Joan Harris

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Joan Harris
Mad Men character
Portrayed byChristina Hendricks
First appearanceSmoke gets in your Eyes (1.01)
Created byMatthew Weiner
In-universe information
Other namesJoan Holloway (maiden name)
Joan Harris (married name)
OccupationHousewife
Former
Office Manager
SpouseGreg Harris (husband)

Joan Harris (née Holloway) is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men. She is portrayed by Christina Hendricks.

Known biography

Though not much information about Joan's early life has been given, her driver's license is displayed in the season two episode "Flight 1", revealing that she was born on February 24, 1931, making her in her early thirties. The driver's license also stated her weight was 140 pounds. [1]

On the show, Joan was the office manager of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. Her primary responsibilities were to manage the girls in the secretarial and steno pool. She was also seen during meetings between the heads of departments, taking notes and reminding the male staff of their duties to their clients (like keeping in touch with clients by telephone and keeping track of account details that may affect the client's budget). Joan had an affair with her boss Roger Sterling (John Slattery), but they stopped seeing each other after Sterling suffered a heart attack. Joan has also been known to use Roger Sterling's office as a place to be alone when distressed. After Marilyn Monroe's death, Roger walks into his office to find Joan lying on his couch and dabbing her eyes. Realizing that Joan is upset over the similarities she sees between her life and Marilyn Monroe's, Roger comforts Joan by telling her that she will not end up alone and in despair like Monroe.

Joan also had an intimate relationship with Sterling Cooper copywriter Paul Kinsey, before the series began. Her roommate Carol, whom Joan knows from college, has expressed a sexual interest in Joan too, although Joan ignored her romantic overtures.

In the second season, Joan gets engaged to Greg Harris (Samuel Page), a doctor at St. Luke's Hospital. As the season goes on, Joan is clearly torn between wanting to be a well-off, married woman (which has been implied to be the pinnacle of Joan's ambitions) and fearing that she will become a bored, lonely housewife. Her feelings are exacerbated when she is briefly given additional responsibilities at Sterling Cooper. Joan discovers that she likes reading soap-opera scripts to determine ad placement, and that she has a knack with charming the clients. After a few days, Harry Crane hires a young, somewhat clueless man to take over the ad placement job from Joan. Joan is clearly very disappointed (especially when all but asked by Harry to train the new man), but quietly gives in.

Towards the end of the season, we learn that Joan and her fiance Greg are having problems in their intimate moments. In the episode "The Mountain King," Greg picks Joan up at Sterling Cooper for a dinner date. Greg meets Roger Sterling for the first time and immediately becomes suspicious that Roger seems to know Joan's likes and dislikes. Joan has not told Greg that she had an affair with Roger, and instead, she just tells Greg that she has worked there for nine years (implying that she has been with the agency since 1953). He then follows Joan as she goes into Don Draper's office to lock up and forces himself on her. Joan tells him several times to stop and struggles, but Greg overpowers her and rapes her on the floor. Later in the episode, Joan is seen telling Peggy that Greg "really is a wonderful man," as though she is trying to convince herself of that.

In the interim between seasons 2 and 3 Joan and Greg have married; a highlight of the third season's third episode is a furious Joan's coolly accomplished rendition, in American-accented French,[2] of "C'est Magnifique", accompanying herself on the accordion for her dinner guests, at Greg's insistence.

Joan leaves Sterling-Cooper to become a housewife in season 3, but is later seen by Pete Campbell working at Bonwitt Teller due to Greg failing to receive a promotion at the hospital where he works. Joan mentions to Pete that Greg is considering going into psychiatry. When Greg fails to land a job as a psychiatrist, in spite of Joan helping her husband practice for the interview, the couple have a heated argument, with Joan smashing a vase over Greg's head. Joan later places a call to Roger Sterling's office after hours, asking him to help her find another office manager's job. In the final episode, when Don, Roger, Bert and Lane need help with the clandestine transition to Sterling Cooper Draper & Pryce, Roger calls Joan to help them find accounting materials and client records. When the new company sets up shop at the Pierre Hotel, Joan takes the position of office manager.

Personality

Embodying the role of femme fatale,[3] Holloway is a "bold" and "sassy" character,[4] and role model for all the female office workers.[5] Creating the character, Mad Men's creator Matthew Weiner tried not to make the character appear as a television stereotype, but unpredictable and complicated.[6] The Boston Globe has said that Holloway occupies "a sort of middle ground between the show's main female characters, who represent opposing paths for women of their day"; as Betty Draper (January Jones) gave up a modeling career to become a housewife and Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) tries to become a copywriter in "a world where men routinely call women 'girls', and sometimes literally chase them though the office".[7] Holloway is considered the queen bee of the office secretarial pool.[8][9]

In an interview with USA Today portrayer Christina Hendricks explained that people think her character is "hot" because "She's got fire to her. She snaps back. And men love her because she's in touch with her sexuality and femininity. The men in the office can play with her a little bit. They can tease her, and she's not going to be in the bathroom crying later."[10] In the season two episode "Maidenform" each secretary is categorized as either a Marilyn Monroe or a Jackie Kennedy as a campaign for Playtex, when asked what kind of woman Holloway is, Kinsey answers "Well, Marilyn's really a Joan, not the other way around".[11]

Creation and development

Weiner was influenced by books of Helen Gurley Brown when he wrote the part of Joan.[12] He originally envisioned Holloway as a "smaller", "mousier" and more "sharp-tongued" character, but he changed his mind when Hendricks was cast.[13] Initially, Holloway was set to be a guest role only.[13] However, the role was extended to regular status because of Hendricks' "on-screen magnetism".[13]

Hendricks first read for the part of Midge Daniels, a recurring character in the first season, and was asked to return and audition for the role of Holloway.[12] She had only received a small part of the script and when she read the scene from the pilot in which Peggy Olson visits a gynecologist, Hendricks thought it was "messed up" because she did not know the show took place during the 1960s.[12]

References

  1. ^ Writ: Weiner, Matthew; Albert, Lisa (August 3, 2008). "Flight 1". Mad Men. Season 2. Episode 2. AMC. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |episodelink= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ The joke is that the atmospheric "French" song about "magnificent" true love is Cole Porter's, from Can-Can (1953).
  3. ^ Ripley, Tim (July 25, 2008). "See Mad Men Already". Daily Democrat. Woodland, California.
  4. ^ "Where style matches substance". The Age. April 16, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  5. ^ Penner, Steve (August 22, 2008). "Does Mad Men make you mad?". Portsmouth Herald News. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  6. ^ Ryan, Maureen (August 6, 2008). "'Mad Men' Calvacade of Stars, Part 5: Christina Hendricks on Joan Holloway". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  7. ^ Weiss, Joanna (September 21, 2008). "What the women of 'Mad Men' can teach us about Sarah Palin". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  8. ^ Prato, Alison (October 12, 2008). "Some Like it Hot: Christina Hendricks". New York Post. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  9. ^ Salem, Rob (July 27, 2008). "Don't be mad, baby". Toronto Star. Toronto, Ontario. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  10. ^ Carter, Kelley L. (October 23, 2008). "The women of Mad Men evolve". USA Today. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  11. ^ Writ: Weiner, Matthew (August 31, 2008). "Maidenform". Mad Men. Season 2. Episode 6. AMC. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |episodelink= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ a b c Wieselman, Jarett (July 24, 2008). "Mad about Christina Hendricks". New York Post. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  13. ^ a b c Elsworth, Catherine (January 19, 2009). "Christina Hendricks: a fine figure of a woman". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved June 20, 2009.

External links

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