Difficult Men: Don Draper's Character And Mid 20 Century

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Martin, Brett. Difficult men: behind the scenes of a creative revolution: from The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Penguin, 2013.
"Difficult Men" by Brett Martin is the main source of the following text. This paper is going to borrow heavily from Martin's writing as he very well describes how the media in the 1950s and 1960s depicted a male individual in the society and how far masculinity had transformed by then. TV has been a major source of influence in society. It has not only revolutionalized communication but also changed the perspective of the community. Martin describes masculinity through lead male actors of popular shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, The Breaking Bad, and Mad Men. He documents television evolution of the lead male actors in terms of masculinity and how the society perceives it. Martin observes of the inclusion of unhappy male lead actors who are created by equally unhappy writers. Difficult Men is not only about the male actor's in front of the cameras but also those behind the camera. Of interest from this article is the character Don Draper from "Mad Men." Draper from Mad Men is depicted as an adulterous and alcoholic advertising director who has a tormenting history. Mad Men then continuously make the audience invest in Draper and to some extent root for Draper even though he is not doing the right thing in the society the same society confines with his masculinity as it is expected. Thus, the article is going to be a major source of data describing a typical male of this period and their evolution.
Albrecht, Michael Mario. Masculinity in contemporary quality television. Routledge, 2016. Chapter four. 46-71.
Albrecht confirms he wrote this article after he realized that the quality and quantity of television shows has increased and the programs have continued to incorporate masculinity that is complicated and is informed by female's movement of the 60s and 70s. He also confirms that his text looks at these shows based on the impacts of equality of men and women, backlash, masculinity and the general relationship between women and men. One of the popular programs he analyses based on masculinity is "Mad Men" and he concentrates on the character Don Draper. He addresses the crisis of masculinity and how it is represented in contemporary culture.
Malin, Brenton J. "Policing the crisis of masculinity: media and masculinity at the dawn of the new century." The Routledge Companion to Media & Gender. Routledge, 2013. 628-637.
Brenton Malin writes on masculinity crisis, the media, and masculinity based on the new century. He looks at the traditional manhood and looks at the emotional and toughness that controlled men back then and today. His earlier period being 1970s this article will help in creating a literature review of masculinity of the period.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. The hearts of men: American dreams and the flight from commitment. Anchor, 2011. 12-206.
Ehrenreich observe the walk of male towards freedom from what the society states as the role of a man and that is to be a breadwinner or what Ehrenreich refers to as a success machine. This article will held in developing literature on the trend of sexual culture and masculinity.
Difficult Men: Don Draper Character and Mid 20 Century Masculinity
Recently there been research on masculinity all over the world. Some of the reasons for the research include for medical purposes, society wellness, and concern, and to better understand the changes happening around us. Since time memorial, there has been a never-ceasing battle between men and female in regards to who is superior and who should do what or act in what manner. These battles saw men appear superior in many ways making women activist group emerge, fighting for the same opportunities as men. These fights have been successful and women have in some regions gained more opportunities or even become better than the traditional women were set. However, there have been situations where men have lost their masculinity and somehow gained women characteristics. This scene has been experienced all over the world but studies show that Asia is the most affected region. Today it is common to see men work in a beauty parlor, hair salons, or a nail beauty shop something that was unheard of and considered unmanly several centuries back. In Asia, for example Korea, there has emerged a new crop of men who have raised questions about masculinity. Popularly referred to as flower boys, the new breed of men is not afraid to put on makeup and go on the streets. This shows how masculinity has undergone changes over the year to what it is today. The following text is going to look at the mid-20th-century masculinity base on the character Don Draper in Mad Men and the book Difficult Men.
Masculinity Change in the 20th Century
Masculinity perspective of the society is that male species ought to be strong, providers, aggressive, analytical, assertive, muscular, independent and competitive. On the other hand, women are observed to be passive, weak, tender, cooperative, nurturer, patient, graceful, and expressive. In this, setting men who cannot provide for their families are made to feel less masculine and this is according to the social setting and this is inclined to class issues. For men who could not join or serve in the military for war because of disability felt less masculine, this is inclined to disability issues. Homosexual are seen as weak male version and sometimes considered feminine; this is inclined more to gender issues. There are theories named after the two categories that try to define this phenomenon: feminist and masculinity theory. Sex of individual is defined biologically but for the gender, it is defined by social and masculine factors. The media which is one of the most influential modes in both the 20th and 21st century has shown that there change on how men are portrayed and more than one form of masculinity is depicted.
In regions such as France and England masculinity changed. It was changed by various aspects and factors and this change can be seen through sports, war, workplace, and schools. The modern age of industry has emphasized certain traits of manhood and they are despising anything that has to do with carnality, overindulgence, and aristocracy. Masculinity has turned out to be a thing, which described with commercial efficiency, productivity, martial vigor, or strength and not with esthetic, elegance or grace display. The 20th century is observed to be the death period of the man and the today recognized gentleman emerged during the same period.
The third phase of the feminist movement was developed from the 70s in the 20th century and this was consolidated with the men's movement. During this period, several divergent groups emerged. One part was developed in relation to the feminist movement where their main agenda was to support the feminist group on their demands. These demands included gender biases and social practices differences. The few intellectuals that were liberal-minded worked with women to the above requirements and towards minimization of gender discrimination. Gender studies research has come as an advantage to men. It observes that the leaders of today's movement have character traits of traditional masculine perception in society. Because of society stereotypes men were not supposed to show emotions physical and mental weakness. They had to play men roles which even though they are not written down that this is the path to become more of a man, these roles often ended up affecting the man negatively or affecting their health, for example, risky demonstration, excessive competition, alcoholism and more to practices that proved masculinity like dangerous sports.
The other part of men's movement was referred to as father's movement where frustrated men ganged up to form a group of individuals who were tired of anti-male prejudice in the community. Their cry was the discrimination occurring in the child-rearing rights after divorce as these rights favor women more. Stereotypes gave women the role of motherhood as a stronger factor when it comes to children legal battles leaving fatherhood factor with little or no chance at all. Men felt they had been given a little role in this process of socialization. Looking at this scenario, a few centuries back, women were given the role of taking care of the homestead and children in the society but in the 20th century, we see men fighting for the same position. Like women, men in this period performed gender in the relationship. That is the environment surrounding had the ability to control what men can and cannot do.
Difficult Men
Brett Martin wrote "Difficult Men" to explore what he calls the 3rd Golden revolution of the TV industry and in particular concentrate on men character. Martin concentrates on an era where most of the shows were run by men and in most cases, the manhood did play a big part in the films and TV shows of the period. Although he does not claim to concentrate on white males, his book is a testimony that he took time to follow the male characters of white descent. It is easy to misunderstand this act, like racial profiling as there were African American characters during this time but to understand his view, even in the 21st century white males still dominate the media production worldwide. Martin, however, confirms the reason as to why he concentrated on men characters is due to the mere fact that most of the shows at that time were dominated by themes of manhood, infinite varieties when it came to male combat and contours of male power. In regards to a white male, only he claims that the cultural influence played a part as they dominated the media scene and the cultural landscape demanded an explanation of what is being a man. Thus, he wrote Difficult Men wh...