Mad Men: In Defence of Betty Draper
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- January Jones' Betty Draper from AMC's Mad Men is often considered one of the most disliked female characters ever. In this video I try to explain why she should be liked more.
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Not enough people talk about Betty! I loved her and for some reason connected to her so much! She also reminded me a lot of my nan and great-grandma, also very cold, stoic, judgemental, vindictive, sad and beautiful German women. My Nan’s son (my dad ) was ‘good looking’ and to my nans standards, my mum was not good looking enough. But she thought I was beautiful, she was so proud that I was good looking and fashionable, no matter what I did, nothing mattered more to her than the fact that she thought I was good looking and that she was at least somewhat responsible for my genetics.
Well said! I liked Betty. It's sexist to favor Don and dismiss his assholeness while holding Betty to a higher standard. Don is like my dad. Some men can't keep it in their pants and then blame women for that. Betty was his victim and a victim of the society at the time.
She probably was unhappy being with such a filthy pig of a man
sad how much hasn't really changed in 2020
"Only boring people are bored" still use this quote! I love Betty, she's fascinating because she is so grating. I loved that her redemption is so bittersweet and it's not really one. You're right at the end, I notice it in every fandom. When a male character is flawed, it's charming it's "relatable" - when a female character is flawed, she's automatically dislikeable - even if it's perfectly justified psychologically. I'm personally always drawn to the not-so-relatable characters, it's much more individualized and raw as you put it, but I avoid fandoms now for this reason alone, even on shows like sitcoms, the hate for flawed female characters is absurd compared to the way male characters are perceived (or other female characters deemed *likeable*, usually cause their flaws are "quirky"). Our flaws in reality are more likely than not to be hard to accept by others, that's why we try to hide them by instinct. I like when these female characters embrace their flaws and are unapologetic about who they are.
I really liked Betty. She wasn’t awful. She was just a woman of her time, and she does evolve as the show goes on.
The fact that Betty is so hated with so many horrific, selfish cruel men on the show is a glaring sign of the sexism still prevalent in our society. Betty is my favorite character - I like her darkness, and her rawness, and it's not like we can pretend women like her weren't a social norm back in the day. I think she reminds me of my great-aunt. She was about the same age range in that period. Her husband was a womanizer (and eventually died of AIDS in a care home) and she became a pill-popping depressed alcoholic living in this beautiful huge historical house that was falling down around her. She attempted suicide at least three times, but didn't die until she was almost 70 when she died of disease.
Great job with the analysis. I always thought that Betty was a victim and felt quite sorry for her in season 1-2 when she was still trying to be the gentle wife, before discovering all the cheating and lies.
My god that’s a good read..Instead of her husband helping her with the kids she’s completely neglected and expected to uphold her motherhood role while Don is nowhere in site..her character makes me so sad
Brilliantly said. Every character in the show had low moments and high moments but all those moments were part of them living their lives. The final montage of the last episode takes that to a literal depiction. Every character gets to live a new chapter in their lives. Betty doesn't. She never did. She was frustrating to watch because she, herself, was frustrated. And she couldn't grow or learn or move on because her world was limited to a house or next to her husband. And the tragedy is that as soon as she carves out a goal for herself, an activity that's just for her, it's all too late. Her final letter to Sally about her marching to the beat of her own drum isn't just a realization of what Sally did right, but of what she herself did wrong.
The last bit you said about female archetypes is so spot on. "Strong female characters" means "strongly written". Strong in a literal sense can be great but it's not the only option. It honestly feels sometimes that female characters can be vicious, glamorous, pathetic, virtuous, corrupt, sensitive, violent and so on. But god forbid one of them is annoying.
"Betty Draper is an asshole and I love her". Completely agree!
didn't realise betty was hated, i liked her character. interesting insight.
Betty was a character of her time. What people don't seem to understand is better was her own man in the gray flannel suit. Betty was liberated as well. Betty was cool, icy, calculating, and she is a surviver😉. Betty wasnt a victim, Betty was a woman of her time. I love Betty, I know baby Betty's 😚
I loved Betty’s character and always thought that the harsh judgements made were from people not familiar with the patriarchal culture that was fundamental to society back then.
It is very sad to see the differences between males and females in society especially by the way women are punished far worse than men and held to higher criticism and cruelty
I feel like one of the aspects of women of the era that Betty embodied was the women who got “left behind” by the progression of the late 60s/70s, especially the new feminist movements. They were groomed into, knew, and accepted the way things were “supposed to be” under that oppressive patriarchy, became depressed or psychologically damaged by it, and then couldn’t truly break past it, even if they tried.
Thank you for this video! I’ve been ridiculed FOR YEARS for saying Betty Draper is one of my favorite characters in the history of tv. I loved the point you made about how it was good that she didn’t get a happy ending-it helps bring the point across of how the false ideal of femininity and the stereotypes that go along with them are so harmful and have real consequences.
Brilliant analysis. She's the most realistic character on MM. As admirable as Peggy or Joan are,there weee and still are much more women like Betty. It's easy for us to shout: "why doesn't she just get a job and a divorce,but rin reality, being an unqualified single mum of 3 is difficult even in our times and back then job opportunities and social stigma were terrible. And is clearly deeply depressed, above all,whilst nobody even pays attention to her. And in the end,when she finally decided to fight she gets cancer. Betty is a truly tragic character.
I actually really like Betty as a character (maybe because she reminds me of my mother) but still I think she was the way she was because she knew nothing else, I mean she was raised with the thought that she had to be pretty so she could get married, and that was it.
Looove this analysis and completely agree with you! I actually found her acting SWEET most of the time considering her circumstances
Thank you! 👏🏻 Betty is my favourite character. I don't think she is boring at all. It irritates me how everyone says she's annoying, and don't actually understand why her character is the way she is. It's just like people hate Skylar in BB. For really no fair reason. And Betty is a million times more interesting than Skylar
Great analysis! You did justice to Betty. I love this kind of content so I will check your channel. Thanks you!
I loved Betty.
Thank you for this! Betty is one of my favorite characters on the show.
I loved the video. In fact, I was looking for Betty's character analysis and I'm glad I found yours. Thank you very much, greetings from Uruguay.
She was my favorite too. I named my car January Jones 😄
Love this. She was one of my fav’s too. She was full of so much resentment and anger and rightly so imo.
I’m happy I discovered your channel , really well done and I appreciate the considered and thoughtful analysis .
Lots of good points here.
I'm wrong about Betty. I'm starting to appreciate her by the time she attends Bobby's camp. "I could never hold your attention for so long." Wonderful growth to her character.
I liked Betty a lot more than Don. Don was a narcissistic man-child and Betty had some similar flaws but nowhere near as bad as Don. She couldn’t always control her anger, but she at least usually tried to do the right thing; not cheat, raise her children, etc which is more than you could ever say about Don. Of course she did awful things (like set up her friend to cheat with that newlywed to prove that she was better than her - among other things) but so did Don, yet he’s nowhere near as hated. And Betty put up with his abuse with far more grace than I would; people forget she is messed up mostly because of Don. Don even said she was so “happy” when he first met her, and is somehow shocked that cheating and gaslighting her would end up making her bitter. Honestly, Don is the villain to me and Betty was just another victim left behind in his wake of destruction.
this is an awesome video. betty was one of my favorite characters throughout the show, and you did such an elegant job explaining why. :D
She did as she was raised to be. She never questioned why but complied. I remember my mom telling me don't be like me a woman who waited home for husband while he was out cheating, drinking because that is what she is supposed to do as a woman. So she taught us to be strong and independent. My mother finally walked away from my father and changed her life but so many regrets. In the end she wanted us to marry but be smart about our wishes and not being a housewife because it is a job that most men do not see as a job.
This was articulated so well!
For our generation, Betty could be our grandma stuck in her ways, but that we now love because she's our loving grandma, no matter how outdated her ideas are. Betty was some of our grandma's darker side.
Joan grew up to be our cool older aunt that made sure we knew our alcohol limits under her supervision
Loved your take girl. I’m subscribing
Hated? I loved her!!!!
Smashing that like button. All of this. 😘
thoughtful and interesting commentary. thank you.
I never understood why Betty didn't value her degree from Bryn Mawr. She never mentioned it, instead mentioning her ability to speak Italian.
As someone who watched the show in 2023, it seems so odd that out of everyone in this show, she is the most hated character. She was like a breath of fresh air to explore the world outside the office and was a very complex character doing the best and the worst she could out of her position in life
Ok she was a shitty mother, but that's also a lot of people on the show
Very well done!!! Thank you!!!
I hope you would talk about Eleanor from A Good Place
From which viewpoint you would suggest talking about her character?
How she went from being a horrible person to someone a lot people can relate to.
i fucking love betty and never thought she was that bad, until some of the incidents with her daughter later on in the series. hell, i was treated waayyy worse by both my parents, and at the sme time, much better. who knows, go figure. this is my favorite show ever!
Betty is weirdly like my grandmother, except my grandmother was poor. There are a lot of differences in how my grandmother expressed her femininity, but the outcome was the same. She was childlike, judgmental, neurotic, jealous, and desperately wanted to pass it all down to her daughters and granddaughters. She had a way of appearing perfect when her whole family was a mess. I found Betty to be annoyingly realistic.
She was/is my favorite !!!!
People don't relize that she is originally from south dakota.
okay as a gen x'er betty draper would of been a dream mom, yeah a little messed up in the head but everyone is.
What does it mean to revelutionize a life? Is a revaluationized life better than a conventional Zed life?
Ho mollato Mad Men abbastanza presto ma Betty era la mia preferita. Non capisco come possa non piacere, soprattutto quando tutti i male characters fanno schifo. Gli unici personaggi likeable sono le donne. Certo Betty è una merda but isn't everyone on that show? At least she's entertaining. I LOVE YOU BETTY T.T
ThanK YOU !!! ! Yes BUT I Think th eonly reason Matthew Weiner 'killed off' the character is because he hates women and especially REAL women - no way in real life Betty would have died. . . . PERIOD / AMEN / TESTIFY X D
6:35 insightful analysis but the pigeon shooting is an act of retaliation because the neighbour threaten Sally with killing her dog
Great analysis! 👏 I feel the same way about her. Always wondered how much of Weiner’s own mother Betty’s character carried.
I loved Betty. To some extent I could definitely relate to her. I think her misery was mostly caused by Don, to be honest. I mean, yes, eventually, she may have grown to that point where she found her life as a wife and mother to be simply "not enough", but I also think a lot of her unhappiness is caused by Don's unfaithfulness and the fact that he basically takes her for granted, even though he loves her to some extent. If you ask me her anger and physical symptoms of semi-paralysis just come from being confronted with the reality of marriage, instead of the fairy-tale she was probably wishing for growing up(being groomed for the perfect housewife role). To be perfectly honest, it made me wonder if feminism per se had ever started of men just stopped being assholes to their wives. I remember one video that contrasted Betty's lack of change as the seasons progressed to her neighbour's (Francine's?) decision to take a job, but Francine had also been cheated on by her husband. It made it seem like they were both looking for something of their own outside of the marriage(Betty found a new husband - who still did not treat her well despite not cheating -and eventually a college degree ) because they were insecure in their marriages and their uncommitted husbands posed the constant unconscious threat of divorce.
isn't nowadays many women cannot afford to be a housewife? some women don't really have a choice but to work.
I loved Betty, she kept fighting& trying & she was depressed with no help & nobody to rely on