#rachel mencken mad men

[nuriaverde]

Las peores cosas que ha hecho Don Draper en "Mad Men" I

En “Mad Men”, Don Draper es capaz de lo mejor y de lo peor. Su obsesión es proteger su nueva identidad y todo lo que conlleva: una familia ideal, un buen trabajo, una vida con la que ha soñado toda la vida lejos de la miseria, de la granja, y de una familia que lo trató mal durante su terrible infancia. “Eran unos miserables”, cuenta Don a Rachel Mencken, después de hacer el amor mientras están…

[schraubd]

Jewish Representation on Television: A Random Review

I've been thinking about Jewish representation on television series over the past few days. The trigger was actually an antisemite who was complaining that there are too many Jewish characters on television -- we apparently have taken over his TV. That struck me, because my naive view was that Jewishness actually doesn't get a lot of attention on TV series (even Seinfeld, if I recall correctly, rather famously did not actually say its characters were Jewish). But I decided to actually think about it more, and look into how Jews are portrayed on the shows I watch. This is therefore not remotely scientific -- though I do watch a fair bit of TV -- and some obvious choices (Broad City!) thus aren't included. I'm most interested in shows that are not primarily about Jews, but nonetheless have Jewish characters whose Jewishness is fleshed out in a substantive way. I include shows that have no Jewish characters. This is not necessarily a critique -- not every show has to include Jews -- but it is worth including to get a sense if there is any pattern to what sorts of shows have Jews and what don't. That said, I'm not necessarily a superfan of all these shows, so it's possible that I could miss something (though it hardly counts if deep in Season 6 a show briefly mentions so-and-so is Jewish, only to never bring it up again before or since). * * * 30 Rock: On a show about New York City comedy writers, only Josh -- Josh! -- might be Jewish. This entire show is a case of "just say Jewish, this is taking forever!" C- Big Bang Theory: Of the major characters, only Howard (and his mother) are Jewish. Neither are exactly positive representations -- Howard, in particular, manages to be the most perverted, awkward and creepy of a cadre of young male scientists whose whole shtick is that they're kind of perverted, awkward, and creepy around women. Interestingly, Bernadette is portrayed as super-goyish even though Melissa Rauch is actually Jewish (Mayim Bialik is more famously Jewish, but to my knowledge Amy Farrah-Fowler is not depicted as a tribe member). D- Billions: At first I thought this show had no Jewish characters, a decision I chalked up to maybe wanting to step lightly around the whole "ruthless billionaires manipulating the financial system" thing. But then I remembered: Spyros is Jewish! Spyros! By far the worst character on the show along pretty much any metric you might consider, including that he's portrayed as a serial sexual predator. Literally every character is at least written in shades of grey, and we get Spyros. Ugh. D Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Jake Peralta is Jewish. It pretty much only comes up when he has flashbacks to his Bar Mitzvah (curse you Jenny Gildenhorn!), but at least it is acknowledged as a part of his character with substance. That said, it almost never is visible in his adult life -- most strikingly, there's no portrayal of it being discussed with Amy in terms of how their family will or won't be Jewish. B- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel): Willow is Jewish, but it gets almost no attention -- I think by the end of the series she's outright celebrating Christmas. C The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: No Jewish characters. Community: Annie is Jewish, but it is almost entirely downplayed. Indeed, it basically never comes up outside the first season. Missed opportunity. C+ Crashing: This is a tough one to judge, since so many of the characters are playing themselves. I know Sarah Silverman is Jewish. I think Artie Lange is? I don't know if Ali Reissen is supposed to be Jewish, but the actress who plays her definitely is. I do know Pete Holmes is not Jewish. I can't give a rating here. Dollhouse: No Jewish characters. Elementary: No Jewish characters. Firefly: No real Jewish characters, though they do briefly show a postmaster wearing a yarmulke. It's actually a really neat moment of casual Jewish inclusion that I really appreciate. Fresh off the Boat: I don't think any of the regulars (including Eddie's friends) are Jewish, but Evan's arch-rival Phillip Goldstein is definitely Jewish -- and definitely portrayed as a massive asshole. C Game of Thrones: No Jewish characters (outrageous!). The Good Place: No Jewish characters (actual sad face here -- though I can see how incorporating actual religious faith into this show might be hard). I Feel Bad: Probably not worth including -- it was canceled after one season, and I'm not sure it even fully aired the one -- except to give one last plug to my headcanon where it is Sarayu Blue's side of the family that is Jewish. Brian George -- who plays her father -- is Jewish! He should get to play a Jewish character some time. Alas, the show goes down the more predictable route of making Paul Adelstein's side of the family the Jewish one. It does a good job with that. I guess. Still salty. B Insecure: I don't think any characters are Jewish. Frieda might be Jewish, which would be okay. Joanne also might be Jewish, which would be a less attractive proposition. iZombie: No Jewish characters. Mad Men: Rachel Mencken is great. She also stands pretty much alone. B+ Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: This is the only show that is explicitly Jewish in focus, and as I said that's not my main concern here. In any event, not everyone likes the portrayal of Jewishness, but I actually find it quite warm on the whole. A. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: No Jewish characters. Mozart in the Jungle: No Jewish characters (really?). New Girl: Full disclosure: I did not watch this show all the way to the end. Anyway, Schmidt is one of the more famous Jewish portrayals of contemporary television. I'm not his greatest fan -- in particularly, that he's a proud Republican is, shall we say, statistically anomalous -- but once I started comparing him to the competition above he turns out pretty decent. Still, he, too -- especially in the early seasons -- doesn't exactly stand out on the "treats women with respect" metric. B Parks and Rec: The main Jewish characters are the Saperstein twins -- John-Ralphio and Mona Lisa. They are each, in their own way, "the worst person in the world." And with John-Ralphio, we get yet another creepy Jewish harasser. D The Orville: There are no Jews in space. The West Wing: This show actually comes out great. Toby and Josh are Jewish, visibly so, yet in very distinctive ways. It comes up, though it isn't obsessed over, in ways that feel authentic to their character. And the pilot includes one of my favorite "Jewish" scenes in all of television. A+ * * * In sum, I'd say that -- outside of shows where Judaism is a central focus (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), there are a dearth of characters whose Jewishness is portrayed (a) positively and (b) as a substantive (not all-encompassing) presence in their lives. It seems that sci-fi and fantasy shows are the least likely to have Jewish characters, which is understandably, though it includes series set on Earth or otherwise "near-real world" conditions. This might reflect anxiety around how to portray Jews in juxtaposition with the occult and/or dystopian authoritarianism without reenacting antisemitic tropes. On the positive side, The West Wing, in my view, stands head-and-shoulders above the crowd; other solid performers include Brooklyn Nine Nine, New Girl, and (for what it's worth) I Feel Bad. But these are exceptional, for the most part, the Jewishness of characters either isn't established much beyond its mere mention. And the main exception is when Jewish male characters are portrayed as perverts, creeps, or sexual harassers -- indeed, this might be the most common way of "marking" a character as Jewish, which is worrisome. via The Debate Link http://bit.ly/2YP4sVe

[claudia1829things]

"MAD MEN" Observations: (3.07) "Seven Twenty-Three"

fter a recent re-watch of the "MAD MEN" Season Three episode, (3.07) "Seven Twenty-Three", I found myself compelled to post several observations about it:

"MAD MEN" OBSERVATIONS: (3.07) "Seven Twenty-Three"

*Don Draper In "Seven Twenty-Three", famous hotelier Conrad Hilton, whom advertisement executive Don Draper had first met in (3.03) "My Old Kentucky Home", paid a visit to the latter's office and revealed his intent to hire Sterling Cooper to handle the promotion of his New York hotels. This piece of good news turned sour when Lane Pryce, Roger Sterling and Bert Cooper revealed that Hilton’s attorneys refused to go ahead with the deal unless Don sign an official contract with his employers. Naturally, Don was reluctant to sign one. He had been living under an assumed name for the past thirteen years, when he switched identities with his Army commanding officer (the real Don Draper). Nor did he want to be bound or obliged to anyone without having the power and opportunity to walk away whenever the opportunity might arise. After Don had a confrontation with wife Betty over his refusal to sign a contract, he left the house to go joyriding in the countryside. There, he picked up a young couple, who claimed they were on their way to get married at Niagara Falls. As it turned out, they were a pair of scam artists who fed Don some pills, took him to a cheap motel, knocked him out and stole his money. I never understood this need of the series' fans to divide the main character into two personas. There was only one Dick Whitman, after all. He was both the rural-born offspring of a dead prostitute and a crude farmer . . . and the brilliant creative advertising executive. The reason why Dick (or should I say Don) could emotionally connect with some people and barely at all with others may have been due to the fact that he had assumed another man’s name by fraudulent means. It is not surprising that he has only been willing to reveal some of his true nature to those he believe he may never see again - or in the case of Rachel Mencken and schoolteacher Suzanne Farrell - someone with whom he thought he could connect. It also seemed natural to me that Don had never bothered to sign an official contract with Sterling Cooper. No contract had allowed him to be a free agent even though he has decided to remain at Sterling Cooper. It also meant that Don would be able to bolt without any legal redress, if needed. Well, Don’s years as a free agent at Sterling Cooper ended in ”Seven Twenty-Three”. Especially since by the end of the season, he became one of the owners of a new firm - Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (SCDP). Oddly enough, Don’s encounter with another self-made man - Conrad Hilton - had led him to being finally bound to a contract. This led to a temporary breach with his boss and future partner, Roger Sterling. It also temporarily damaged his close relationship with copywriter and protégée Peggy Olson. The new contract made Don realize - and not for the last time - that wife Betty might be a lot more formidable than he had probably imagined. Don’s argument with Betty led him to commit one of his more destructive maneuvers when things got rough . . . he took off. Unlike his trip to California in Season Two, Don did not go very far. Instead, he picked up a hitchhiking couple claiming to be on their way to Niagara Falls in order to elope. But instead of eloping, they fed Don some pills and later clocked and robbed him inside a cheap motel. As his dad, Archie Whitman, had indicated in his hallucination, Don had become slightly soft. This seemed even more apparent when senior partner Bert Cooper blackmailed him into finally signing a contract. When Cooper had dismissed Pete Campbell’s exposure of Don as a fraud and identity thief back in Season One’s (1.12) "Nixon vs. Kennedy", I bet Don never thought the old man would eventually use those allegations against him. And yet . . . while signing that contract, Don demanded that Roger Sterling stay away from him. How interesting. Roger tried to use Betty to coerce him into signing the contract. Cooper sunk even lower and used Don’s secrets to blackmail him and succeed. Perhaps Don realized that Roger (given his questionable standing in the firm with the British owners) made an easier target for his wrath than two powerful men like Conrad Hilton and Bert Cooper. If so, it did not say very much about Don. Some fans had believed that Don’s new contract was a sign of his eventual downfall. I cannot say that I agree with this. In fact, this downfall never really materialized. Every time Don faced a personal crisis in the past – Pete Campbell and Bert Cooper’s discovery of his secret in Season One, his late Season Two estrangement from Betty, and Duck’s takeover plans – he had managed to survive or come on top, as the formation of SCDP proved.

*Betty Draper The episode also featured a subplot for Betty Draper. After joining the Tarrytown, New York chapter of Junior League, she received a request to find someone with political ties to prevent the construction of a giant water tank that they feared would ruin the scenic view. Betty contacted Henry Francis, one of Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s aides that she had first met in "My Old Kentucky Home". The two met at a local bakery in Ossing for drinks and pastries. And although Francis hinted that he might not be able to help the Junior League prevent the water tank’s construction, he made it obvious that he was just as attracted to Betty, as she was to him. Francis had also pointed out a chaise lounge that Betty later purchased for her living room. A chaise lounge that her decorator obviously disliked. Betty’s story arc did not provide any jaw dropping moments for me. But I did notice a few things. One, she must have been seriously attracted to Henry Francis. I never realized it when Season Three first aired. I found it interesting that not only did she remember Henry from Roger’s Kentucky Derby garden party, she also seemed to be in a slight state of heat whenever she around him. This especially seemed obvious when Henry shielded her eyes from the sun during an eclipse. But more importantly, she went ahead and purchased the Victorian chaise lounge that Henry had earlier pointed out to her when they passed an antique store. Many saw the chaise lounge as an example of Betty’s desire to be some "helpless damsel in distress" that occasionally fainted. I found that image hard to accept. Despite the ladylike persona that Betty tended to project, she never struck me as that kind of woman. However, I had noticed how she caressed her body in a suggestive manner – especially in the very spot where Henry had touched her, when she was still pregnant with Eugene. So . . . yeah, she was very attracted to him. In fact, Henry ended up becoming her second husband. I should have known. I also noticed that by Season Three, Betty had become more assertive in her attitude toward Don. After all, audiences first received a whiff of this trait back in Season Two's (2.04) "Three Sundays", when she ordered Don to take Sally to work with him during their son Bobby’s small medical emergency. Yet, Betty’s assertiveness became increasingly obvious in Season Three. This was certainly apparent in her refusal to cave in to Don’s disapproval over their new son’s name in (3.06) "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency"; and in their confrontation over Don’s refusal to sign a contract with Sterling Cooper. I had always suspected that underneath the girlish and shallow exterior lurked a formidable woman. This was verified when Betty finally learned about Don's true identity later in the season.

*Peggy Olson Peggy Olson’s storyline in this episode began in (3.05) "The Fog", in which she was contacted by former Sterling Cooper employee, Duck Phillips. In that episode, he had tried to recruit both Peggy and accounts executive Pete Campbell to the agency he now works for - Gray. Peggy had contemplated his offer, but refused. When Peggy asked Don for a raise in the same episode, the latter refused her request. In "Seven Twenty-Three", Duck continued his wooing of Peggy and Pete with gifts. When Pete pointed out that Duck’s wooing might be an attempt for the older man to get back at Don for snowballing him in the Season Two finale, (2.13) "Mediations in an Emergency", Peggy became determined to return the gift. Which she did after leaving work. However, her visit to Duck’s hotel suite also led to an evening of some very enjoyable sex for them both. I found it interesting that Peggy thought she knew a lot about Don. She knew that he was an adulterer, thanks to her rescue of both him and Bobbie Barrett in Season Two’s (2.05) "The New Girl". In "Seven Twenty-Three", she first discovered that he could be incredibly cruel. And it would not be the last time. Season Three had not been particularly kind to Peggy. Following her revelation to Peter Campbell about their illegitimate child, he became hostile toward her. And despite being the first copywriter to acquire a private office following Freddie Rumsen’s departure, the respect that she deserved continued to evade her. Don had ignored her misgivings about the Patio commercial in (3.02) "Love Among the Ruins". In (3.05) "The Fog", Peggy asked for a raise after discovering that she was the firm’s lowest paid copywriter and Don rejected her request. And when she asked to work on the Hilton account, Don (who was already in a foul mood after learning that Sterling Cooper wants him to sign a contract) rejected her request in the cruelest manner possible. He accused Peggy of using his coattails to rise in Sterling Cooper’s Creative ranks. His accusation and manner left Peggy shocked and speechless. When Peggy appeared at Duck’s hotel room to return his gift, I doubt that she had any intention of having sex with him. Did Duck plan to sexually seduce Peggy? I do not know. And since I have no idea of Duck’s intention, I am not going to pretend that I do or speculate. I do have to wonder if the prevalent negative attitude toward Duck has led many fans to believe that he had intended to seduce her. I do recall Peggy complimenting Duck’s turtleneck sweater when they first met in "The Fog". I also noticed something else. Once Peggy and Duck were in bed together, they seemed turned on by each other. A good number of viewers had expressed disgust at Peggy’s sexual tryst with Duck, using their 20-something age difference as an excuse. But Joan Harris and Roger Sterling were (and still are) roughly fifteen years apart in age during their affair. Even back then, Joan was slightly older and more experienced during her affair with Roger. But Peggy is not some blushing virgin. She was already sexually experienced and had given birth to Pete’s son in (1.13) "The Wheel". She even managed to seduce some college kid in "Love Among the Ruins" as a test of her sexuality. Yet, many fans expressed disgust at her tryst with Duck. Even worse, they labeled her as some sexually naïve woman who found herself seduced and manipulated by an older man. I must be honest. I found that perception of Peggy rather offensive. At age 24, Peggy was young and probably upset over Don’s outburst. But as I had stated earlier, she was not naïve by this time in the series. I suspect that Peggy had simply used Duck’s offer of great sex to derive some kind of pleasure following her disastrous meeting with Don. Many fans had also predicted disastrous consequences from Peggy and Duck’s tryst. Nothing that drastic had occurred.  Instead, Peggy had quietly distanced herself from Duck by Season Four, despite his drunken reaction at the time. But I do believe that she had paid an emotional consequence for rejecting Duck's offer at Gray's. At least for a few years.

[lifements-blog]

Reto de Lectura Rory Gilmore

Sé que llego tarde a este reto de lectura pero nunca me había animado a tomarlo, lo descubrí hace años no recuerdo donde y ahora que me topé con el de nuevo en  BlackWhite Read Books y queria intentarlo.

Gilmore Girls fue una gran parte de mi adolescencia vi todos los capítulos más de una vez y me identificaba con Rory, su amor por la lectura y su vida cotidiana, es una serie que siempre vivirá en mi corazón y es más que una serie para mí, me enseño muchas cosas y me ayudo con muchas más.

El reto de lectura consiste en leer todos los libros que Rory leyó a lo largo de la serie, los cuales son muchos, entre ellos existen muchos clásicos como Alicia en el País de las Maravillas y El Diario de Anna Frank, la mayoría de libros en esta lista no están siquiera en mi lista TBR la cual es otra de las razones por las que quiero intentarlo, la lista consiste de 339 libros por lo que no me pondré propósitos irreales como leerlos todos durante este año (2016), en dos años o en cinco, simplemente me propondré terminar esta lista algún día y divertirme con ella.

Marcare mi progreso en este post y quizá haga una reseña de ellos, los mencione en mis libros del mes o en GoodReads pero primordialmente será aquí.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Inferno by Dante

The Divine Comedy by Dante

1984 by George Orwell

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman

A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Adventures of Huckleberry by Mark Twain

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

Babe by Dick King-Smith

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney

Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner

Candide by Voltaire

Carrie by Stephen King

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Christine by Stephen King

Complete Novels by Dawn Powell

Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker

Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Cujo by Stephen King

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Deenie by Judy Blume

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

Eloise by Kay Thompson

Emily the Strange by Roger Reger

Emma by Jane Austen

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Ethics by Spinoza

Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Extravagance by Gary Krist

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore

Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein

Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce

Fletch by Gregory McDonald

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger

Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg

Gidget by Fredrick Kohner

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare

Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare

Henry V by William Shakespeare

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland

Howl by Allen Ginsberg

I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy

It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Marathon Man by William Goldman

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir

Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor

Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh

My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken

My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest

Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen

New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Night by Elie Wiesel

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Old School by Tobias Wolff

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Othello by Shakespeare

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Out of Africa by Isac Dineson

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Property by Valerie Martin

Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Quattrocento by James Mckean

Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman

R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Rita Hayworth by Stephen King

Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert

Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman

Selected Hotels of Europe

Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Several Biographies of Winston Churchill

Sexus by Henry Miller

Shane by Jack Shaefer

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton

Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore

Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos

Songbook by Nick Hornby

Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Stuart Little by E. B. White

Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber

Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

Time and Again by Jack Finney

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan

The Art of Fiction by Henry James

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bhagava Gita

The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy

The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty

The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

The Gospel According to Judy Bloom

The Graduate by Charles Webb

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Group by Mary McCarthy

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

The Iliad by Homer

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal

The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield

The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen

The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Love Story by Erich Segal

The Manticore by Robertson Davies

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer

The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker

The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition

The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Shining by Stephen King

The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht

The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson

The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

The Year of Magical Thinkinf by Joan Didion

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Ulysses by James Joyce

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Unless by Carol Shields

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker

What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles

What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

(Post original en: http://lifements.blogspot.com/2016/01/el-reto-de-lectura-rory-gilmore.html )

[maxmaggr]

Mad Men: Κάτι το διαφορετικό

Για τις περισσότερες επιτυχημένες τηλεοπτικές σειρές, η υπόθεση είναι το παν. Το κυνήγι βαμπίρ, το ταξίδι στο χρόνο, η επίλυση του εγκλήματος,  η πλειοψηφία των σειρών που κάνουν επιτυχία μπορεί να περιγραφεί με λίγο παραπάνω από ένα ουσιαστικό και ένα ρήμα. Σίγουρα δεν μπορούμε να περιγράψουμε με τον ίδιο τρόπο το Mad Men, την δραματική σειρά του AMC.

  "Αυτό που εσείς ονομάζετε αγάπη εφευρέθηκε από ανθρώπους σαν εμένα για να πουλάω νάιλον". Με αυτά τα τρυφερά λόγια ο Don Draper μίλησε στην καρδιά της νέας του πελάτισσας, Rachel Mencken, και στην ιστορία της τηλεόρασης. Το πρώτο επεισόδιο του Mad Men που προβλήθηκε πριν από 11 χρόνια, στις 19 Ιουλίου 2007, παρουσιάζοντας τον κόσμο σε μια γκαλερί με γοητευτικούς απατεώνες. Ο Jon Hamm ως Don, ο λιποτάκτης του κορεάτικου πόλεμου που έκλεψε τη στρατιωτική ταυτότητα ενός νεκρού αξιωματικού και επινόησε μια νέα ζωή για τον εαυτό του, ως διαφημιστή της Madison Avenue. Ο John Slattery ως Roger Sterling, ο γκριζομάλλης απατεώνας που εισάγει τον Don στα πράγματα. Η Elisabeth Moss ως Peggy Olson, η άτολμη γραμματέας που προσπαθεί με νύχια και με δόντια να ανεβεί στην επιχείρηση. Η Christina Hendricks  ως Joan Holloway, η σεξοβόμβα που οδηγείται από οργή και εκδίκηση. Πόσο παράξενο είναι να θυμόμαστε ότι υπήρξε μια εποχή που δεν γνωρίζαμε αυτούς τους ανθρώπους.  

  Στα πρώτα επεισόδια, το στάτους του Don ως άλφα αρσενικό και η φαινομενικά ακαταμάχητη αυτοπεποίθησή του, τον καθιστούν μια δύναμη που πρέπει να υπολογίζεται στο εταιρικό περιβάλλον. Στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις είναι ο υπεύθυνος χαρακτήρας για να σκέφτεται και να πουλά μεγάλες ιδέες στους πελάτες του. Είναι όμως οι θηλυκοί χαρακτήρες του Mad Men που παρέχουν στο δράμα μεγάλο μέρος της ψυχής του. Ενώ οι άνδρες της σειράς απεικονίζονται συχνά ως ο συγκινητικός πυρήνας των γεγονότων, είναι οι γυναίκες τους, οι ερωμένες και οι γραμματείς που συχνά μένουν στην απ’ έξω, αυτές που  υποστηρίζεις ευκολότερα. Η Peggy Olson που μάχεται εναντίον των στερεοτύπων της δεκαετίας του '60, τελικά ανεβαίνει από την κοινωνικά αποδεκτή θέση της γραμματέως στη μάλλον λιγότερο συνήθη θέση της κειμενογράφου. Η Joan Harris που είναι η διευθύντρια του γραφείου της διαφημιστικής Sterling Cooper, της οποίας η εμφάνιση κρύβει έναν χαρακτήρα δύναμης και νοημοσύνης. Τέλος, η σύζυγος του Don Draper, η Betty (January Jones), της οποίας το στάτους ως συζύγου τρόπαιο σημαίνει ότι οι δικές τις φιλοδοξίες και τα ταλέντα της παραμερίζονται. Πολύ αργότερα, ανακαλύπτουμε ότι έχει πτυχίο στην ανθρωπολογία και μπορεί να μιλάει άπταιστα ιταλικά.  

Πολύ ιδιαίτερος είναι και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο αυτοί οι χαρακτήρες υπάρχουν μέσα στον κόσμο που έχει δημιουργήσει για αυτούς ο Matthew Weiner. Τα μικρής κλίμακας δράματα όπως απώλειες, διαζύγια και παράνομες σχέσεις έχουν τεθεί εναντίον μεγαλύτερων γεγονότων, όπως ο θάνατος της Marilyn Monroe, της Κουβανικής κρίσης ή της δολοφονίας του Kennedy και αυτή η αίσθηση του χρονικού πλαισίου δίνει έναν μεγαλύτερο πλούτο στο δράμα του Mad Men. Τίποτα δεν συμβαίνει μεμονωμένα, και κάθε γεγονός είναι στενά συνδεδεμένο, και έχει ��ια βαθιά επίδραση, στο επόμενο. Από την αρχή, το Mad Men λειτούργησε τόσο καλά επειδή ο Weiner βρήκε ένα τόσο καταπληκτικό cast, λαμπρούς αλλά άνεργους ηθοποιούς, με μια πείνα που αναγνώρισε μόνο αυτός. Ο Hamm πριν πάρει τον ρολό του Don πέρασε από 7 διαφορετικές οντισιόν και απέτυχε σε όλες. Κάποια στιγμή, μάλιστα, είπε "Η ζωή μου εκείνη την περίοδο ήταν να προσπαθώ να βρω δουλειά. Απλώς ανταποκρίθηκα ενστικτωδώς σε αυτόν τον ρόλο και αυτό ίσως ήταν αυτό που έκανε  τον Matt να με πάρει". Η Christina Hendricks προσπαθούσε εδώ και χρόνια, όπως όλοι στο cast. Συμμετείχε σε μια διαφήμιση για πιστωτικές κάρτες του 1997 με τον Pierce Brosnan ως James Bond, στην οποία σέρβιρε στον 007 τσάι και χαβιάρι. Η January Jones  ήταν γνωστή για το ρόλο της σε μία από τις ταινίες American Pie, ως μια κοπέλα που κρυφά προσπάθησε να κάνει sex με τον Stifler σε μια ντουλάπα.

  Αντί για αστυνόμους και ληστές, το Mad Men παρουσιάζει ψεύτες, ένα πολύ πιο απειλητικό αρχέτυπο. Πιθανότατα δεν έχετε πυροβολήσει κανέναν σήμερα, ούτε έχετε πουλήσει κρυσταλλική μεθαμφεταμίνη, αλλά σίγουρα έχετε ήδη πει μερικά ζουμερά ψέματα, ακόμη και στον εαυτό σας, στον καθρέφτη του μπάνιου σας. Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που η σειρά ήταν από το ξεκίνημα της μια τόσο ενοχλητικά σαγηνευτική φαντασίωση. Και αυτός είναι και ο λόγος που 11 χρόνια μετά δεν υπάρχει τίποτα σαν το Mad Men. Το Mad Men θυμίζει μερικές φορές σαπουνόπερα, είναι συχνά αστείο και σταθερά διασκεδαστικό. Ασχολείται με σημαντικά θέματα, όπως η απιστία, ο μισογυνισμός, ο ρατσισμός και ο εθισμός, αγγίζοντας τα με μια επιδεξιότητα πολύ σπάνια στο σύγχρονο δράμα. Read the full article

[maxmaggr]

Mad Men: Κάτι το διαφορετικό

Για τις περισσότερες επιτυχημένες τηλεοπτικές σειρές, η υπόθεση είναι το παν. Το κυνήγι βαμπίρ, το ταξίδι στο χρόνο, η επίλυση του εγκλήματος,  η πλειοψηφία των σειρών που κάνουν επιτυχία μπορεί να περιγραφεί με λίγο παραπάνω από ένα ουσιαστικό και ένα ρήμα. Σίγουρα δεν μπορούμε να περιγράψουμε με τον ίδιο τρόπο το Mad Men, την δραματική σειρά του AMC.

  "Αυτό που εσείς ονομάζετε αγάπη εφευρέθηκε από ανθρώπους σαν εμένα για να πουλάω νάιλον". Με αυτά τα τρυφερά λόγια ο Don Draper μίλησε στην καρδιά της νέας του πελάτισσας, Rachel Mencken, και στην ιστορία της τηλεόρασης. Το πρώτο επεισόδιο του Mad Men που προβλήθηκε πριν από 11 χρόνια, στις 19 Ιουλίου 2007, παρουσιάζοντας τον κόσμο σε μια γκαλερί με γοητευτικούς απατεώνες. Ο Jon Hamm ως Don, ο λιποτάκτης του κορεάτικου πόλεμου που έκλεψε τη στρατιωτική ταυτότητα ενός νεκρού αξιωματικού και επινόησε μια νέα ζωή για τον εαυτό του, ως διαφημιστή της Madison Avenue. Ο John Slattery ως Roger Sterling, ο γκριζομάλλης απατεώνας που εισάγει τον Don στα πράγματα. Η Elisabeth Moss ως Peggy Olson, η άτολμη γραμματέας που προσπαθεί με νύχια και με δόντια να ανεβεί στην επιχείρηση. Η Christina Hendricks  ως Joan Holloway, η σεξοβόμβα που οδηγείται από οργή και εκδίκηση. Πόσο παράξενο είναι να θυμόμαστε ότι υπήρξε μια εποχή που δεν γνωρίζαμε αυτούς τους ανθρώπους.  

  Στα πρώτα επεισόδια, το στάτους του Don ως άλφα αρσενικό και η φαινομενικά ακαταμάχητη αυτοπεποίθησή του, τον καθιστούν μια δύναμη που πρέπει να υπολογίζεται στο εταιρικό περιβάλλον. Στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις είναι ο υπεύθυνος χαρακτήρας για να σκέφτεται και να πουλά μεγάλες ιδέες στους πελάτες του. Είναι όμως οι θηλυκοί χαρακτήρες του Mad Men που παρέχουν στο δράμα μεγάλο μέρος της ψυχής του. Ενώ οι άνδρες της σειράς απεικονίζονται συχνά ως ο συγκινητικός πυρήνας των γεγονότων, είναι οι γυναίκες τους, οι ερωμένες και οι γραμματείς που συχνά μένουν στην απ’ έξω, αυτές που  υποστηρίζεις ευκολότερα. Η Peggy Olson που μάχεται εναντίον των στερεοτύπων της δεκαετίας του '60, τελικά ανεβαίνει από την κοινωνικά αποδεκτή θέση της γραμματέως στη μάλλον λιγότερο συνήθη θέση της κειμενογράφου. Η Joan Harris που είναι η διευθύντρια του γραφείου της διαφημιστικής Sterling Cooper, της οποίας η εμφάνιση κρύβει έναν χαρακτήρα δύναμης και νοημοσύνης. Τέλος, η σύζυγος του Don Draper, η Betty (January Jones), της οποίας το στάτους ως συζύγου τρόπαιο σημαίνει ότι οι δικές τις φιλοδοξίες και τα ταλέντα της παραμερίζονται. Πολύ αργότερα, ανακαλύπτουμε ότι έχει πτυχίο στην ανθρωπολογία και μπορεί να μιλάει άπταιστα ιταλικά.  

Πολύ ιδιαίτερος είναι και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο αυτοί οι χαρακτήρες υπάρχουν μέσα στον κόσμο που έχει δημιουργήσει για αυτούς ο Matthew Weiner. Τα μικρής κλίμακας δράματα όπως απώλειες, διαζύγια και παράνομες σχέσεις έχουν τεθεί εναντίον μεγαλύτερων γεγονότων, όπως ο θάνατος της Marilyn Monroe, της Κουβανικής κρίσης ή της δολοφονίας του Kennedy και αυτή η αίσθηση του χρονικού πλαισίου δίνει έναν μεγαλύτερο πλούτο στο δράμα του Mad Men. Τίποτα δεν συμβαίνει μεμονωμένα, και κάθε γεγονός είναι στενά συνδεδεμένο, και έχει μια βαθιά επίδραση, στο επόμενο. Από την αρχή, το Mad Men λειτούργησε τόσο καλά επειδή ο Weiner βρήκε ένα τόσο καταπληκτικό cast, λαμπρούς αλλά άνεργους ηθοποιούς, με μια πείνα που αναγνώρισε μόνο αυτός. Ο Hamm πριν πάρει τον ρολό του Don πέρασε από 7 διαφορετικές οντισιόν και απέτυχε σε όλες. Κάποια στιγμή, μάλιστα, είπε "Η ζωή μου εκείνη την περίοδο ήταν να προσπαθώ να βρω δουλειά. Απλώς ανταποκρίθηκα ενστικτωδώς σε αυτόν τον ρόλο και αυτό ίσως ήταν αυτό που έκανε  τον Matt να με πάρει". Η Christina Hendricks προσπαθούσε εδώ και χρόνια, όπως όλοι στο cast. Συμμετείχε σε μια διαφήμιση για πιστωτικές κάρτες του 1997 με τον Pierce Brosnan ως James Bond, στην οποία σέρβιρε στον 007 τσάι και χαβιάρι. Η January Jones  ήταν γνωστή για το ρόλο της σε μία από τις ταινίες American Pie, ως μια κοπέλα που κρυφά προσπάθησε να κάνει sex με τον Stifler σε μια ντουλάπα.

  Αντί για αστυνόμους και ληστές, το Mad Men παρουσιάζει ψεύτες, ένα πολύ πιο απειλητικό αρχέτυπο. Πιθανότατα δεν έχετε πυροβολήσει κανέναν σήμερα, ούτε έχετε πουλήσει κρυσταλλική μεθαμφεταμίνη, αλλά σίγουρα έχετε ήδη πει μερικά ζουμερά ψέματα, ακόμη και στον εαυτό σας, στον καθρέφτη του μπάνιου σας. Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που η σειρά ήταν από το ξεκίνημα της μια τόσο ενοχλητικά σαγηνευτική φαντασίωση. Και αυτός είναι και ο λόγος που 11 χρόνια μετά δεν υπάρχει τίποτα σαν το Mad Men. Το Mad Men θυμίζει μερικές φορές σαπουνόπερα, είναι συχνά αστείο και σταθερά διασκεδαστικό. Ασχολείται με σημαντικά θέματα, όπως η απιστία, ο μισογυνισμός, ο ρατσισμός και ο εθισμός, αγγίζοντας τα με μια επιδεξιότητα πολύ σπάνια στο σύγχρονο δράμα. Read the full article

[maxmaggr]

Mad Men: Κάτι το διαφορετικό

Για τις περισσότερες επιτυχημένες τηλεοπτικές σειρές, η υπόθεση είναι το παν. Το κυνήγι βαμπίρ, το ταξίδι στο χρόνο, η επίλυση του εγκλήματος,  η πλειοψηφία των σειρών που κάνουν επιτυχία μπορεί να περιγραφεί με λίγο παραπάνω από ένα ουσιαστικό και ένα ρήμα. Σίγουρα δεν μπορούμε να περιγράψουμε με τον ίδιο τρόπο το Mad Men, την δραματική σειρά του AMC.

  "Αυτό που εσείς ονομάζετε αγάπη εφευρέθηκε από ανθρώπους σαν εμένα για να πουλάω νάιλον". Με αυτά τα τρυφερά λόγια ο Don Draper μίλησε στην καρδιά της νέας του πελάτισσας, Rachel Mencken, και στην ιστορία της τηλεόρασης. Το πρώτο επεισόδιο του Mad Men που προβλήθηκε πριν από 11 χρόνια, στις 19 Ιουλίου 2007, παρουσιάζοντας τον κόσμο σε μια γκαλερί με γοητευτικούς απατεώνες. Ο Jon Hamm ως Don, ο λιποτάκτης του κορεάτικου πόλεμου που έκλεψε τη στρατιωτική ταυτότητα ενός νεκρού αξιωματικού και επινόησε μια νέα ζωή για τον εαυτό του, ως διαφημιστή της Madison Avenue. Ο John Slattery ως Roger Sterling, ο γκριζομάλλης απατεώνας που εισάγει τον Don στα πράγματα. Η Elisabeth Moss ως Peggy Olson, η άτολμη γραμματέας που προσπαθεί με νύχια και με δόντια να ανεβεί στην επιχείρηση. Η Christina Hendricks  ως Joan Holloway, η σεξοβόμβα που οδηγείται από οργή και εκδίκηση. Πόσο παράξενο είναι να θυμόμαστε ότι υπήρξε μια εποχή που δεν γνωρίζαμε αυτούς τους ανθρώπους.  

  Στα πρώτα επεισόδια, το στάτους του Don ως άλφα αρσενικό και η φαινομενικά ακαταμάχητη αυτοπεποίθησή του, τον καθιστούν μια δύναμη που πρέπει να υπολογίζεται στο εταιρικό περιβάλλον. Στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις είναι ο υπεύθυνος χαρακτήρας για να σκέφτεται και να πουλά μεγάλες ιδέες στους πελάτες του. Είναι όμως οι θηλυκοί χαρακτήρες του Mad Men που παρέχουν στο δράμα μεγάλο μέρος της ψυχής του. Ενώ οι άνδρες της σειράς απεικονίζονται συχνά ως ο συγκινητικός πυρήνας των γεγονότων, είναι οι γυναίκες τους, οι ερωμένες και οι γραμματείς που συχνά μένουν στην απ’ έξω, αυτές που  υποστηρίζεις ευκολότερα. Η Peggy Olson που μάχεται εναντίον των στερεοτύπων της δεκαετίας του '60, τελικά ανεβαίνει από την κοινωνικά αποδεκτή θέση της γραμματέως στη μάλλον λιγότερο συνήθη θέση της κειμενογράφου. Η Joan Harris που είναι η διευθύντρια του γραφείου της διαφημιστικής Sterling Cooper, της οποίας η εμφάνιση κρύβει έναν χαρακτήρα δύναμης και νοημοσύνης. Τέλος, η σύζυγος του Don Draper, η Betty (January Jones), της οποίας το στάτους ως συζύγου τρόπαιο σημαίνει ότι οι δικές τις φιλοδοξίες και τα ταλέντα της παραμερίζονται. Πολύ αργότερα, ανακαλύπτουμε ότι έχει πτυχίο στην ανθρωπολογία και μπορεί να μιλάει άπταιστα ιταλικά.  

Πολύ ιδιαίτερος είναι και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο αυτοί οι χαρακτήρες υπάρχουν μέσα στον κόσμο που έχει δημιουργήσει για αυτούς ο Matthew Weiner. Τα μικρής κλίμακας δράματα όπως απώλειες, διαζύγια και παράνομες σχέσεις έχουν τεθεί εναντίον μεγαλύτερων γεγονότων, όπως ο θάνατος της Marilyn Monroe, της Κουβανικής κρίσης ή της δολοφονίας του Kennedy και αυτή η αίσθηση του χρονικού πλαισίου δίνει έναν μεγαλύτερο πλούτο στο δράμα του Mad Men. Τίποτα δεν συμβαίνει μεμονωμένα, και κάθε γεγονός είναι στενά συνδεδεμένο, και έχει μια βαθιά επίδραση, στο επόμενο. Από την αρχή, το Mad Men λειτούργησε τόσο καλά επειδή ο Weiner βρήκε ένα τόσο καταπληκτικό cast, λαμπρούς αλλά άνεργους ηθοποιούς, με μια πείνα που αναγνώρισε μόνο αυτός. Ο Hamm πριν πάρει τον ρολό του Don πέρασε από 7 διαφορετικές οντισιόν και απέτυχε σε όλες. Κάποια στιγμή, μάλιστα, είπε "Η ζωή μου εκείνη την περίοδο ήταν να προσπαθώ να βρω δουλειά. Απλώς ανταποκρίθηκα ενστικτωδώς σε αυτόν τον ρόλο και αυτό ίσως ήταν αυτό που έκανε  τον Matt να με πάρει". Η Christina Hendricks προσπαθούσε εδώ και χρόνια, όπως όλοι στο cast. Συμμετείχε σε μια διαφήμιση για πιστωτικές κάρτες του 1997 με τον Pierce Brosnan ως James Bond, στην οποία σέρβιρε στον 007 τσάι και χαβιάρι. Η January Jones  ήταν γνωστή για το ρόλο της σε μία από τις ταινίες American Pie, ως μια κοπέλα που κρυφά προσπάθησε να κάνει sex με τον Stifler σε μια ντουλάπα.

  Αντί για αστυνόμους και ληστές, το Mad Men παρουσιάζει ψεύτες, ένα πολύ πιο απειλητικό αρχέτυπο. Πιθανότατα δεν έχετε πυροβολήσει κανέναν σήμερα, ούτε έχετε πουλήσει κρυσταλλική μεθαμφεταμίνη, αλλά σίγουρα έχετε ήδη πει μερικά ζουμερά ψέματα, ακόμη και στον εαυτό σας, στον καθρέφτη του μπάνιου σας. Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που η σειρά ήταν από το ξεκίνημα της μια τόσο ενοχλητικά σαγηνευτική φαντασίωση. Και αυτός είναι και ο λόγος που 11 χρόνια μετά δεν υπάρχει τίποτα σαν το Mad Men. Το Mad Men θυμίζει μερικές φορές σαπουνόπερα, είναι συχνά αστείο και σταθερά διασκεδαστικό. Ασχολείται με σημαντικά θέματα, όπως η απιστία, ο μισογυνισμός, ο ρατσισμός και ο εθισμός, αγγίζοντας τα με μια επιδεξιότητα πολύ σπάνια στο σύγχρονο δράμα. Read the full article