Discussing The Wheel, Basketcase Paul Jefferson asks:
One scene I cannot and have not really fathomed is where Peggy, in the tryouts for the Relaxa-sizer, is intentionally cruel to the woman during the audtion. At least, it seems to to be, or she is being obtuse to her own behavior. Is it revenge by the plain girls aginst the beautiful ones? Or something else I’m not getting?
Like a lot of women who aren’t thought of as attractive, Peggy assumes that if only she were beautiful, she’d have it all. She’s spent her life being unnoticed, or told she’s plain or “nice,” while pretty girls get attention, dates, and opportunities. Basically, a beauty like Annie has everything that Peggy has always been told she is supposed to want.
Flash forward to Season 3, and think about the “Bye Bye Birdie” scene, and after, with Peggy in the mirror trying so hard to be Ann-Margret. Peggy is out in the cold, and pretty girls are warm by the fire.
Peggy is simply incapable of believing that Annie is insecure or unhappy, because Peggy believes that, if only she had Annie’s looks, she’d be radiantly happy. Annie, Peggy thinks, is confident and cannot be hurt or wounded by mousy, overweight, Brooklyn-girl Peggy.
At the end of the scene, when Peggy fired Annie from a distance, I am not sure, even then, that Peggy was being purposely mean. I think she just wanted it over with. Peggy by now saw she had hurt Annie, but she just couldn’t get it; she couldn’t process the information that a girl who looked like Annie could be as easily hurt as one who looks like Peggy.
Wasn’t the scene also about power ? Annie was not Peggy’s choice, but Peggy was over ruled by Ken. In bringing Annie to tears, Peggy ultimately got what she wanted for the product, but also forced Ken to respect her by proving she could be as much of an SOB as any man in the office. It was unfortunate that Annie was caught in the middle, but this may have been the first time that Peggy has thought to establish her territory. Flash forward to S4 and her showdown the Stan. Mano e Mano; a both more powerful and elegant way of again forcing someone to respect her.
rl1856, you’re misreading the scene. Annie was Peggy’s choice, because Peggy was drawn to her beauty. Ken correctly realized that the less-beautiful woman was the one with the more beautiful voice. It was Peggy’s decision that overruled Ken’s, and then she had to admit he’d been right.
This scene is one of my favorites for several reasons; thank you for posting about it! Furthermore, I think you hit the nail right on the head, rl856. I interpret Peggy’s whole story arc as both an exploration of women’s advancement in the workplace and of what prices are ultimately paid – both by her and *by other women* – for those advances. I think Peggy’s treatment of Annie in The Wheel, of Alison in The Rejected, and her defense of Joan in The Summer Man are all important pieces of that arc. Annie is hurt when Peggy flexes her muscles for Ken, Alison is made to feel worse than she already does in a conversation *that Peggy started,* and Joan feels patronized and condescended to when Peggy fires a colleague on her behalf, when Peggy expected her to be grateful. If Peggy represents women’s advancement, then the mayhem and hurt feelings she sometimes leaves in her wake represents the cost of that advancement. I don’t believe this is what Weiner et al intended, but the most fascinating part of Peggy’ story arc, for me, is that while young, go-gettery women are advancing in the 60s, the old-fashioned, less career-oriented women are often the ones paying the price for said advancement.
Of course, we see the horrible flip side of that when Megan “wins” Don over Faye, but that’s a different discussion…
Tasha: you came up with some interesting examples (Peggy’s behavior towards Alison, etc.). I just thought of another one too: Peggy’s conversation with Lois in Season 2/For Those Who Think Young! Although Peggy was right to talk to Lois, the way that she did it made Lois feel too chastised. (“She yelled at me,” Lois later complained, to Joan.)
Just to be clear, I don’t think Peggy ‘yelled’ at Lois, but perhaps what she said could have been done in a softer, less confrontational way. She didn’t choose to do that though.
Tasha, I think Peggy resents and is afraid of beautiful women. We applaud her when she stands up to Joan, but in truth, I think she has no idea how to form connections with women. Interesting that the only friend we’ve seen her make is a somewhat butch lesbian–not a threat in this regard. I love Joyce.
This is one of my favorite scenes as well because it shows how insightful Ken is, when he points out to Peggy that the girl who looks like that looks like that exactly because she has no confidence. The puzzled look on Peggy’s face clearly shows she just does not understand that, and Ken seems to me to respect Peggy’s confidence even if she is oblivious to it.
I should add that, after I wrote and scheduled this (but before it appeared), Meowser said virtually the same thing in comments — probably better.
That scene communicated many things. First the selection of Annie for which the plain/pretty woman explanation above seems perfectly viable. By over ruling Ken on the selection (and kudos to Ken for not automatically picking the pretty one) Peggy also demonstrated to him, us and possibly herself that she is not just a writer of “girly things” but also has a sense of casting, tone, inflection and so on, which she displays further by her dissatisfaction with Annie’s performances.
In her criticism she is also showing a strong degree of professionalism. Annie’s feelings do not matter. The sound of the voice-over does. Finally she shows that she is not so caught up in herself that she can’t admit making a mistake and goes with Ken’s choice after all.
I think this scene prepares you, and “qualifies” for Peggy her step up in status with own office, secretary and so on.
Just found this site and am currently going through the whole series for the first time thanks to netflix. I’ll probably be blabbing my opinion some more for a while.
Welcome, Typesbad.
Typesbad, I agree, that this primarily functioned to show Peggy’s burgeoning professionalism. I didn’t see it as much as a reflection on Peggy’s belief’s about pretty women having it all, even thought that of course is conveyed, but more that Peggy has a moment of finding her voice, and acting with a brusque, laserlike quality that will show her toughness. In contrasting her with a less self-assured, more fragile woman, we can see that although Peggy is exceedingly girlish on the outside, with a curled ponytail, and soft, little girl voice, she’s going to be making decisions in a way that will be the opposite of what her “outside” portrays.
So both women reveal that trying to determine someone’s personality based on they way they look is a waste of time.
Good points. As someone who has been to auditions (I do some acting), I can say with some authority that casting directors can be very different in the way they give (or don’t give) feedback. Peggy (as the casting director in this scenario) had a very clear idea of what she wanted for the voiceover. She was frustrated that Annie wasn’t delivering. Now, CDs don’t always give feedback (sometimes they’ll just say “Fine, thank you for coming in”) but often, especially if they have already seen you/heard you, they will try to steer you in the right direction. The crucial thing for the actor then is to really listen, and deliver.
Was Peggy’s advice about “(Imagine) You’re married….” helpful? Not necessarily, but for some actresses, it would have been all they needed to improve their audition. For Annie, I think it just made her feel more nervous and insecure. The best thing for an actor in an audition is to keep focus and not start thinking, ‘I’m flubbing it.’ In Annie’s case, I could clearly see the panic and despair as she thought to herself, ‘I’m flubbing it.’
Ken found Peggy harsh, but he also admired her for it, since in the last episode of the season, he defended her to Pete (when Pete expressed disinterest in having Peggy as the copywriter on the Clearasil account).
Awww, thanks Deb! GMTA, right?
Ah, but Peggy turns out to be right about the Ann-Margret thing. Women might fantasize about being A-M, but not so much that they’ll identify with an A-M impersonator.
Well, it’s not women who didn’t connect to the impersonator; there were only men among Pepsi’s representatives.
There was a great article I read on this site about both Peggy and Pete exhibiting slightly autistic behaviors, cannot remember who by sorry, but I thought it nailed them spot on.
It almost seems like Peggy goes through life with blinds on, and can only focus on certain relationships at the time. Right now, her focus is her carrier- pregnancy is not a part of that so she just doesn’t focus on it and therefore doesn’t really know how to deal with it. Beautiful women and Peggy: same thing. In S1 when Peggy says to Joan “Oh, I see! you are trying to help me (or something similar). ” She sounded genuinely surprised, almost shocked with that realization- like Joan could not possibly be that kind or sincere to her.
Also, the more Peggy advances the less she has in common with your basic Jane S just because she is forced to adopt a different mindset among the men. She can kind of relate to Joan because Joan is a career woman more than others, I think. In S3, she relates much more to Faye and seems genuinely sad she is leaving.
Not sure if I’m making sense at all…
Deborah and Ivona, yes, I absolutely agree. Peggy definitely has trouble creating bonds with women who are in “traditional roles,” it seems and even exhibits some autistic spectrum/aspergic behaviors. That’s one thing I love about Peggy: Her little (and big) pathologies, the most major example of which is her ability to ignore her pregnancy in S1. I think it makes her human and I also think it conveys an important message to the audience: To choose to blaze trails that no woman had before in the 60s, with little support from one’s family, colleagues or community, one probably had to be a little crazy, a little “off.” It takes a special type of person to do what Peggy is doing – someone who sees possibilities that others don’t. While that trait manifests itself positively in terms of her career path, it may manifest itself negatively in her interpersonal and intrapersonal lives, making her seem unsociable, cruel, maybe even aspergic, etc.
Ivona, that was me! And thanks! (I’m autism-spectrum myself, FWIW.) There were actually two posts, one on Peggy and one on Pete.
Deb: Well, it’s not women who didn’t connect to the impersonator; there were only men among Pepsi’s representatives.
Hm, yeah, that’s what I get for posting in the middle of the night.
What I meant was that A-M being a fantasy object didn’t necessarily translate to her impersonator being one — even the men in the room who thought they would get off on it didn’t (except maybe Sal, in a different way entirely), so it was even more of a stretch to think women would connect with her.
I think that ad had something profound to say; something I’ve learned from my trans friends: We’re all female impersonators. None of us match up to the ideal that the patriarchy is shoving down our throats. Peggy thinks she’s alone in feeling like a gender outcast (another reason that a lesbian is the perfect friend for her), but in fact, even the most “normal” woman is being told to be Ann-Margret and is aware of how she fails.
True, all ‘dat.
Meowser, knew it was someone awesome
I took the scene as Peggy having a clear idea what she wanted from the vocal performance and she wasn’t getting it from the girl in front of the microphone.
I thought she was being professional, not cruel. I didn’t think the woman’s appearance was a factor.
Perhaps as a man I overlooked the pretty girl/plain girl dynamic.
In Season 4 when the young woman in Faye’s focus group (for Pond’s cold cream) breaks down and cries over her ex boyfriend not ever seeming to notice her, does the camera show Peggy’s reactions? I don’t think so, but am not sure. But I remember the young woman’s distress seemed centered around not feeling pretty enough. She’s given some glib advice by someone sitting in the room (“How about wearing make-up?”). Obviously this scene was more about the domino affect of the girl’s tears and Alison following suit, Don witnessing that, etc. But Peggy’s reaction would have been interesting.
[...] Deborah paralleled Love Among the Ruins and The Wheel. Tags: Love Among the Ruins [...]