I think because they need him to be both an everyman and someone special; and a sympathetic centre of the show despite behaving like an utter bastard much of the time. (He doesn't necessarily work as a sympathetic centre of the show for me, but many of my Mad Men fanning friends disagree with me on that - and his backstory seems to be part of why they forgive him for his bastardry.)
In some ways, I appreciate the complexity (and ridiculous backstory) of his character more in this season - the show is so very much about what changed from the fifties to the sixties, and we are now well and truly onto psychology, driven home by a psychologist character. And this is one of Don Draper's big, big weak points.
(Recently I happened to watch an episode of Mad Men back to back with an episode of House and it caused a weird effect in me - I found a lot of similarities between House and Don Draper, but House is far more acceptable to me because he knows he's a bastard, he sees it as a personal flaw, and I think the forty-fifty years of social change has made all the difference there.)
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regna
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Date: 2010-10-11 11:36 am (UTC)In some ways, I appreciate the complexity (and ridiculous backstory) of his character more in this season - the show is so very much about what changed from the fifties to the sixties, and we are now well and truly onto psychology, driven home by a psychologist character. And this is one of Don Draper's big, big weak points.
(Recently I happened to watch an episode of Mad Men back to back with an episode of House and it caused a weird effect in me - I found a lot of similarities between House and Don Draper, but House is far more acceptable to me because he knows he's a bastard, he sees it as a personal flaw, and I think the forty-fifty years of social change has made all the difference there.)