The Masters and the Draper: a story of two parallels

Remember the times when everyone rocked Afros, bellbottoms, turtlenecks, go-go boots and twisted to

The Twist

by Chubby Checker? The days of the idealists of counterculture and the advocates of free love? The decade that brimmed with cultural and political revolutionary movements? The period characterized by an overwhelming search for self-identity and authenticity? I don’t: I wasn’t there. But I have read a few books and watched enough movies and television series to know a little about these allures of the sixties.

The sixties marked the rise of counter-culturists – fellas who didn’t believe in the norms but sought to find themselves outside the usual way of life. The lives and times of Bill Masters and Don Draper tell a separate but similar story of the search for one’s self.

Bill Masters (left) and Don Draper (right)

For the good lot who are without even a passing knowledge of Showtime’s Masters of Sex and AMC’s recently concluded Mad Men, don’t fret. You are not the anomaly. The ratings for both shows have never been particularly high but nevertheless they are two really good shows set in the sixties and based on the lives of Bill Masters and Don Drapers, respectively. Bill Masters’ a world-class gynecologist who pioneers the study of human sexual response and sexual disorders while Don Draper’s a genius ad man who doesn’t believe in entitlements and tomorrows. The former’s based on the true story of Bill Masters.

The beauty of these two characters lie in the idea that the American male of the sixties lived like a voyager travelling in circles. If these two ever-crossed path, whatever exchange ensues would be lost in translation. Each with his own interpretation. And while they may believe the other person couldn’t possibly understand their way of lives, their stories are in fact two parallels. What’s actually interesting is how their similarities define the period they exist in.

The both of them are geniuses in their fields, highly successful and sought after. Every weekday, they would wake up from a home with the perfect housewife (and kids) and walk into a firm where they are idolized. Their lifestyle affords their alcoholic nature, extramarital affairs (singular in Masters’ case) and their blasé attitude. They’ve eaten with magnates and lived in Queer Street and can’t tell the difference. Despite being overly protective of their works and coworkers, they would readily sacrifice it all to attend to matters of the heart. They are proud of but refrain from being defined by their accomplishments.

They want to be defined by their vices, their strayed gazes, their curiosities and their ability to look away. They remain too open-minded for their time – this is highlighted in Masters’ interest in studying sex and Draper’s disdain for racism. More so, they couldn’t care less about sexual orientations. They count their words and refrain from being judgmental. Their taciturn nature sprung from the physical and psychological abuse they faced while growing up with an alcoholic father. It’s no surprise they are poor at being there for their children. Frankly, they don’t know how to be good fathers.

The Don Draper Shrug

Regardless of their ingenuities, successes, shortcomings and misgivings, Bill Masters and Don Draper feel the need to be true to themselves. A feat that can’t be achieved without first knowing themselves; so, they voyage on in search of their true identity. They fossick through the bottle, women, landscape, art, medicine, frivolities and conversations. They find themselves in crevices, at odds with their world but stuck in their ways. That is who they are – a mere idea of a counter cultural society.

The shows have received critical acclaims, a lot of which has been for the acting and writing. Amongst the few sixties themed television series that has aired in recent time, these two shows have been praised for their authentic portrayal of the period. And although they have two completely different storylines, the protagonists of both shows highlight the several parallels that existed in midcentury societies.

- Tobi Nifesi