I'm trying to grow my channel and make more videos, so please be sure to hit subscribe! Thanks so much for all of the support and positive comments. More videos coming soon! Should I do a video about one of the other characters next? Joan, Peggy? ❤
@@tristanlanphere7736 I'm still here!😁 My next video will be about Megan, I'm already pretty far into writing the script.🥳 After that, Joan and then Peggy.
The sad thing is when show aired most of the audience was hating her because she was always depressed and a bad mother while they glorify and forgive everything Don did, the man who caused most of the things that Betty going through, series was great but fans were misogynistic af when it comes to Betty or Peggy, they only liked feminine, fun Joan lol
Betty did the damage to Betty. So much of her character is about abdication of personal responsibility. She chose misery in the present over fear in the future. That has a cost. For her to be a "modern woman" (NOT like Megan), there's much more personal accountability and responsibility required. Don was the knife she cut herself with. Continuing the analogy, it was certainly a cry for help in a quarter from which no help would be coming.
@@MomMom4Cubs That knife analogy is excellent. Betty is so sympathetic and tragic, but of course nobody is just one way. There are opportunities where she could have some agency or own up to her mistakes but she’s just so bitter and checked-out that she never does. It’s a realistic flaw that makes her more 3-dimensional and makes perfect sense given everything about her life
Betty was her best in Rome. Don walking over and sitting at the next table from her, the two of them flirting like strangers, Betty speaking Italian. It's by far one of favourite moments of the entire series.
I will say tho, I feel like blaming beauty standards is reductive. Beauty is beauty. Betty was the PINNACLE of classic American beauty at that time. It was all she was and all she ever had. Blonde haired blue eyed porcelain skin slim figure. She had it all. She, in fact, upheld the beauty standards and she knew she was on top. In fact, everyone around her looked up to her as an ideal. So, although a victim in some ways she was also the perpetrator. She reminds me of the Kardashians complaining about the criticism they get when they single handedly forced a new beauty standard with them as the perfect ideal through lies and trickery. I have no sympathy for foolish women like that. And it will ALWAYS come back to bite them in the rear because Father Time comes for us all and will snatch our youth and beauty away one by one! There’s nothing wrong with being beautiful of course but she failed to develop any other facet to her personality. Even the job of a model was an extension of that. That job wasn’t freedom. It would’ve been an even more toxic extension of her mother with even more emphasis on youth and beauty standard rigidity. What she should have done was pursue some kind of hobby or endeavor using her brain. The girl was gorgeous but brainless, like many models. She failed to grow out of that. She stayed a helpless little dove who needed to be taken care of by her dad then her husband then her other husband. She led a charmed privileged life but was miserable throughout unfortunately… she had everything any woman of the time would want in a material sense. Beauty, money, kids, husbands… but it couldn’t soothe her rotten personality..
@@maverickbull1909 i feel like you contradicted yourself there. you can't compare her to the kardashians. betty was following the trend of what she needed to look like and be to be beautiful. she didn't create the trends, in fact in a lot of ways in later seasons we see her falling behind in that sense. kardashians otoh have strongly promoted a new kind of look and type of beauty that people then started following, unlike, like i said, betty who was a follower herself. also, any time others interacted with her they only cared about and emphasised her beauty, which would really embed the feeling of "this is all i am, this is all i'm worth" she's a sad, depressed figure whose attempts to do things other than be a mom get denigrated so she can get put back in her place and not try anymore. when we see her hosting - don embarrasses her and basically makes a mockery of the whole event in her eyes. when she expresses a desire to model again - don is against it and makes her feel like a bad mom for even wanting it, and then when it doesn't work out it's yet another example of how she should stay in her lane. she feels bogged down by it all but doesn't even have anyone to talk to about it, she can't trust anybody as it's clear that even francine isn't necessarily someone she can be honest with. even when she gets remarried... she dares to express her opinions about something at an event and gets put down by henry. then finally, after all these years, she pursues an education, something purely for her interest and enjoyment. and what happens? she fucking gets cancer.
Great analysis! I just finished my 3rd viewing of Mad Men. I first watched at age 19, and then again at 21. I’m now almost 30, and I view Betty much differently than I used to. Though her behavior can still be seen as childish and irritating, my own life experience has helped me understand her complexities more and more.
This was wonderful, thank you. I always felt desperately sorry for Betty. She was caught between the old world and the new. In the final season of Mad Men, when she grasps for the life that might have given her some real validation, she is diagnosed with cancer and dies. Tragic. Her life really is a warning.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Betty, but now that I am a wife and mother I have so much more empathy for her. I teared up more than once during this video. Very well done!
At the time when I watched Mad Men, I thought Betty was the worst. It’s funny watching this now, because at the time I had watched it with my emotionally abusive ex who loved Don, he was “a real man” and he told me all the reasons Betty was the worst. I only looked at her that way because I was trying to not be her, yet be her at the same time for my ex. I’m very lucky to not be with him anymore and it’s very important we get to see womens sides of the stories like this. I know deep down I felt bad for her but I didn’t want to believe that for the sake of being “better” than her. Rather than seeing how much pain she was in and seeing the person she really was. Understanding each other is so important. I’m glad I got to see this, it helped me realize how much better I am today and how hurtful it can be to be in a place with a lack of compassion.
I'm so happy that my video helped you and thank you for sharing your story! Many women can relate with what you went through. When you're in a toxic relationship it's very hard to accept what's happening to you. Hearing other women's stories and knowing you're not alone truly helps. ❤
Yeah. Betty enraged me. But I also felt soooo sorry for her at the same time. Don Draper was only over for me after Faye ... because she did everything 'right' and he failed her. Just demonstrates how much empathy we can feel with betrayers like Don. But Betty just wouldn't stop with her superficiality. Just stop - that is not easy - but the only way out.
she's not a good person but she lives a deeply tragic life which is completely defined by the patriachal norms and expectations placed on her by her family and society as a whole. she should be pitied, and empathised with, and not hated
One of the things I most appreciate about Mad Men is that we see people, Don above all, repeating their mistakes, staying stuck in their own personal cycles of failure. it's a compelling portrayal of real life.
I cant help but feel that if she lived on the upper east side she could hafe kept a bit of the glamour in her life. Being in the suburbs is super tough
@@Δ-Δ-Δ-Δbc the suburbs have more confined social norms than the city and especially nyc. And Betty as a mom even would have taken kids on walks to the park in nyc and interacted w lots of different people. Granted they would be living in wealthy area so still social norms but so much more exposure to women breaking the conventional norms of the times etc
Betty couldn't have been "thriving independently". Until 1974, women couldn't have a bank account or credit cards without a husband's or father's signature.
This is a reductive and somewhat inaccurate “fact.” Yes, women *could* be denied their own bank account, but that doesn’t mean they always were. The final decision (prior to 1974) was up to the financial institution, and many were perfectly willing to accommodate customers regardless of gender. Money is money, after all. And while it wasn’t super common, there *were* still plenty of women who lived independently, whether out of desire or necessity.
Models get use, abused and discarded also. It’s not that Betty married and had children instead of being a model. It’s WHO Betty married and had children with instead of being a model. Her father warns her that something was very off with Don. Choose your husband wisely.
Really enjoyed your analysis. Every time I rewatch I'm always struck by Betty's demeanor in the early seasons. For some time, she does appear to be a contented and loving mother. I always felt like she loved her children when they were very small, but at some point comes to resent them all independently. Her letter to Sally always breaks me, and feels so honest to her character, too.
Betty is one of my favorite characters on the show. So complex, so raw, so tragic, and all too relatable. I see her in my mother and my grandmother. Of the few times I’ve cried about Mad Men, I cried about Betty. Thanks for this deep dive, I’m heartbroken all over again.
I don't think Betty would have necessarily been happier as a cosmopolitan 'independent woman'. I think that the spark she had when she first married and became a mother were genuine, and if she had a loving, trustworthy and supportive spouse, that spark could have not only remained, but shone even brighter. What we see here is a tragedy of the slow, damaging erosion of abuse.
I do think she would, but there is a problem - Betty was taught that her looks were her value, and what would have happened once she had to leave the modeling world, most likely due to age or by force? She would have looked for a husband.
Betty is sadly still like a lot of wives even today. Their light being dulled by their emotionally abusive/distant husbands. And the husbands wonder where the woman they met is gone & the bitter & resentful woman they're stuck with.
Where do you get this bullshit from. This is a nonsense emotional statement. Do you have any facts, figures or data, or are you just trying to sound cool on youtube?
Yeah but unlike Betty Draper, women today choosing partners like that make less than zero sense. Betty could t have bought property in her own name without a man. Or taken out a line of credit. wtf is going on that to this day almost every woman I know is just a quivering nervous anxiously attached mess…. To the weirdest most insane abusive men? Usually very ugly ones
with everything betty has gone through, its admirable how she survives it and manages to become a stronger woman. i guess, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Without excusing Don's behavior, their situation wasn't and isn't all that unique. People born in the 20's and 30's, like Don and Betty's characters in the show, and like my own grandparents, suffered very difficult childhoods we can't possibly understand in 2024. Then when you grow up and become an adult, you have a warped view of what it means to be an adult, and before you know it, you met someone, your hormones got the best of you, and now YOU have kids you weren't emotionally ready for in the first place. Betty's mother grew up in a time before women could vote, and they only worked a job UNTIL they got married. THEN their job became their husbands. If you were "hot" you had a better chance at a better man who could provide for you and your children. Betty's mom didn't want her daughter to starve to death. That was a very real concern in this country 100 years ago. I think Betty's arc symbolizes what happens to someone who gets "everything" handed to her. We look at her thinking it must be wonderful to be rich, but a life without purpose is miserable. Betty realizes too late that she never wanted to be a mother or be married. She wanted to be a professionally good looking person and travel the world. Ultimately though, she made her bed, and she has to lie in it.
@@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053 I hate to break it to you. Many women get married young to an older man using them for the image they give off even in 2024. Maybe women getting into relationships give up their lives to become mothers to men who secretly hate them. Look at a lot of the Mormons. He is still very shitty
I don't know about other fellas but why go around town with all those women when you have a woman like Betty Draper waiting at home. I would absolutely make a beeline to get home to her as fast as possible.
Very well-created video, indeed Betty had a tragic life and unfortunately, there are a lot of women who live an oppressed life like Betty in the eastern side of the world even in our time. I hope one day all people will become aware of their rights.
Great video, what did you think of January Jones' performance? After watching the show, I was shocked at how many people criticised her performance, I thought she captured the character perfectly. Her and Don both feel like truly perfect casting.
Thank you so much! I think January Jones was perfectly cast. I have rewatched the show several times and I don't understand the heavy criticism she got. In the early seasons she really does portray a sense of gullible innocence with the mannerisms of a nervous child, which then transforms into that of a woman that is easily angered with the constant lying she has undergone (hence her anger towards her children who sometimes lied to get out of something they did). In my opinion January Jones portrayed a real woman, not a character. She became Betty Draper.
Wild. I love her performance - I loved her expressions in particular and the cadence of her speech. But then, I have no real criticism of any of the performances.
Quite exceptional work here. excellent analysis. I had forgotten what a kind and sincere person Betty was in the beginning. Her only mistake was marrying Don.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen mad men. This video really put Betty in a new light for me. Thank you for your beautiful commentary. Also walked your Megan video. Amazing work!
That was very good........very good. You showed deep insights into Betty's life that I only saw in a shallow way. And I loved the way you gave vision to your insights with very well placed scenes. Great editing and writing. I really enjoyed this. Thank you.
Most broken Women were broken by an unhinged Male or by a Mother who was broken by an unhinged Male. Patriarchy destroys everything beautiful, like a cancerous disease.
betty is one of the best characters on this show, so underrated. not likeable at all, but you still feel deeply sorry for her, and despite her prosperity and privilege, she lives an incredibly tragic life. january jones did an amazing job, no one else could've played her right
I finally watched recently, and all I felt for her was sadness. She focused on her image due to her mother and men who never respected her even when married. She was married to a lying narcissist and couldn’t bring herself to tell Sally just how bad her dad was, so ended up being the bad guy even in her daughter’s eyes until the end. Henry was a nice guy to a point but even he at one point told her he’d do the thinking in the relationship. She was set up for disaster her whole life. Just a sad character all around.
I think she would have been happy with a man who supported her in her endeavors. The issue was the men she married not her housewife lifestyle. But it was the 60's and the idea of a woman continuing to be a model while being a mother and wife was highly controversial.
That's the great part about Mad Men that is just so real and raw. Everybody is flawed, everybody is searching for something, and in my opinion this show has the best endings even though for some they're not happy ones.
I really loved her and Glenn's last and second last interaction, during the second last interraction, Betty was crying to Glenn to tell her everything will be okay and in their last scene together it was vice versa
Betty was truly a tragic character it's sad once she truly changed she gets diagnosed with cancer unfortunately women of her time didn't have many choices
I'm personally like Peggy, sometimes Joan, and I have complicated feelings about both of them. But Betty is completely unlike me, and I just feel so, so sad for her. Hers is the most tragic story.
Sally was the hero of Mad Men. She saw through her narcissistic parents and overcame. Jezebel Joan, Bitter Betty and Pleaser Peggy are the three female archetypes - each very flawed. Don, Peter and Roger are the feckless cads to balance them out.
@7:26 she's unexpectedly pregnant with Gene (named after her father) by Don. The baby's name is not Don. This was an interesting introspective. It's a good look at her behavior through the series and how she was very much limited by the abusive circumstances around her. Her mother, and then her husbands. It's too bad she couldn't have found a happiness
Not sure how this fits in to your analysis, but I think the most interesting episode with Betty's character was when she went looking for the violin prodigy girl and wound up hanging out with the hippies. It's interesting that these young men, supposedly more enlightened and open-minded than Roger and Don, basically treated her the same way -- expecting her to be the housewife/mom for them.
Remember, she is a fictional character. She is designed to reflect an aspect of women in that time just as Peggy, Joan, Megan and Trudy. They are somewhat archetypal so don't read too much into it all. Betty is trapped in the past with outdated values and when she tries to move forward it is too little and too late. She is meant to be a tragic figure right from the beginning.
Most of us know that besheveled woman in the party dress drinking wine and going through pockets for any proof of cheating. To show their gaslighting partner WE KNOW
I disagree with your point about Henry. You just took one scene from which Henry told Betty not to say stuff like that and just completely mischaracterize the character. With Don, sure Betty's constantly talked down, gaslighted, even man-handled (when Don found out about Henry). But with Henry, at least she could have a conversation with him without the need to be considered crazy or be told to calm down.
There's another scene where Betty is sharing her opinions on politics after which Henry reprimands her. But I absolutely agree that Henry is a WAY better man and fit for Betty. He is a thousand times more mature, kind, and loving, compared to Don. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment! Thank you for watching. 🥰
Betty Draper is the best character on Mad Men. She was the one who tried to do what's right. Also typical example of a child of a narcissistic parent. I had a lot of compassion for Don, I could see him oscillate between darkness and light, but that scene where can't bring the cake for the party and just goes away in the car. Seriously dude? You spend entire days bouncing around like a horny dog and doing whatever you please around Manhattan and when you have to deal with what your diligent wife deals with every single day of her life for just one weekend, you crush and feel suffocated? You? Suffocated? Since that episode I realized that Don wasn't struggling that much with anything. He just waited for things to fall apart to pity himself and blame Betty for giving up on him. The entire show is a Lynchean-style melodrama but ultimately nihilistic. And the fact that characters like Betty get no compassion from writers is telling me that this show is bad for one's soul. Don and Joan, the promiscuous ones, get so much compassion, you can feel it.
Her therapist shared everything she said w her husband?!?! I don’t remember that. That happened during that time? I can believe it but it is still horrible😮
@@jenniferahmadright- I’m sure I knew this happened but it still seems so incredibly wild. women couldnt have credit cards or buy a house so why would they be able to go to a Dr and have confidentially?
I remember reading a passage in the Feminist Mystique and it was basically a woman explaining that she was tired all the time. She simply didn't feel alive. I feel like if Betty had more self awareness that would have been her. I could potentially see her writing that quote.
hum she might romantized her former life as an actress but in that time she would have probably ended up r.ped and abused and probably a dr.g addict. People like Joan or Peggy were the exception not the norm. Best chance for those woman was to marry rich man and hopped the guy they marry was not an asshole or would die young letting them his money. Only bad thing for Betty is that Don is an ungrateful unfaithful traumatized jerk.
It's the "what if's" that keep us wondering. The show is just that good. There's a scene where Don and Betty run into one of Betty's old model friends inside a restaurant and they discover that she's now an escort. So that's definitely the show hinting at a more grim future that Betty possibly avoided. Thank you for watching my video! ❤
U can't say her best chance was to get married because she "probably" would've ended up... Look at her life. She wasn't given a chance to do anything else. That's like saying thank God I was raised by my sexually abusive father or I could've ended up in foster care homes.
I don't believe that people were "cut off from the world" in the age before social media. People had more face to face conversations, or spoke on the phone and had the connection with a human voice as opposed to just text, they had to be outwardly engaged. I think people are cut off from the world now, always staring at their phones, speaking to operating systems and not people, having virtual relationships but not engaging in the world that surrounds them.
They were cut off from larger world, different perspectives and possibilities. She was generally surrounded by people who were raised like her and thought like her. Like in an echo chamber. There weren't enough different options to consider.
I'm trying to grow my channel and make more videos, so please be sure to hit subscribe! Thanks so much for all of the support and positive comments. More videos coming soon!
Should I do a video about one of the other characters next? Joan, Peggy? ❤
I know its an old comment but I always felt like Meghan was neglected by the fan base, especially for a character who is actually pretty complex
@@tristanlanphere7736 I'm still here!😁 My next video will be about Megan, I'm already pretty far into writing the script.🥳 After that, Joan and then Peggy.
How about Sally, Kiernan Shipka grew up on that role.
Joan
@madgirlyoutube You seem to have a Dutch accent.
She chose to be married and to be a mother, she didn't choose to be cheated on consistently. She didn't deserve that.
No
She
Didn't
Need
The
Cheating
Being cheated on doesn't excuse people for being awful people. She was an awful character. Let it go
@@GucciBerryYT She was not
January Jones doesn't get enough respect as an actress. She really nailed the role of Betty Draper
The sad thing is when show aired most of the audience was hating her because she was always depressed and a bad mother while they glorify and forgive everything Don did, the man who caused most of the things that Betty going through, series was great but fans were misogynistic af when it comes to Betty or Peggy, they only liked feminine, fun Joan lol
I 100% AGREE. There's many that still have a negative opinion of Betty to this day instead of appreciating the complex character that she is.
Just because Don ain’t great, doesn’t mean she was…
Betty did the damage to Betty. So much of her character is about abdication of personal responsibility. She chose misery in the present over fear in the future. That has a cost. For her to be a "modern woman" (NOT like Megan), there's much more personal accountability and responsibility required.
Don was the knife she cut herself with. Continuing the analogy, it was certainly a cry for help in a quarter from which no help would be coming.
@@bannedmann4469 and i didn't said she is.
@@MomMom4Cubs That knife analogy is excellent. Betty is so sympathetic and tragic, but of course nobody is just one way. There are opportunities where she could have some agency or own up to her mistakes but she’s just so bitter and checked-out that she never does. It’s a realistic flaw that makes her more 3-dimensional and makes perfect sense given everything about her life
Betty was her best in Rome. Don walking over and sitting at the next table from her, the two of them flirting like strangers, Betty speaking Italian. It's by far one of favourite moments of the entire series.
I could never hate Betty. The show beautifully explains why she is the way that she is and I don't understand how people dont see it
A lot of people just hate women. They especially hate women who don't fit into the patriarchal role of wife and mother with a smile on their face.
I will say tho, I feel like blaming beauty standards is reductive. Beauty is beauty. Betty was the PINNACLE of classic American beauty at that time. It was all she was and all she ever had. Blonde haired blue eyed porcelain skin slim figure. She had it all. She, in fact, upheld the beauty standards and she knew she was on top.
In fact, everyone around her looked up to her as an ideal. So, although a victim in some ways she was also the perpetrator. She reminds me of the Kardashians complaining about the criticism they get when they single handedly forced a new beauty standard with them as the perfect ideal through lies and trickery.
I have no sympathy for foolish women like that. And it will ALWAYS come back to bite them in the rear because Father Time comes for us all and will snatch our youth and beauty away one by one! There’s nothing wrong with being beautiful of course but she failed to develop any other facet to her personality. Even the job of a model was an extension of that.
That job wasn’t freedom. It would’ve been an even more toxic extension of her mother with even more emphasis on youth and beauty standard rigidity. What she should have done was pursue some kind of hobby or endeavor using her brain. The girl was gorgeous but brainless, like many models. She failed to grow out of that. She stayed a helpless little dove who needed to be taken care of by her dad then her husband then her other husband. She led a charmed privileged life but was miserable throughout unfortunately… she had everything any woman of the time would want in a material sense. Beauty, money, kids, husbands… but it couldn’t soothe her rotten personality..
@@maverickbull1909 i feel like you contradicted yourself there. you can't compare her to the kardashians. betty was following the trend of what she needed to look like and be to be beautiful. she didn't create the trends, in fact in a lot of ways in later seasons we see her falling behind in that sense. kardashians otoh have strongly promoted a new kind of look and type of beauty that people then started following, unlike, like i said, betty who was a follower herself.
also, any time others interacted with her they only cared about and emphasised her beauty, which would really embed the feeling of "this is all i am, this is all i'm worth"
she's a sad, depressed figure whose attempts to do things other than be a mom get denigrated so she can get put back in her place and not try anymore. when we see her hosting - don embarrasses her and basically makes a mockery of the whole event in her eyes. when she expresses a desire to model again - don is against it and makes her feel like a bad mom for even wanting it, and then when it doesn't work out it's yet another example of how she should stay in her lane. she feels bogged down by it all but doesn't even have anyone to talk to about it, she can't trust anybody as it's clear that even francine isn't necessarily someone she can be honest with. even when she gets remarried... she dares to express her opinions about something at an event and gets put down by henry.
then finally, after all these years, she pursues an education, something purely for her interest and enjoyment. and what happens? she fucking gets cancer.
Great analysis! I just finished my 3rd viewing of Mad Men. I first watched at age 19, and then again at 21. I’m now almost 30, and I view Betty much differently than I used to. Though her behavior can still be seen as childish and irritating, my own life experience has helped me understand her complexities more and more.
I loathed how she treated sally ..
@@sirenthomas4595 don't worry. Sally is a boomer and undoubtedly grew up to be an asshole to many people in her life :D
Excellent and much fairer to Betty's character than one hears elsewhere.
Great assessment of this beautiful lady. The show had the best writers.
This was wonderful, thank you. I always felt desperately sorry for Betty. She was caught between the old world and the new. In the final season of Mad Men, when she grasps for the life that might have given her some real validation, she is diagnosed with cancer and dies. Tragic. Her life really is a warning.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Betty, but now that I am a wife and mother I have so much more empathy for her. I teared up more than once during this video. Very well done!
Great analysis of one of the most complex character of Mad Men!
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it.🥰
she IS one of the most complex characters! not enough people appreciate that
Betty was always my favorite Mad Men character, so complex and layered.
If it wasn’t for Betty I wouldn’t appreciate complex female characters in any form of medium
Betty, obviously suffered from depression, and had no form of control over her own identity or life.
At the time when I watched Mad Men, I thought Betty was the worst. It’s funny watching this now, because at the time I had watched it with my emotionally abusive ex who loved Don, he was “a real man” and he told me all the reasons Betty was the worst. I only looked at her that way because I was trying to not be her, yet be her at the same time for my ex. I’m very lucky to not be with him anymore and it’s very important we get to see womens sides of the stories like this. I know deep down I felt bad for her but I didn’t want to believe that for the sake of being “better” than her. Rather than seeing how much pain she was in and seeing the person she really was. Understanding each other is so important. I’m glad I got to see this, it helped me realize how much better I am today and how hurtful it can be to be in a place with a lack of compassion.
I'm so happy that my video helped you and thank you for sharing your story! Many women can relate with what you went through. When you're in a toxic relationship it's very hard to accept what's happening to you. Hearing other women's stories and knowing you're not alone truly helps. ❤
So glad you got rid of him ❤
Yeah. Betty enraged me. But I also felt soooo sorry for her at the same time. Don Draper was only over for me after Faye ... because she did everything 'right' and he failed her.
Just demonstrates how much empathy we can feel with betrayers like Don.
But Betty just wouldn't stop with her superficiality.
Just stop - that is not easy - but the only way out.
she's not a good person but she lives a deeply tragic life which is completely defined by the patriachal norms and expectations placed on her by her family and society as a whole. she should be pitied, and empathised with, and not hated
I went through the exact same thing. Rewatching it now has been so healing, now I actually understand Betty and younger me.
One of the things I most appreciate about Mad Men is that we see people, Don above all, repeating their mistakes, staying stuck in their own personal cycles of failure. it's a compelling portrayal of real life.
I cant help but feel that if she lived on the upper east side she could hafe kept a bit of the glamour in her life. Being in the suburbs is super tough
Why is it tough to live in the suburbs and what's the East Side?
I agree, I think if Don and Betty lived in the apartment that Don and Megan lived in Betty would thrived.
@@Δ-Δ-Δ-Δbc the suburbs have more confined social norms than the city and especially nyc. And Betty as a mom even would have taken kids on walks to the park in nyc and interacted w lots of different people. Granted they would be living in wealthy area so still social norms but so much more exposure to women breaking the conventional norms of the times etc
Yeah the suburbs is where beauty creativity and fun goes to rot
Betty couldn't have been "thriving independently". Until 1974, women couldn't have a bank account or credit cards without a husband's or father's signature.
This is a reductive and somewhat inaccurate “fact.” Yes, women *could* be denied their own bank account, but that doesn’t mean they always were. The final decision (prior to 1974) was up to the financial institution, and many were perfectly willing to accommodate customers regardless of gender. Money is money, after all. And while it wasn’t super common, there *were* still plenty of women who lived independently, whether out of desire or necessity.
@@bellmel319So it was difficult and required a lot of discussion, justification, strength of will...
That is bad and unfair.
Not true. Many banks gave credit to women on their own as long as they proved income to justify it. Problem was not many women earned enough.
@@bellmel319. Give it up.
Misogyny alert!
Models get use, abused and discarded also. It’s not that Betty married and had children instead of being a model. It’s WHO Betty married and had children with instead of being a model. Her father warns her that something was very off with Don. Choose your husband wisely.
Really enjoyed your analysis. Every time I rewatch I'm always struck by Betty's demeanor in the early seasons. For some time, she does appear to be a contented and loving mother.
I always felt like she loved her children when they were very small, but at some point comes to resent them all independently. Her letter to Sally always breaks me, and feels so honest to her character, too.
Betty is one of my favorite characters on the show. So complex, so raw, so tragic, and all too relatable. I see her in my mother and my grandmother. Of the few times I’ve cried about Mad Men, I cried about Betty. Thanks for this deep dive, I’m heartbroken all over again.
I don't think Betty would have necessarily been happier as a cosmopolitan 'independent woman'. I think that the spark she had when she first married and became a mother were genuine, and if she had a loving, trustworthy and supportive spouse, that spark could have not only remained, but shone even brighter. What we see here is a tragedy of the slow, damaging erosion of abuse.
I do think she would, but there is a problem - Betty was taught that her looks were her value, and what would have happened once she had to leave the modeling world, most likely due to age or by force? She would have looked for a husband.
Betty is sadly still like a lot of wives even today. Their light being dulled by their emotionally abusive/distant husbands. And the husbands wonder where the woman they met is gone & the bitter & resentful woman they're stuck with.
I’m one of those husbands
@@3000MrGianthat isnt something to be proud of
Where do you get this bullshit from. This is a nonsense emotional statement. Do you have any facts, figures or data, or are you just trying to sound cool on youtube?
Yeah but unlike Betty Draper, women today choosing partners like that make less than zero sense. Betty could t have bought property in her own name without a man. Or taken out a line of credit.
wtf is going on that to this day almost every woman I know is just a quivering nervous anxiously attached mess…. To the weirdest most insane abusive men? Usually very ugly ones
@@3000MrGianokay so turn yourself into police
This video is so well made! 👏🏻 Thanks for sharing it! ❤
with everything betty has gone through, its admirable how she survives it and manages to become a stronger woman. i guess, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
"Bitter about the life she was given." GIVEN, she's not creating & driving her own life!
I love that this is phrased with compassion. Youre a good person
I loved Betty. She was just used, abused, and lied to by the man she gave up everything for. 28 and her man rather have sex with anyone but her
Yep. 😢
Without excusing Don's behavior, their situation wasn't and isn't all that unique. People born in the 20's and 30's, like Don and Betty's characters in the show, and like my own grandparents, suffered very difficult childhoods we can't possibly understand in 2024. Then when you grow up and become an adult, you have a warped view of what it means to be an adult, and before you know it, you met someone, your hormones got the best of you, and now YOU have kids you weren't emotionally ready for in the first place. Betty's mother grew up in a time before women could vote, and they only worked a job UNTIL they got married. THEN their job became their husbands. If you were "hot" you had a better chance at a better man who could provide for you and your children. Betty's mom didn't want her daughter to starve to death. That was a very real concern in this country 100 years ago. I think Betty's arc symbolizes what happens to someone who gets "everything" handed to her. We look at her thinking it must be wonderful to be rich, but a life without purpose is miserable. Betty realizes too late that she never wanted to be a mother or be married. She wanted to be a professionally good looking person and travel the world. Ultimately though, she made her bed, and she has to lie in it.
@@iamthem.a.n.middleagednerd1053 I hate to break it to you. Many women get married young to an older man using them for the image they give off even in 2024. Maybe women getting into relationships give up their lives to become mothers to men who secretly hate them. Look at a lot of the Mormons. He is still very shitty
I don't know about other fellas but why go around town with all those women when you have a woman like Betty Draper waiting at home.
I would absolutely make a beeline to get home to her as fast as possible.
i love this well curated analysis of betty draper, very well interpretated i love your channel!
Very well-created video, indeed Betty had a tragic life and unfortunately, there are a lot of women who live an oppressed life like Betty in the eastern side of the world even in our time. I hope one day all people will become aware of their rights.
This analysis was incredible. Please do more on Mad Men characters; it’s my favorite show of all time.
Great video, what did you think of January Jones' performance? After watching the show, I was shocked at how many people criticised her performance, I thought she captured the character perfectly. Her and Don both feel like truly perfect casting.
Thank you so much! I think January Jones was perfectly cast. I have rewatched the show several times and I don't understand the heavy criticism she got. In the early seasons she really does portray a sense of gullible innocence with the mannerisms of a nervous child, which then transforms into that of a woman that is easily angered with the constant lying she has undergone (hence her anger towards her children who sometimes lied to get out of something they did). In my opinion January Jones portrayed a real woman, not a character. She became Betty Draper.
@@madgirlyoutube also Betty Draper was only 28 when Mad Men started.
Really? I'm surprised to hear there was any criticism at all. In my opinion she's so perfectly cast and a great actress.
Wild. I love her performance - I loved her expressions in particular and the cadence of her speech. But then, I have no real criticism of any of the performances.
She is amazing in that role ❤
What a beautiful video! Loved it
Quite exceptional work here. excellent analysis. I had forgotten what a kind and sincere person Betty was in the beginning. Her only mistake was marrying Don.
Thank you! I really appreciate that. 🥰
What a great analysis!! Betty is a devastatingly sad character. I would really love to see more videos from you! 💖💖
January Jones is so gorgeous 😍
ABSOLUTELY 😍
Honestly, she is so gorgeous. She LOOKS exactly like the perfect wife - adds to her tragedy
This is such a beautiful, sensitive analysis. Thank you for it, it genuinely brought me to tears 💕
Thank you so much!!🥺❤
It’s been so long since I’ve seen mad men. This video really put Betty in a new light for me. Thank you for your beautiful commentary. Also walked your Megan video. Amazing work!
I enjoyed your video and commentary very much. It was articulate and insightful.
Amazing description of this fantastic lady who many women can understand and relate to ❤
So well done! I'm a huge fan of Mad Men and your character reviews are fantastic. Fans of the show will know!
That was very good........very good. You showed deep insights into Betty's life that I only saw in a shallow way. And I loved the way you gave vision to your insights with very well placed scenes. Great editing and writing. I really enjoyed this. Thank you.
Awesome analysis! Really gives me more empathy and understanding to Bettys character
Don broke Betty. Great video.❤
Thank you so much!😭❤
Most broken Women were broken by an unhinged Male or by a Mother who was broken by an unhinged Male. Patriarchy destroys everything beautiful, like a cancerous disease.
You are an incredible narrator. Thank you so much for creating this analysis and sharing it. I love it!
Betty’s story always guts me.
Great video!
Well that was depressing. At least it's changed a little. Thank you for the video!
I hate the way they ended Betty’s character, it was so unfair. Betty wasn’t any worse than Don.
It was fitting for the time period, which makes her even more of a tragic figure. 😢
betty is one of the best characters on this show, so underrated. not likeable at all, but you still feel deeply sorry for her, and despite her prosperity and privilege, she lives an incredibly tragic life. january jones did an amazing job, no one else could've played her right
I'm not crying, you are.
I finally watched recently, and all I felt for her was sadness. She focused on her image due to her mother and men who never respected her even when married. She was married to a lying narcissist and couldn’t bring herself to tell Sally just how bad her dad was, so ended up being the bad guy even in her daughter’s eyes until the end. Henry was a nice guy to a point but even he at one point told her he’d do the thinking in the relationship. She was set up for disaster her whole life. Just a sad character all around.
Bravo! Excellent analysis. Betty was tragic to say the least… I’d love to hear your thoughts on Joan next.
I think she would have been happy with a man who supported her in her endeavors. The issue was the men she married not her housewife lifestyle. But it was the 60's and the idea of a woman continuing to be a model while being a mother and wife was highly controversial.
That's the great part about Mad Men that is just so real and raw. Everybody is flawed, everybody is searching for something, and in my opinion this show has the best endings even though for some they're not happy ones.
I love these deep dives. Not a lot of these for Mad Men. It’s such a good show though. Very thought provoking.
I really loved her and Glenn's last and second last interaction, during the second last interraction, Betty was crying to Glenn to tell her everything will be okay and in their last scene together it was vice versa
Such a well done video, spot on
Betty was truly a tragic character it's sad once she truly changed she gets diagnosed with cancer unfortunately women of her time didn't have many choices
I'm personally like Peggy, sometimes Joan, and I have complicated feelings about both of them. But Betty is completely unlike me, and I just feel so, so sad for her. Hers is the most tragic story.
The best character in Mad Men ❤
Her and Pete. Both January and Vincent are incredible incredible actors.
I would love for a video like this about Sally!
Love the video... Could you please make on for Joan Holloway ❤
this is very interesting; we get to know Betty better; thank you for this!
Thank you for this video dear
Sally was the hero of Mad Men. She saw through her narcissistic parents and overcame. Jezebel Joan, Bitter Betty and Pleaser Peggy are the three female archetypes - each very flawed. Don, Peter and Roger are the feckless cads to balance them out.
This video is wonderful ❤️😊
Thank you for this video.
this is so well done!
@7:26 she's unexpectedly pregnant with Gene (named after her father) by Don. The baby's name is not Don.
This was an interesting introspective. It's a good look at her behavior through the series and how she was very much limited by the abusive circumstances around her. Her mother, and then her husbands. It's too bad she couldn't have found a happiness
She never said the baby was named Don. She said she was pregnant BY Don.
You are good at this
Oh my gosh thank you so much!😭❤
Great job
Subscriber number 848 :)
Excited for the Miss Blankenship video!
Not sure how this fits in to your analysis, but I think the most interesting episode with Betty's character was when she went looking for the violin prodigy girl and wound up hanging out with the hippies. It's interesting that these young men, supposedly more enlightened and open-minded than Roger and Don, basically treated her the same way -- expecting her to be the housewife/mom for them.
what is the name of the piano theme running in the background? It's great
I love Henry for her. He is one of the only decent man on the show
Subscribed and liked :)
Such a complex and well writen character
I love her in that show. She was so funny and complexe but was fighting for those kids at the end.
I hated what happened to her character! So sad. This show was so great I could watch it over and over.
Remember, she is a fictional character. She is designed to reflect an aspect of women in that time just as Peggy, Joan, Megan and Trudy. They are somewhat archetypal so don't read too much into it all. Betty is trapped in the past with outdated values and when she tries to move forward it is too little and too late. She is meant to be a tragic figure right from the beginning.
Most of us know that besheveled woman in the party dress drinking wine and going through pockets for any proof of cheating. To show their gaslighting partner WE KNOW
I disagree with your point about Henry. You just took one scene from which Henry told Betty not to say stuff like that and just completely mischaracterize the character. With Don, sure Betty's constantly talked down, gaslighted, even man-handled (when Don found out about Henry). But with Henry, at least she could have a conversation with him without the need to be considered crazy or be told to calm down.
There's another scene where Betty is sharing her opinions on politics after which Henry reprimands her. But I absolutely agree that Henry is a WAY better man and fit for Betty. He is a thousand times more mature, kind, and loving, compared to Don.
I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment! Thank you for watching. 🥰
She should have been born later - she would have been the Ad executive
Betty Draper is the best character on Mad Men. She was the one who tried to do what's right. Also typical example of a child of a narcissistic parent. I had a lot of compassion for Don, I could see him oscillate between darkness and light, but that scene where can't bring the cake for the party and just goes away in the car. Seriously dude? You spend entire days bouncing around like a horny dog and doing whatever you please around Manhattan and when you have to deal with what your diligent wife deals with every single day of her life for just one weekend, you crush and feel suffocated? You? Suffocated? Since that episode I realized that Don wasn't struggling that much with anything. He just waited for things to fall apart to pity himself and blame Betty for giving up on him. The entire show is a Lynchean-style melodrama but ultimately nihilistic. And the fact that characters like Betty get no compassion from writers is telling me that this show is bad for one's soul. Don and Joan, the promiscuous ones, get so much compassion, you can feel it.
Her therapist shared everything she said w her husband?!?! I don’t remember that. That happened during that time? I can believe it but it is still horrible😮
It was routine at that time, as the man was of course paying the bills
@@jenniferahmadright- I’m sure I knew this happened but it still seems so incredibly wild. women couldnt have credit cards or buy a house so why would they be able to go to a Dr and have confidentially?
I wonder who Betty would have been in a modern time period.
Thank you for Interesting perspective von this show!
Can you drop the background music volume down a bit- it is very distracting!
In the words of Shakespeare she is " more sinned against than sinning."
One of the best scenes of Don and Betty aside from the Big conversation that reveals all of Dons secrets…..is them in bed at Bobby’s sleep away camp….
Betty was the saddest character on the show.
Great analysis. I thought it was interesting to title her Betty Draper as opposed to Betty Francis. I forget if she ended up changing her name
Most people know her as Betty Draper so I chose to name her that way. ❤
Betty is a fascinating character.
Betty is so beautiful and charming.
Happiness is found in marriage and children for both men and women. Denying this is creating a human catastrophe for all of us. It’s very sad.
please please make a Shōgun's Anna Sawai who plays Lady Mariko!!!!!!!!!
I would love to! I watched it twice already hahaha.😝💞
I remember reading a passage in the Feminist Mystique and it was basically a woman explaining that she was tired all the time. She simply didn't feel alive.
I feel like if Betty had more self awareness that would have been her. I could potentially see her writing that quote.
why do you only have 119 subscribers 😩
hum she might romantized her former life as an actress but in that time she would have probably ended up r.ped and abused and probably a dr.g addict. People like Joan or Peggy were the exception not the norm. Best chance for those woman was to marry rich man and hopped the guy they marry was not an asshole or would die young letting them his money. Only bad thing for Betty is that Don is an ungrateful unfaithful traumatized jerk.
It's the "what if's" that keep us wondering. The show is just that good. There's a scene where Don and Betty run into one of Betty's old model friends inside a restaurant and they discover that she's now an escort. So that's definitely the show hinting at a more grim future that Betty possibly avoided. Thank you for watching my video! ❤
U can't say her best chance was to get married because she "probably" would've ended up...
Look at her life. She wasn't given a chance to do anything else. That's like saying thank God I was raised by my sexually abusive father or I could've ended up in foster care homes.
Song in the beggining??
I don't believe that people were "cut off from the world" in the age before social media. People had more face to face conversations, or spoke on the phone and had the connection with a human voice as opposed to just text, they had to be outwardly engaged. I think people are cut off from the world now, always staring at their phones, speaking to operating systems and not people, having virtual relationships but not engaging in the world that surrounds them.
They were cut off from larger world, different perspectives and possibilities. She was generally surrounded by people who were raised like her and thought like her. Like in an echo chamber. There weren't enough different options to consider.