rajafacesbothways

Mad(dening) Men

Just completed viewing the second season of Mad Men on DVD. The series centers around Sterling Cooper, an ad agency in New York in the cold war era around 1959-64.

What an era. Was there. Remember it. Awwwwk!

The show captures that period extremely well. So completely that I know women who become too angry to watch. It strongly reflects the roles of men and the treatment of women, the sexism, homophobia, racism, disregard for the environment--centered in an atmosphere of expectations for perfect family values laced with lots of drinking and heavy smoking. It includes wonderful details of the accouterments of that time; I swear they located some of my old wardrobe for the "perfect" wife.

 In many ways I was a victim of limitations placed on women during that period. So. Does watching it make me angry?

No--it's a good dramatic, authentic series. What angers me is that I was too dumb to recognize the unfair restrictions on me and others. I accepted those situations without question.

The good news. Many of us made certain that circumstances changed for our daughters' generation.

And, by the time the Stepford wives appeared, I was incorrigible.

Big Time (?) TV

Georgetown appeared on ABC prime time TV in a program, The Nanny. I had never seen the show before--and won't again, but I was curious to see what scenes taken around town would appear on the program.

Basically an English Nanny arrives to help parents control their rotten little kids. This show concerned a father who created a couple of little monsters through junk foods, no discipline and letting the boys set their own behavior. I actually think as a sub, I had the older boy in a classroom.

There were some scenes in and out of Favas and Krogers.  However, it wasn't nearly as exciting as spotting Chicago locations in major movies.

Worth Watching

My favorite TV interviewer has returned to PBS---Bill Moyers Journal. Moyers speaks out on conditions and events that most comentators avoid. It comes on here on Friday nights; it may vary elsewhere.

To quote Garibaldi:  "A tree is judged by the quality of fruit it bears and individuals are judged by the benefits they can bestow on their fellow human belngs. Being born, existing, eating, drinking and dying--insects do all this as well. ..men that are truly alive and (whose) lives are in the service of others---this is the real life of the soul."

And these are the kinds of refreshing individuals who appear on Bill Moyers Journal. His guests come from varied backgrounds, passions, and age--ranging from teens to a 93 year-old woman activist.

Don't miss this absorbing program; no false reality TV here.

Don't Touch That Clicker

I log in about 3-5 hours of TV a week, most all on National PBS-- except for NBC at 8:30 p.m.Thursday night (est) when THE OFFICE come on. It originated in England, but the American version is clever, hysterically funny and has been cast perfectly. If you haven't seen it, try it--I think you'll like it.

AMERICAN MASTERS has had some wonderful documentaries on a variety of creative people in many fields. The one on Frank Gehry, the architect, was especially fine. What's most interesting, is that the creative process is duplicated in all forms of art. And that the only thing that really brings results is dedication and damn hard work.

Class Dismissed

My UKY class, "From Little Women to the L Word" ended today, truly an excellent class. It was a graduate level course that studied a broad scope of alternative emotional relationships.

I found LITTLE WOMEN's literary domestics boring. TV Showtime's "The L Word"  women are all stunning beauties, confirming that I would be a total failure as a lesbian on all levels. Family, friendships, marriage, (the "heroic struggle to get married is replaced by the heroic struggle to stay married"), adultery, religious restrictions, were analyzed from Freud to "Sex in the City."

To sum it up:  ever since Adam and Eve, relationships have been messy, romanticized and idealized. Nevertheless, it's fascinating to see how everything, and nothing--changes with cycles.