Been watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime.
Excellent show.
Bit heavy on the feminism but it’s not anachronistic, which makes the feminist bits tolerable.
It’s Mad Men for comedy and just as good.
I see a lot of similarities between the two shows.
One in particular stands out.
If you haven’t watched either you’ll still understand what I’m about to say.
Midge (Mrs. Maisel) owes her career to Lenny Bruce (one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy as it’s performed today.)
In season one, Midge gets blackballed right as she’s getting started and can’t book gigs anywhere in New York.
During a set, Lenny invites Midge on stage to do a short set before he does his own.
He sees something in her and his endorsement lifts the ban and starts her career for real.
Her innate talent then allows her to rocket past other comedians in success and stardom.
Something similar happens between Peggy Olson and Freddy Rumsen, and then Don Draper in Mad Men.
Freddy “discovers” Peggy has an innate talent for copywriting and mentions it to Don.
Don, as creative director and a copywriter himself, is astute enough to give her a shot and mentors her until she becomes a Copy Chief and manages her own team.
Behind every strong independent wahmen is a man who gave her her shot, or one who pushes her to achieve her potential.
Note: The same is not true with the genders reversed. A woman involved in a man’s success typically plays a supportive role which, while important, is fungible.
Back to the strong independent wahmen.
The phenomenon I described didn’t just happen back in the day, it happens now, today.
These days, feminists call the phenomenon something gay like “male allies.”
Yuck.
Or if you’re on the opposite end of the gender war it’s called “simping” or “captain save-a-hoe.”
Much closer to the truth, but still inaccurate in the scenario I’ve described above.
It’s simping when the woman is incompetent and doesn’t deserve a shot.
And there are a lot of incompetent women who are where they are today, undeservedly, because of simps.
But…
When she’s talented and competent…
When she’s willing to do whatever it takes…
When she does deserve a shot…
It is male magnanimity, our “noblesse oblige,” that inclines us to help.
I knew this copywriter, Sharon (not her real name.)
Single mom.
One time she posted a frantic appeal in a copywriter Facebook group.
Rent was due and she didn’t have it.
She need to make some money fast.
A lot of the copywriters gave her ideas on how to make some money.
It was apparently lost on them that she can’t pay rent with ideas.
I reached out to her and bought two blog posts from her for the rent she needed to cover.
Paid her in advance.
Got the blog posts back and they were meh, not bad but not good either.
Gave her a testimonial anyway.
Later on I’d check in with her from time to time.
She was always struggling.
I’d try to advise her to do x, y and z to work with better clients and make more money.
But she never listened and she never implemented.
It’s like her identity was fixed at struggling single mother and she didn’t want to change that.
Broke is a situation.
Poor is a state of mind.
I stopped helping.
She was no Peggy Olson, no Midge Maisel.
So my magnanimity was wasted on her.
– Nabeel
P.S. I don’t mentor female copywriters. Or male, for that matter. But you can get the coaching and support you need in CopySkills™.