"Indian country" saying in Mad Men

In The Gold Violin--the seventh episode of Mad Men's second season (airdate: 9/7/08)--ad executive Don Draper is holding a meeting with clients. He explains why they need young staffers present to sell coffee to young people:There's an old saying. When one is in Indian country, one needs a man who knows Indians.I've never heard such a saying. A saying such as "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" would be much more common.

Once again, Mad Men throws in a reference that's weirdly out of place. This is something like the fifth reference in 20 episodes. There's no way rich white New York businessmen in the early '60s would've mentioned Indians that often.

I have to admire writer Matthew Weiner for including so many references to Indians--even if they don't fit. He's either doing this as an intentional homage or is unaware of his pro-Indian bias. It's strange but interesting, to say the least.

For more on the subject, see Sitting Bull Joke in Mad Men and Mohawk Airlines in Mad Men.

Sitting Bull joke in Mad Men

In the third episode of Mad Men's second season, The Benefactor (airdate: 8/10/08), a comedian jokes about a fat woman. One of his lines is:Hey, get Sitting Bull on the phone. We found the last buffalo.I doubt an Indian joke would be among the first 100 retorts that came to mind in the early 1960s. Again, the writers seem to be going out of their way to mention Indians. Good for them, although it doesn't quite ring true in this context.

Later, someone concerned about being fired says "I'm one gone paleface"--an oblique reference to Indians. So Mad Men has made several references to Indians in the space of its first 16 episodes. That isn't a coincidence; it's a conscious or unconscious choice by someone.

For more on the subject, see Mohawk Airlines in Mad Men and Indians in Mad Men.

Mohawk Airlines in Mad Men

In the Season 2 episode For Those Who Think Young of the AMC series Mad Men (airdate: 7/27/08), the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency works on a campaign for Mohawk Airlines. Paul Kinsey pitches a new slogan to his boss Dan Draper:KINSEY:  "Mohawk Airlines. There's a new chief in the sky."

KINSEY:  And I thought, following that, "Most routes to Boston, circle the wagons, we've got it surrounded." And there'd be wagons around a dot that says "Boston."

DON [skeptically]:  I can almost picture it. Sal.

SAL:  This is the first I'm hearing it, too.

DON:  So it's about an airline that's flown by Indians? Maybe a plane with some arrows stuck in the cargo door? That's funny. That's what gets people's attention now, right?

DON:  There has to be advertising for people who don't have a sense of humor.

KINSEY:  I understand, Don.

DON:  What else you got?

KINSEY:  Several more Indian puns.

DON:  Stop writing for other writers.A minute later, Don has an inspiration:DON:  That Indian....It's not about the majestic beauty of the Mohawk Nation.

DON:  It's about adventure. Could be a pirate. Could be a knight in shining armor. Could be a conquistador getting off the boat. It's about a fantastical people who are taking you someplace where you've never been. Blah, blah, blah, blah....

DALE:  We could dress the stew as Pocahontas.

SAL:  With the cheekbones.

PEGGY:  How's his wife going to feel about that?

FREDDY:  Air travel's too expensive to waste on your wife.Comment:  As you may recall, Mad Men mentioned Indians a couple of times in its first season. In its second season, the mentions continue. I guess creator and writer Matthew Weiner is interested in the subject.

This sequence may approximate how so many Indians got on corporate logos and in ad campaigns. The ad men weren't overt racists; they were just oblivious to their blind spots. They thought it was "cute" to repeat the stereotypes they'd heard all their lives. They probably didn't think a single Indian was left alive to object.

Note how Dale returns to the ridiculous Indian theme even after Don has shot it down. Though of course Pocahontas has nothing to do with the Mohawks. This shows how much Native stereotypes have gripped our imagination.

Indians = adventure?

Though Don doesn't like the puns, his thinking isn't much better. He explicitly links Indians to pirates and knights--i.e., fantasy figures from the distant past. To him Indians suggest adventure. If you take a flight on Mohawk Airlines, who knows what may happen. Romance, intrigue, even arrows stuck in the cargo door.

I mention the arrows because Don's position is really no different than Kinsey's. Indians represent an escape from the drudgery of families and jobs--or more broadly, civilization. In other words, wildness and freedom. Adventure.

You could trace this kind of thinking back to Turner's Frontier Thesis--if not to the Boston Tea Party. Indians represent(ed) the uncivilized frontier. Americans traveled west to tame that wilderness for themselves. Don is proposing an echo of this: Mohawk (Airlines) as the illusion of adventure.

A little PC

A couple of Don's lines ring totally false. I don't think the typical adult knew about, or would bring up, the Mohawk Nation or conquistadors in 1962. These seem like examples of present-day political correctness to me.

I think the idea of calling tribes "nations" came into vogue much later--perhaps in the '70s or '80s. And I doubt Don would associate "majestic beauty" with an Indian reservation. The Mohawk reservation may be beautiful in some sense, but it's not "national park" beautiful.

The "conquistador" line just seems out of place to me. I think it's the writer's wink-wink way of saying, "We know Indians are real and bad things happened to them. We're not exploiting them or ignoring their plight."

For more on the subject, see Accuracy in Mad Men and Indians in Mad Men.

Accuracy in Mad Men

The ninth episode of Mad Men's first season (titled Shoot) includes a couple brief references to Indians.

1) When ad executive Jim Hobart tries to lure Don Draper away from Sterling Cooper, part of his pitch goes like this:Television? Oh, you could be in that in a bigger way. You know that.

What, you want to sell corn? We do a show about Indians.2) Later, Don's wife is reminiscing at the psychiatrist's office about how Don romanced her:Then three weeks later, the coat arrived at my apartment. Who knows what kind of Indian trading he had to do to get it?The first instance is one of Mad Men's few moments of inauthenticity. Who called a Western "a show about Indians" in 1960? Who'd assume that such a show would sell a lot of corn? Who even knew about the Indian connection to corn? The answer to all three questions is no one, basically.

This reference smacks of "political correctness" to me. I.e., "Let's have the actors mention Indians to show how much more aware we are today than people were in 1960." In reality, 1960's people probably went years without mentioning Indians in any context other than "cowboys 'n' Indians."

DVD featurette

Speaking of authenticity, perhaps the most interesting part of this DVD is the "Establishing Mad Men" featurette. The creators explain how they achieved the authenticity that has made the show a hit. Below is a key sequence of comments:Accuracy to the period is, like, of paramount importance to all of us. Because, you know, if it’s wrong, it’s embarrassing. And, you know, it looks unprofessional. And it compromises the ability for people to suspend their disbelief.

Scott Hornbacher, producer
For Matt Weiner, authenticity is the sort of penultimate thing in this show. And he has images in his mind that he constantly tries to convey to us so that we don’t go in a direction that he feels is wrong for the period.

Amy Wells, set director
I was very reality-oriented, and I kept pulling people back. I’m like, they’re like, this is Don’s car, a 1959 Cadillac, the most beautiful car ever made. 1960 Cadillac. I’m like, guys...I know, but no. You know, I don’t wanna do that. I want it to be like what I grew up with.

Matthew Weiner, executive producer
Matt, at one point, had asked that we put an Etch-a-Sketch, the toy, for a bunch of kids to play with in the back of the car. And when I did my research, I found out, even though our show takes place in April of 1960, the toy wasn’t released until the summer of 1960. And Matt wanted to keep true to the period, so we cut out the Etch-a-Sketch.

We do it for ourselves. It just allows us to be true to the time period, and the environment where we’re working in. Keeping the historical accuracy allows the characters to develop the way Matt wants.

Scott Buckwald, prop masterComment:  It amazes me that I keep having to explain this to those who apologize for Native mistakes and stereotypes. You know, the people who say Apocalypto or Comanche Moon or Twilight is just a movie? Were these people raised on a desert island under a rock by a pack of wolves? Did no one ever explain the concept of verisimilitude to them? How dumb do they have to be not to understand why Hollywood strives for historical accuracy?

The creators of most reality-based dramas say they want their shows to be accurate. And many of them--such as the Mad Men staff--go to great lengths to achieve it. Why would they do this if doesn't matter? Have the studios entrusted millions of dollars to these creators even though they're obsessive-compulsive idiots? Or do these creators understand something about filmmaking that their "it's just a [blank]" critics don't?

What the apologists mean

Although the apologists can't or won't say it, we can guess what they're thinking. It goes something like this:Sure, I'd be upset if you portrayed me, my family, and my friends as drunks, savages, or animals. But we're real. People like the Quileute Indians in Twilight are different. They're just fictional characters. Who cares if a movie distorts or bastardizes their lives or cultures? Unlike me and mine, they don't matter.For anyone who remains unconvinced, here's what often happens when you strive for historical accuracy in movies and TV shows:

Mad MenMad Men has received wide critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style, and has won numerous awards, including two Golden Globes and six Emmys. It is the second cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and the first basic cable series to do so.For more on the subject, see Why People Believe Movies and Educating Russ About Historical Accuracy.

P.S. If authenticity is the penultimate goal, I presume good storytelling is the ultimate goal.

Indians in Mad Men

I've begun watching Mad Men, the acclaimed TV series from AMC. It offers an interesting deconstruction of American life circa 1960.

Most often it addresses the role of men and women, but it also touches upon racial issues. In the first three episodes, we learn that the advertising agency doesn't hire Jews and expects Jewish clients to go to Jewish agencies. Blacks serve in such menial jobs as train conductor, elevator operator, and bathroom attendant. The ad men hire a family of peasant-style "Chinamen" (complete with chopsticks and chickens) to greet an associate returning from his honeymoon.

There are also a couple of references to Indians. In the first episode (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes), a tobacco executive gets annoyed because people are questioning the safety of cigarettes. "I'm not selling rifles here," he says. "I'm in the tobacco business. We're selling America. The Indians gave it to us, for shit's sake."

In the third episode (Marriage of Figaro), a birthday party is going on at ad executive Don Draper's house. The kids run through the house playing cowboys and Indians. Everyone has a cowboy hat except a boy with polio who has to use walking sticks. He's stuck being the Indian.

So far I'd say Mad Men is a great show--in the same league as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Check it out.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.