Moment of 1960s culture shock

[yakalskovich]

So, I have been mainlining 'Mad Men' lately, as I already mentioned before, originally entirely out of the wish to look at Christina Hendricks more.

And of course, I have been expecting the usual sexism, racism, misogyny, chauvinism, blatant consumerism etc. and took notice of it when it cropped up, like an anthropologist taking notice of customs she'd read about in books by anthropologists that visited the same tribe before her. The abominable treatment of Rachel Menken in the first episode -- check. Don Draper checking up on the progress of his wife's psychotherapy by phone, with the doctor matter-of-factly telling the husband the wife's innermost thoughts because he is of course entitled -- check. Savaltore Romano being so deep in the closet he even marries some unsuspecting if charming young woman -- check. The bearded beatnik type's having a black girlfriend being of some kind of shock value, and all other black people just being waiters, liftboys, servants etc. -- check. Big huge gas-guzzling monster cars - check. Drinking and smoking at any time and place, even around kids and during pregnancy -- check.

But today, culture shock got me. Bad. I was all 'OMG FFS they can't possibly do this!!11!!!1!! for the first time since starting to watch the series -- and I am on episode 2-07, 'The Gold Violin'. What happened was this:



Don and Betty Draper took their new Caddy for a spin with the kids, and they had a picnic in this idyllic spot. And when they were done, Don pitched his beer can into the general greenery, and Betty just shook out the blanket they'd all sat on, they packed their cooler and the blanket in the car, kids scrambled in (this thing is the size of the Titanic, more or less) and swanned off.

Leaving all sort of wrappers and plastic and stuff (the white bits in this picture) just lying under that ancient tree in that majorly idyllic spot. That shocked me. It really did. I mean, were these people pigs or what? Didn't they even realise if they ever wanted to have another picnic in the same idyllic spot, they' find their own corroded and disgusting refuse? Let alone anybody else?

I guess that was how people did it in the Sixties. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been an entire British children's TV series a bit later that lived entirely on 'Don't litter!' plus some brilliant musical spoofs.

Especially as essayel and I had talked about the five, seven and nine ways of sorting our rubbish in effect in the different places where we live, the traditional Bavarian beer bottle returning system, and the fact that her county council aims to completely abolish any leftover rubbish by 2015, this stark contrast of that upper middle class family (and I am not blaming America! I am sure people did the same in Gevelsberg, Abergavenny or wherever at that time -- she was around as a toddler, I wasn't yet, but my mum and grandma were and did take drives and have picnics) just dumping their stuff in the very place they'd enjoyed moments before, and driving off, really shocked me badly.

Comments

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I was born in 1956 so was compos mentis all through the sixties. I've only watched a couple of short clips of Mad Men, to find out who Christine Hendricks was, and some of the things said in it are cringeworthy but I remember hearing similar. For instance "don't worry, the man who designed this made it simple enough for a woman to use". My mother STILL twitches nervously and says, "don't you think we ought to find a man to do it" if she sees me doing anything with electrics or power tools. So I suspect that the attitudes are pretty much spot on, though exaggerated for effect as everything is on TV.

The littering now - I think that depends on where you live. In town there were street cleaners who, notionally, cleared up after you so townsfolk picnicing in the country wouldn't even consider picking up after themselves. But I was brought up in deepest rural Herefordshire and there you did not litter! YOU were responsible for your mess and if you left rubbish and particularly glass bottles farmer's stock and machinery could be damaged. There was no anonymity either. You'd be spotted and if you left trash someone would wave at you from a couple of fields across and send you back for it, or if they couldn't catch you they'd have a 'word' with your parents next time they saw them.

As for the townies, in the early 60s there was a very scary public information film played on TV and in cinemas about keeping the 'countryside code' that was hoped might raise their awareness of the damage that could be done by leaving rubbish, gates open, trampling crops etc. Who knows? It might have helped a bit.

I can't find that one but here's the one from 1971

The modern version is a lot more jokey and not nearly as effective I think.

[yakalskovich]

I was prepared for the rest of the cringeworthy stuff, but not the littering. But apparently, I wasn't the only one take by surprise that much.

I like the 1971 animation thinggy; one half-hopes that things fall back horribly on Joe and Petunia, but they never do.