*~Captain Farrell~* Generally this is my brain when I am sat looking out of the window watching the world go by.

I have recently been catching up with several HBO series, since I currently have far too much time on my hands and have a great love for that particular network. I was therefore happy to indulge in watching Mad Men, as the idea of 1960s glamour and the particular social issues around that period appeal to me. So far, I have not been disappointed. The show is based around a fictional advertising company (Sterling Cooper Agency) and mainly focuses on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a man who on the surface looks like the epitome of the clean cut, American family and business man. Inside, however, he is a serial adulterer with a shady past, who you have the temptation to beat to a pulp every time he (or his dick-swinging, competitive co-workers) appears on your screen.

OK.. that last point may just be my opinion, a lot of other people who watch the show seem to like him. In truth, watching the show as a woman can be pretty hard to swallow at times. The amount of sexism on the show is so thickly ladled that it can be humorous and horrifying in equal portions: “Well, you’re in the city now, wouldn’t be a sin for us to see your legs. If you pull your waist in a little bit you might look like a woman.” Despite the overwhelming urge to throw the female characters of the show a pair of jeans and a burning bra every few minutes, it is realistic for the shows setting. Furthermore, if you are naive enough to believe that these are no longer issues in modern society, you would be wrong. The sixties just didn’t shy away from it. I do hope, however, that as the series (and the time frame) progresses it will start to show changes in the mindset and attitudes of the characters.

The sixties was the era of the sexual revolution (due to the invention of the contraceptive pill), yet despite this most – if not all – the characters are repressed in some way. The most distant relationships on the show seem to be that of the married couples, who either lead double lives or are just hiding the fact that they are miserable. Just like in advertising, Mad Men portrays the lives of the characters through the tension of the reality and the presentation.