Beth Davies Mad Men Analysis

The clip that I will be analysing is from ‘Mad Men [Season One, Episode One]

“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” Dir. Alan Taylor’.

In the episode, both the camera shots - as well as the mise en scene – can be speculated to represent gender stereotypes. For instance, at the beginning of the

episode, Taylor uses a ‘Point Of View’ shot of Don writing a pitch, which is stained with red lipstick. The red lipstick connotes that Don is a very flirtatious

man and the woman who uses the red lipstick is a very provocative person. It can be interpreted that the woman who’s lipstick is either his partner or someone

who he is committing adultery with.

The director uses a (long shot) two shot of Don getting ready and a woman lay in bed to represent the casual relationship between them. This breaks the

conventions of the representation of women, as she is the one who is making him leave. The way the actress is lay can be speculated to be very provocative and

from this, it is implied to the audience that she is the woman whose lipstick was on Don’s pitch.

In the scene of a bachelor and his friends in an office, a shallow focus close up of

a stripper card is used to foreshadow to the audience what will happen at his bachelor party. At the same time the card is being show to the bachelor, he is on

the phone to his fiancé and is acting so sweet and innocent. This juxtaposes to the idea of the stripper as it shows his differences in personalities when he is

with his friends and when he is with his partner. This implies that men were very secretive with their wives, as they believed as the more dominant sex in the

relationship they can do whatever they want to.

To join two scenes together, Taylor uses an aerial shot (“Birds Eye View Shot”) from a building looking down of a path full of pedestrians, mostly women. This

can be seen to represent that men are higher up than women in the social hierarchy and they often look down on women’s capabilities.

Inside the building, a tracking shot exposes the room full of women working at

desks whilst the men are in offices. This can be interpreted to represent that men are private and have control over the women. However, the audience can also speculate that it can represent that behind every successful man, is a woman

who has helped him to get there.

Taylor then goes onto use an over the shoulder shot of Joan Talking to the new trainee, at a low angle, can be inferred to represent that Joan is higher up in the social hierarchy – despite the fact they are both women. It can also suggest that Joan is more experienced in the business as well as sexually.

Later in that scene, Taylor uses another ‘Point Of View’ shot from the new

trainee’s point of view, as Joan unveils a typewriter and says “They guy who designed it made it so easy even a woman can use it”. This can be interpreted to

represent that people believed that women were not intelligent. However, the audience can interpret that women are actually more advanced in technology than men as women are using typewriters, while men are still writing letters.

In the final scene of the opening sequence, one of the mist important shots, which highlight the representation of genders, is a low angle shot of Don

changing his shirt, which is followed by a “Point Of View” shot of a drawer full of shirts. This suggests to the audience that he stays out a lot, presenting him as a

stereotypical male of that time period, who stays out all night very often.