Joan Harris: Difference between revisions
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==Personality== |
==Personality== |
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Embodying the role of [[femme fatale]],<ref>{{cite news|location=[[Woodland, California]]|title=See Mad Men Already|work=[[Daily Democrat]]|author=Ripley, Tim|date=July 25, 2008}}</ref> Holloway is a "bold" and "sassy" character,<ref>{{cite news|title=Where style matches substance|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/style-matching-substance/2009/04/15/1239474916154.html?page=2|work=[[The Age]]|accessdate=June 20, 2009|date=April 16, 2009|author=}}</ref> |
Embodying the role of [[femme fatale]],<ref>{{cite news|location=[[Woodland, California]]|title=See Mad Men Already|work=[[Daily Democrat]]|author=Ripley, Tim|date=July 25, 2008}}</ref> Holloway is a "bold" and "sassy" character,<ref>{{cite news|title=Where style matches substance|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/style-matching-substance/2009/04/15/1239474916154.html?page=2|work=[[The Age]]|accessdate=June 20, 2009|date=April 16, 2009|author=}}</ref>. ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080822/LIFE/808220311|author=Penner, Steve|title=Does Mad Men make you mad?|work=Portsmouth Herald News|date=August 22, 2008|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Creating the character, ''Mad Men''{{'}}s creator [[Matthew Weiner]] tried not to make the character appear as a television stereotype, but unpredictable and complicated.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/08/mad-men-calvaca.html|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=August 6, 2008|author=Ryan, Maureen|title='Mad Men' Calvacade of Stars, Part 5: Christina Hendricks on Joan Holloway|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref> ''[[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".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/09/21/what_the_women_of_mad_men_can_teach_us_about_sarah_palin/|title=What the women of 'Mad Men' can teach us about Sarah Palin|author=Weiss, Joanna|date=September 21, 2008|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Holloway is considered the [[Queen bee (subculture)|queen bee]] of the office secretarial pool.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nypost.com/pagesixmag/issues/20081012/Some+It+Hot+Christina+Hendricks|title=Some Like it Hot: Christina Hendricks|work=[[New York Post]]|date=October 12, 2008|author=Prato, Alison|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/467599|work=[[Toronto Star]]|location=[[Toronto, Ontario]]|author=Salem, Rob|date=July 27, 2008|title=Don't be mad, baby|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref> |
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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."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2008-10-23-women-of-mad-men_N.htm|author=Carter, Kelley L.|title=The women of Mad Men evolve|work=[[USA Today]]|date=October 23, 2008|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref> In the season two episode "Maidenform" each secretary is categorized as either a [[Marilyn Monroe]] or a [[Jackie Kennedy]] as a [[marketing campaign|campaign]] for [[Playtex]], when asked what kind of woman Holloway is, Kinsey answers "Well, Marilyn's really a Joan, not the other way around".<ref>{{cite episode| title = Maidenform | episodelink = |credits=Writ: Weiner, Matthew|series = Mad Men | serieslink = Mad Men | network = AMC| airdate = August 31, 2008| season = 2| number = 6}}</ref> |
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."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2008-10-23-women-of-mad-men_N.htm|author=Carter, Kelley L.|title=The women of Mad Men evolve|work=[[USA Today]]|date=October 23, 2008|accessdate=June 20, 2009}}</ref> In the season two episode "Maidenform" each secretary is categorized as either a [[Marilyn Monroe]] or a [[Jackie Kennedy]] as a [[marketing campaign|campaign]] for [[Playtex]], when asked what kind of woman Holloway is, Kinsey answers "Well, Marilyn's really a Joan, not the other way around".<ref>{{cite episode| title = Maidenform | episodelink = |credits=Writ: Weiner, Matthew|series = Mad Men | serieslink = Mad Men | network = AMC| airdate = August 31, 2008| season = 2| number = 6}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 16:48, 21 August 2010
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (January 2010) |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2010) |
| Joan Harris | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mad Men character | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Christina Hendricks | ||||||||
| First appearance | Smoke gets in your Eyes (1.01) | ||||||||
| Created by | Matthew Weiner | ||||||||
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Joan Harris (née Holloway) is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men. She is portrayed by Christina Hendricks. She is frequently compared to Marilyn Monroe.
Known biography
Joan was born on February 24, 1931. She is 5'8" tall and 140 pounds. [1]
From Season 1 through Season 3, Joan was the office manager of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. Her primary responsibilities were to manage the secretarial and steno pool and attend to needs of the executives. She was also seen during meetings with the heads of departments, taking notes and reminding the male staff of their duties to their clients (such as keeping in touch with clients and keeping track of expenses).
Joan had an affair with her boss Roger Sterling (John Slattery), but they stopped seeing each other after Sterling suffered a heart attack. 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 romantic 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'd 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 Bonwit 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. Greg ultimately decides to enlist in the army (where he will serve as a military physician), and he informs Joan that he can now provide for her, and she will no longer have to work. Despite this, 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]. ref>Penner, Steve (August 22, 2008). "Does Mad Men make you mad?". Portsmouth Herald News. Retrieved June 20, 2009.</ref> Creating the character, Mad Men's creator Matthew Weiner tried not to make the character appear as a television stereotype, but unpredictable and complicated.[5] 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".[6] Holloway is considered the queen bee of the office secretarial pool.[7][8]
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."[9] 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".[10]
Creation and development
Weiner was influenced by books of Helen Gurley Brown when he wrote the part of Joan.[11] He originally envisioned Holloway as a "smaller", "mousier" and more "sharp-tongued" character, but he changed his mind when Hendricks was cast.[12] Initially, Holloway was set to be a guest role only.[12] However, the role was extended to regular status because of Hendricks' "on-screen magnetism".[12]
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.[11] 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 yet know the show took place during the 1960s.[11]
References
- ^ 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) - ^ The joke is that the atmospheric "French" song about "magnificent" true love is Cole Porter's, from Can-Can (1953).
- ^ Ripley, Tim (July 25, 2008). "See Mad Men Already". Daily Democrat. Woodland, California.
- ^ "Where style matches substance". The Age. April 16, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ Ryan, Maureen (August 6, 2008). "'Mad Men' Calvacade of Stars, Part 5: Christina Hendricks on Joan Holloway". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ Weiss, Joanna (September 21, 2008). "What the women of 'Mad Men' can teach us about Sarah Palin". The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ Prato, Alison (October 12, 2008). "Some Like it Hot: Christina Hendricks". New York Post. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ Salem, Rob (July 27, 2008). "Don't be mad, baby". Toronto Star. Toronto, Ontario. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ Carter, Kelley L. (October 23, 2008). "The women of Mad Men evolve". USA Today. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ 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) - ^ a b c Wieselman, Jarett (July 24, 2008). "Mad about Christina Hendricks". New York Post. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ 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
- Template:Imdb character
- Joan Holloway official AMC biography
