Mad Men Season 1 Episode 1 depicts gender stereotypes of the 1960s through its camerawork and scenes. The first scene in a bar uses shots that highlight the male stereotypes of drinking and smoking as hobbies, and portray women as less valued. Scenes then show the main character Donald Draper as dedicated to his high-profile advertising work. A later scene in a woman's apartment depicts male dominance through low camera angles and Donald's casual treatment of her afterwards. Finally, scenes in an office building include men making sexist remarks and depicting the lack of women in professional environments of the 1960s.

1. Essay about Mad Men Season 1 Episode 1
The drama I have watched and will be evaluating is mad men season
1 episode 1 which depicts the male and female gender stereotypes in
clear context through the use of camera angles and Mise en scene.
Mad Men is a drama set in New York in the beginning of the 60’s and
focuses on the portrayal of the main character Donald Draper.
The first instance of a gender specific scene was the start of the film
set in a bar the camera angle pans across the room and highlights the
male stereotype of drinking and smoking as a hobby. The shot is used
to highlight male dominance in the establishment and the few
woman in the bar where dressed in high class dresses probably for
the males to show off in a female stereotype as a less valued person
in the shot. The main character Donald draper is portrayed as a high
profile character within the bar from the impressions given by his
own table in the bar and how the waiter knows him. An over the
shoulder shot is used shortly after this to show that Donald is sat
alone and the camera focus’s onto a piece of paper with his work on
showing him as dedicated to his work but consistently overworking
due to the high amount of notes and time he is putting into his
personal time to work on his advertising and promotion. This is
shown when he speaks to the waiter and self promotes his cigarettes.
Point of view shots are also consistent through out the bar scene
focusing on the paper he is looking at this shows his dedication to his
work and the use of this prop emphasises how repetitive he is with
his efforts. Whilst sat at the table a medium close up shot of the
waiter lighting Donald’s cigarette shows a general stereotypical
racism towards darker skinned people and how when he lights the
cigarette it emphasises a general slavery depiction.
The scene shortly after moves the main character to a women’s
apartment where he enters without consideration for if she was
awake showing a dominance to his male authority. The first shot
shown after this is an over shoulder shot that makes Donald look
higher and more important than the female this portrays a general
stereotypical view of masculine dominance over females. This low
angle for the shot also makes the height of the male increase and the
female look smaller in comparison. The following shot is a medium
shot of the woman which portrays her seductive side through the use
of her body language this is emphasising a reverse stereotype
showing how compared to most women from around that time she is
more open than other women about her sexuality. The following shot

2. of the woman and Donald is a long shot and a two shot showing
Donald stood by the bed getting dressed while she lays in bed talking
to him. The scene portrays a generally casual approach to what
happened and shows how neither of them show remorse for what
they did. The tilt down / close up used also depict a body image of
someone hanging their head in shame showing disgust in their
actions and when the camera tilts back up nothing changed showing
their neglect to notice what they did was wrong. This scene is also
shot in grey scale showing a colour connotation of emptiness and
lack of meaning to what they did emphasising a meaningless action
that they consider normal.
The next location the film takes to is a busy office building where 3
men in suits get into a lift and promote sexist remarks towards a new
female worker. A deep focus shows all three of the men in the lift and
highlights there importance to the scene which is followed by there
sexist remark towards the appearance of the female in the lift.
Shallow focus is used next when a man is talking to his fiancé the
focus is on a stripper card highlighting how he is deceiving is future
wife and showing how as a female he thinks she can be easily
manipulated and deceived and as a man he can get away with it. The
birds eye view shot that follows shows the busy streets and depicts
males in suits and hardly any women going to work showing a
gender-working stereotype of woman having less impact on working
environment’s around that time. The shot also shows how in that
time period there were very few cars and how different society was
in comparison to modern day life now that females have more impact
to society and how gender and race stereotypes are gradually
becoming less common.