The dynamics of gender roles in 1960s society is the most important issue within Mad Men. The show does not shy away from the conformism of the time. Behind the immaculate hair and perfectly styled clothes, men are in control and women are ultimately disempowered. ManDon Draper, the show's protagonist, is emotionally isolated but narcissistic, trapped in a stifling of his own ego. Yet he seems to be the most liberal when it comes to serious female contributions in the workplace, even as he continues to sexualize those who have not demonstrated their worthy abilities to him. He is able to see Peggy and Joan as women who have alternative purposes beyond satisfying his sexual desires. Despite this modernist "transition" which leads to observing women in a new light, it is still he who decides what the usefulness of each female character is for him. Male characters expectantly hold the dominant role within the show, as was the case in 1960s society. In Mad Men, everyone smokes cigarette after cigarette, every executive starts drinking before lunch, every man is a chauvinistic pig, every male employee is brutally competitive and jealous of his colleagues, with the endless succession of lecherous young executives, vulgar jokes and offensive behavior. (Mendelsohn, 2011, 5) Men are consumed in the competitive ad agency environment, adultery, drinking and smoking are just accessories to the alpha male lifestyle. Female characters are ultimately more complex because they have less freedom. The Woman The 1960s provided an era of repressed women and overly indulgent males within the spectrum of society. Yet the nostalgic aspect of this manifests itself in the idea of ​​the perfect housewife and the graci...... middle of paper ... at the same time that the show provides sensual appearances of its female characters without the help of the her derogatory comments about her male characters, which almost insinuates that they "can't help" sexualizing them, since they always look so good in their perfectly fitting clothes. As in the episode Hands on Knees (4:10), we meet the Playboy Bunny in her satin "bunny suit" with collar and bow tie, cuffs and cufflinks, satin bunny ears, black fishnet stockings and her name on an attached rosette. one side. Such scenes present the Sixties as seductive, yet another triumph of the image happily congruent with nostalgia.” (Black & Driscoll, 2012, 196) The show can sometimes counteract its own message, as it tries to tell us how bad the "old days" actually are, sometimes filling in the nostalgia that it is trying so hard to deny its audience.