I had a post a few years ago that I called Why I hate Don Draper, and it was a rant about cheating people, mostly men.
As an update and homage to his former better half Betty Francis nee Draper, I thought I would write about why I think she is a great character even though half the time she does not seem like a good person.
Firstly, my admission is that I may be biased only because her character is played by January Jones, who for some inexplicable reason (one of them being I like some blonds), bewitches me. I am absolutely on team Betty because of her, but also because of how she plays Betty which adds a layer of subtext that the creators of the character may or may not have intended.
Betty is a "typical" house/trophy wife. She is beautiful, has her hair done just so, takes care of the kids, is devoted to her marriage. Well, except for the one time she decided to marry another man while she was still married to Don Draper. But really, he had it coming, and Henry Francis is so much hotter and better. However, I remember one episode where she tells Don that Bobby (their son) is a little liar with him completely being within earshot. Harsh is an understatement. Especially given that Bobby was all of five years old
She is not a sweet or kind mother. She is as some fans complain, "cold and childish".
But there are faults in Betty that I recognize in myself which makes her character more sympathetic. I would hate to ever find myself down the line ever calling a child, let alone my child, a liar. But I know where such cruelty can come from, and I grapple with it from to time to time. Sometimes if your world renders you helpless or the feeling of being at the mercy of everyone (such as a woman in those times might be), you lash out in quietly destructive ways.
Her incessant cigarette smoking, for one.
The main reason I am moved to write about Betty is because the latest episode of Mad Men implies that Betty will die from lung cancer, just an episode shy of the finale. A cancer that may be the very product of her subconscious act of rebellion. So it seems that regardless of what she did, Betty was doomed.
But that is of course, if one saw death as a form of defeat.
In a way, I believe the show is ending by giving Betty the limelight that she had always been denied.
Most of the characters would probably have aged well into their years of not understanding the music and fanjangled contraptions that the new generation would be so into.
But Betty would die a legend, preserved at arguably the prime of her life.
And it seems that her death will be an inspiration for Sally, the daughter that was much like her, but also much like Don. It would seem that if things continued on their course, she would have unfortunately drifted into the worst of their traits. But sometimes things happen, and you become better for it. And maybe she will continue their legacy better than they had lived it.
They say people show their true colors when they are about to die. So Betty in facing the threat of death, showed immense courage, independence and self-resolve that one would argue was always her true nature.
And that was why I was always on team Betty. The unsuspecting, bewitching, occasionally compassionate, Betty.
As an update and homage to his former better half Betty Francis nee Draper, I thought I would write about why I think she is a great character even though half the time she does not seem like a good person.
Firstly, my admission is that I may be biased only because her character is played by January Jones, who for some inexplicable reason (one of them being I like some blonds), bewitches me. I am absolutely on team Betty because of her, but also because of how she plays Betty which adds a layer of subtext that the creators of the character may or may not have intended.
Betty is a "typical" house/trophy wife. She is beautiful, has her hair done just so, takes care of the kids, is devoted to her marriage. Well, except for the one time she decided to marry another man while she was still married to Don Draper. But really, he had it coming, and Henry Francis is so much hotter and better. However, I remember one episode where she tells Don that Bobby (their son) is a little liar with him completely being within earshot. Harsh is an understatement. Especially given that Bobby was all of five years old
She is not a sweet or kind mother. She is as some fans complain, "cold and childish".
But there are faults in Betty that I recognize in myself which makes her character more sympathetic. I would hate to ever find myself down the line ever calling a child, let alone my child, a liar. But I know where such cruelty can come from, and I grapple with it from to time to time. Sometimes if your world renders you helpless or the feeling of being at the mercy of everyone (such as a woman in those times might be), you lash out in quietly destructive ways.
Her incessant cigarette smoking, for one.
The main reason I am moved to write about Betty is because the latest episode of Mad Men implies that Betty will die from lung cancer, just an episode shy of the finale. A cancer that may be the very product of her subconscious act of rebellion. So it seems that regardless of what she did, Betty was doomed.
But that is of course, if one saw death as a form of defeat.
In a way, I believe the show is ending by giving Betty the limelight that she had always been denied.
Most of the characters would probably have aged well into their years of not understanding the music and fanjangled contraptions that the new generation would be so into.
But Betty would die a legend, preserved at arguably the prime of her life.
And it seems that her death will be an inspiration for Sally, the daughter that was much like her, but also much like Don. It would seem that if things continued on their course, she would have unfortunately drifted into the worst of their traits. But sometimes things happen, and you become better for it. And maybe she will continue their legacy better than they had lived it.
They say people show their true colors when they are about to die. So Betty in facing the threat of death, showed immense courage, independence and self-resolve that one would argue was always her true nature.
And that was why I was always on team Betty. The unsuspecting, bewitching, occasionally compassionate, Betty.
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