Imitatio project: What's real?

I'll begin by quoting myself:

Which brings me to the Mad Men backlash feared by Rosin's colleague Seth Stevenson,

I’ve sensed brewing Mad Men backlash this season. Some whine that the plots are slow. Some argue that the advancing era doesn’t lend itself as well to stylish art direction. But the most common complaint I’ve heard is that Don Draper has failed to progress as a character and is congealing into a grim, awful man. I actually find that a fascinating development—I’m impressed by a show that, steadily over the course of several seasons, manages to turn a sexy pop culture heartthrob into a figure both reviled and pitied.

And there is a sort of impatience with many fans of the show. No matter how much they love Don, they want him done away with. Some want to see him superseded by Peggy or Ginsberg or some other new generation figure. Others want him to change and become the new sensitive man that Esquire will soon be writing about. The backlash that Seth feels brewing is driven by a feeling that the change isn't happening fast enough. Don just keeps being Don.

And I hope, although I suspect my hopes will be crushed, that he never changes. I hope he remains what even Rosin can see, although she doesn't like it:

By this crisis calculation, Don is the last honest man standing. Unlike in the earlier episodes, he is not stumbling around blindly. Unlike everyone else around him, he sees himself clearly and he understands what’s important to him. He does not care about a race vigil. He doesn’t care about Betty’s rules. He doesn’t even so much care about his children, as he confesses in that heartbreaking speech.

And all I can say is, good for him for being a man.

We live in an anti-man culture and that culture fears Don Draper. It needs to bring him down, to destroy him.
 
Yesterday, I found something absolutely pathetic that shows us why this pathetic era needs to destroy Don Draper.

“My girlfriend is a Mad Men madwoman,” says Eugene, a 26-year-old software engineer from Manhattan. “The show combines her love of all things old-fashioned with — so she tells me — ruggedly handsome men dressed in fine-tailored suits.”So how can modern guys compete with Don Draper’s retro-sexual appeal?

That's from an on-line dating website that also includes articles for men and women looking to present themselves as better prospects for dating. They have advice to give but, before we get to that, let's learn a bit more about Eugene and his relationship with his girlfriend.

Eugene, whose girlfriend is “militant” about watching the show (“She has to turn it on; she has to hold the remote”) says he’s definitely heard suggestions about adopting a Mad Men aesthetic. “She sometimes drops hints: ‘You’d look great in a skinny tie’ — but it hasn’t reached the point where I’ve bought a whole new wardrobe,” he says.

Eugene has folded a few retro bits into his look, though. “I’ve recently gotten into the art of wet shaving using an old-style safety razor and shaving brush,” he says. “I think she gets a kick out of watching me shave this way. I’m also looking into incorporating suspenders into my formal wear.”

I'm a big fan of old-fashioned shaving but notice why Eugene is doing it: "I think she gets a kick out of watching me shave this way". He's not shaving this way because it gets him a better shave but because he thinks his girlfriend likes seeing him to do it. 

I usually avoid putting things this crudely but Eugene's problem is that he is a total pussy.

So, what was the advice that the expert gave Eugene?

“Instead of trying to compete, I’d just roll with it,” says Isakson. “Find out why she’s caught up in Mad Men. Is it the era, the characters, the clothes? Have a good conversation about the show the next time you watch it together. Find out what she likes about it and then play off of that.”

If your girlfriend’s into the era and the clothes, host a Mad Men viewing party where everybody dresses up as their favorite character, suggests Isakson. Or learn how to make cocktails — a martini for her, an old-fashioned for you — and serve them up while watching the show together.

Incorporating a few 60s touches into your wardrobe is another way to show you’re paying attention to what she likes.

Have a party where everyone dresses up as their favourite character! 

The question we need to ask ourselves is what is it to really be a character? As opposed to dressing up like them for a Mad Men viewing party. Not to be Don Draper himself—because that character is under the control of scriptwriters who want to impose a cheap and shallow morality on him—but to be the Don Draper type. For, again, the people who write the tripe I quote here accidentally give the game away in revealing just how enormously appealing he is. 

 “He’s an observer,” says Isakson, who received hundreds of flirtatious messages from smitten women while posting as the character. “He stays on the outside. He’s curious about human nature but wants to be removed and not reveal anything about himself. He’s very guarded with his personal information.”  

That's getting there but most of all, Draper is a guy who does stuff instead of playing at being a character.  Most of the criticism of Draper is pointed at his duplicity and deception in adopting a new name and persona and his serial affairs but his appeal comes from the fact that he really does these things. Dick Whitman, unlike Eugene, is really trying to be Don Draper.

And before you get really worked up about how this is so terribly unfair to women, you need to explain to us why so many women watching the show get so wet they have to change their panties at every commercial break. 

I'll wrap up with Eugene:

Eugene, who regularly watches with his girlfriend, says pointing out Draper’s rampant infidelity is his secret weapon. “I’ll go out of my way to point out his sleazy cheating ways during an episode,” he says. “I’ll tell her, ‘I can’t believe this guy would treat his pregnant wife this way. What a dirt bag!’” 

But notice that Eugene isn't condemning Draper's infidelity because he, Eugene, believes in fidelity. He's doing because he is threatened because a  a fictional character gets his girlfriend wetter than he can. He's talking this way because he thinks this sort of talk appeals to women. 

Really trying to become something you aren't isn't living a lie. Living a lie is what modern men like Eugene do. If some hot babe offered herself to Eugene and there seemed little chance his girlfriend would find out, he'd be in her in a flash. Assuming he wasn't cowed into "fidelity" by performance anxiety.