Waaaaaay back in August of last year, I made an observation about the fat motif that seemed to be emerging as a theme for Season 2. At that time, both Deborah and Roberta thought it was brill, and suggested I turn it into a post. In fact, Deborah suggested I just “CTRL-C = copy, CTRL-V in a Write window, Save, and that’s a wrap.”
So, without much further adieu, here’s my CTRL-C, CTRL-V:
*****
The fat theme is the only recurring motif, along with pregnancy, (which is a variation on the theme) that I can detect so far this season:
Sarah Beth often talks about her daughter’s weight; in one instance, she says something about hoarding dimes, to which Betty says something along the lines of she’s watching her weight.
Betty snidely comments about Sally having fruit punch for Valentine’s Day.
The guys make jokes about Peggy visiting a fat farm.
Ken jokes about Harry’s soon to be fat wife.
Carlton has put on a lot of weight. Betty thinks it’s because he’s happy, but Don disagrees.
Harry’s office mate is fat.
Jimmy makes jokes about Mrs. Schilling.
I think there have been others, but I can’t say for sure.
Of course most of the derogatory fat remarks have been directed at the women, while the men receive a pass.
I wonder where they’re going with this?
*****
Well, now we know where they were going with it. I guess you can call me Miss Cleo from now on.
4 Responses to “And for my next trick”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I think Mad Men includes fat and lookism in general because one of the show's major themes is the way privilege takes on diverse forms, and the way people are crushed by a false ideal being sold to them as a trade off for real empowerment and self-fulillment/self-acceptance.
I am generally pleased with how they deal with fat (even the Mrs. Schilling thing didn't bother me on an activist level because it was not just using her for cheap laughs, it was using the dichotomy between an easy target and someone who is not afraid to humiliate others to build themselves up). Except for Harry's fat office mate. He has so little substance, and is the closest to a one dimensional character I could find on Mad Men. He is ALWAYS shown eating, and he is kind of a bumbling fool when it comes to sexuality. If it weren't for the constant eating, they might be showing an interesting character with low self esteem, but the constant eating turns him into a characature.
Good points lamargarita. I hadn't really considered the lookism option.
I think one of the reasons they focused so much on "fat" was as a commentary on pregnancy — to foreshadow Betty's, to underscore Jennifer's, and also as a nod to Peggy's giving birth (along with her sister, Anita) and Trudy's infertility. These events kind of streamed through the entire season, and served as a leitmotif to the notions of children, parents and family, which season 2 seemed to focus on more than season 1.
I really hope that MM explores the lookism angle in S3. It's about time — especially for a series that has never shrunk from its role as something as a mirror for the darker side of modern society.
Peggy was in full retreat during her pregnancy. Even she believed that she was merely gaining weight, and she fed into that (there is no better way to say this). In the meantime, she endured what I can only describe as cruelty, from both women and men in the office.
She was ostracized. But perhaps this was what she sought at the time.
S3 Peggy resumed a position of power, returned to what people of our time would call her "goal weight": and enjoyed new successes in the office. I watch similar things happen to women I know. One recently lost four sizes using the Wii Fit, and has been called out by everyone from a team colleague to a senior executive for her stunning weight loss. This woman's productivity has remained the same. But those who note her weight loss (they are all women) swear that her work has improved. My suddenly-skinnier colleague is really annoyed by this.
There are other examples on MM, but I choose Peggy because she manipulates her body in a way that is shockingly modern. Don't want that baby? Don't keep it. Don't like the presentation? Don't accept the man's sexual offer. Don't want the weight? Lose it. A more contemporary Peggy would have been able to go even further, to things like corrective eye surgery and an IUD.
I don't really believe that old phrase about fat being a feminist issue. But I do believe in diversity. When I heard recently that a film version of one of my favorite books is being made to eliminate a colorful and full-bodied female love interest — the only one the main character really misses, by the story's end — it broke my heart.
Not every woman is between a size zero and a size twelve. The Hollywood waif standard is tired, stupid and boring. It's time to push on it, and MM is just the place to see that push, IMO.
We're also right on the cusp of where youth culture and it's slender "Jane" body types become the new beauty standard.
Which reminds me-
I have a guy friend who happens to be of the "any woman over 125 lbs. is fat" school of thought- insert eyeroll here-, and we were talking about the show awhile back (I'm not sure if he had seen it yet) and he had mentioned that one of the women on it was "the most beautiful woman ever". So I asked which one and it turned out he was talking about Christina Hendricks. I think he knew her from "Firefly" where she was thinner (I haven't seen it so I can't judge), and I was like, huh? Ok then. I think Joan is beautiful, but she'd definitely be "fat" in this guy's opinion, so I was wondering if he'd seen her recently or had expanded his beauty standards or what?