly OT: auelia's #20 reminds me of how disruptive or subversive Sally was at the office, just because (as a kid) she hasn't learned to put up the facade that most of the adults have up in force.
Also, on Peggy as a beauty — I think it's fair to say that (until the second half of S2, anyway) the show has intentionally played down the beauty of Elisabeth Moss. I also think it's fair to say that EM's beauty is not an Angelina Jolie/ Halle Berry club-to-the-head sort of beauty, either. She's got her own thing going on; I think that's one more reason she was a great choice to play Peggy (who has her own thing going on, in more than one sense).
Thanks for the ep number Karl.
Peggy is beautiful. EM is a serene looking woman.
Rosie: Hate him for what?
Julia: I hated Paul a little bit for dallying with her as a status symbol.
Maybe I don’t understand the question.
He did this for nearly a year? And if you re-watch Season 2, you would see that none of the episodes ever really established that Paul had used Sheila as a status symbol. Only Joan accused him of this . . . and I found her words questionable, considering her racist jealousy of the relationship.