More Strips from "How to exercise without moving a muscle" Vs BBC 4's Madmen
The depiction of women in these strips is clearly of their time, they are in fact deeply strange, you do wonder if the the blokes producing them actually thought like this or was it just the norm, the strange scene of the the ageing body builder staring up the skirt of the apparently dead young women is straight from Hanibal Lecter; not something for the pages of family pape
r (just above the perishers cartoon)
r (just above the perishers cartoon)The soundless scream is basically the internal dialogue which led to Women's Liberation, many women facing a soundless scream not to fight wrinkles but at the entrapment of their selves in the work place.
These strips remind me of the milieu depicted in BBC4’s Madmen. I haven’t watched for few weeks but saw the latest edition, what’s most striking about it other who gives toss about advertising and the awful exposition (this week a treatise on the early 1960’s relationship to Israel/Judaism/Holocaust next week homosexuality, it seems to be written for people for whom 1992 is the distant past) no the main thing that sticks out is the Sopranos’ connections.
In the endless teaser ads the fact that it written by Sopranos writer Matt Weiner was much publicised they weren’t lying the whole thing is the Sopranos with better suits. The main character played by the marvellously named Jon Hamm (one supposes he added the M to reduce the actor jokes a bit) is a troubled anti hero who lives a duplicitous life, a friendly apparently loving family man at home in ‘burbs and a ruthless unfaithful business man in the city.
These strips remind me of the milieu depicted in BBC4’s Madmen. I haven’t watched for few weeks but saw the latest edition, what’s most striking about it other who gives toss about advertising and the awful exposition (this week a treatise on the early 1960’s relationship to Israel/Judaism/Holocaust next week homosexuality, it seems to be written for people for whom 1992 is the distant past) no the main thing that sticks out is the Sopranos’ connections.
In the endless teaser ads the fact that it written by Sopranos writer Matt Weiner was much publicised they weren’t lying the whole thing is the Sopranos with better suits. The main character played by the marvellously named Jon Hamm (one supposes he added the M to reduce the actor jokes a bit) is a troubled anti hero who lives a duplicitous life, a friendly apparently loving family man at home in ‘burbs and a ruthless unfaithful business man in the city.
In last weeks episode he even had a flash back a la Tony Soprano (let’s hope they avoid the tedious dream sequences which almost ruined the Sopranos).
The scene where he goes to the office past the typing pool is the same as the strip club in Bada Bing except the girls wore more clothes in 60’s. The way his admen crew josh and drink and smoke in office is the same Tony, Pauli, Pussy and the boys. I mean one of them is even secretly gay for Christ sake. Then there’s the whole nascent therapy angle this time based on his wife’s depression but isn’t there another way into characters thinking on American tv. Also His ingénue female assistant played by Jed Bartlet’s daughter (actress Elisabeth Moss) is a similar role to Tony’s cousin Christopher.
Then we come to “the bits on the side” just swap proto hippy-beatnik designer for Real estate agent and they have been given similar roles. It even ends with an apposite song (this is an annoying trend in all American telly I think it’s because they have so many ad breaks your need to tell the audience the bloody thing has actually stopped)
The main difference between Madmen and Sopranos is as yet nobody has died, the life or death tension and better acting (of the Sopranos) is what splits the two as I’ve said before making an ad for the Tel Aviv Hilton isn’t that gripping getting whacked in the reeds is!
No comments:
Post a Comment