Power & Representation: AMC Drama TV’s Use of Flawed White Leads
By: Bryce W.
Tags: Television, Power, Amc, Representation, Drama

Cable drama television has always had a knack for introducing and developing extremely dynamic, yet flawed lead characters to help drive their narrative. At first glance, this may just seem like a simple way for producers to draw interest to their show, but what we often fail to recognize, as the viewer, is the impact it has on how we view people in actual power positions and the ways in which it can affect our daily lives.

In particular, AMC has a tendency to use flawed, white men in their drama productions to lead their stories. Each of these unique characters play a role in AMC’s attempt to take advantage of the film industry’s struggle to produce ‘middle class movies’ in the early 2000’s, and fill the niche drama void that cinema ultimately left behind.

In late 2007, AMC took on its first ever drama TV series in Mad Men (2007–2015), and went on to produce many others to keep pace with other TV networks in this gold rush for drama content. Seeing that AMC was a company that was a large part of the film industry, it’s easy to see how that foundation would be carried over from Hollywood to their own productions with longer air times (running from 42–55 minutes not counting ads) and high budget episodes (The Walking Dead [2010-present] was said to have around a 3 million dollar budget per episode) — essentially trying to emulate a cinematic experience, but still tailor to the expectations of their unique TV audiences.

The cats of ‘Mad Men’ season one. (Credit: https://netflixlife.com/2018/08/04/mad-men-cast-where-are-they-now/)

Now, this choice to have flawed lead characters in positions of power requires some questioning within the realm of media studies. Mad Men was able to revive a much more complex drinking culture in the U.S (fancy cocktails, day drinking, getting drunk at work) that was once popular in the 60’s, while Breaking Bad (2008–2013) had actually influenced meth dealers to dye their product to replicate Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) signature blue color. So, between the development of parasocial relationships, watching a show to gratify personal desires, and the human tendency to ‘follow the leader’, we need to reflect on how AMC’s portrayal of men in power can impact the audience — starting with the idea of representation within this media context.

As Henderson mentions in her Keywords For Media Studies entry, the concept of representation has a lot to do with who is used to and how we see certain things in the media. For example, Henderson discusses the portrayal of “non-US nationals” who come to the country to work and are called “illegal aliens” rather than “undocumented workers”. The decision by the media to represent immigrant workers with a negative connotation sets the example for the majority of media consumers who will then think of that group of people in a bad way. This same phenomenon happens within your typical AMC drama show.

When we constantly are given the impression by AMC that the Don Drapers (Jon Hamm) of the world are those worthy of success, riches, and power, then we start expecting similar types of people (troubled, angry, white men) to fill out power positions in the real world. Meanwhile, other deserving, qualified candidates are ignored.

In an article for Flow, Mary Beltran’s “Meaningful Diversity” discusses Hollywood’s central theme of ‘white heroism’ within cinema, and since we have already established the philosophy of the construct behind modern drama TV series, then we can understand that this theme can (and has) easily be translated from one medium to the next. What ‘white heroism’ entails is that we celebrate, follow, and feel attached to a white (typically male) character rather than one of another identity. So, with the choice to use white men as the primary lead in their dramas, AMC is constantly shooting down the idea of people with a different ethnicity, gender, or sexuality in these roles in both television and in real life — with Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) of Mad Men and Michonne Hawthorne (Danai Gurira) of The Walking Dead being two prime examples.

Peggy is one of the more dynamic characters in Mad Men, and was possibly the only one that legitimately changed who she was. After coming in as a secretary, she was able to show her skills as a creative mind and be promoted as a full time copywriter. Shortly after this huge step (especially for a woman in the 1960’s), both Peggy and the audience experienced the mistreatment and under-representation of women on TV and in work space.

In the season 2 episode ‘Maidenform’, Peggy struggles to get herself into special meetings at work and is constantly left out of her coworkers’ get-togethers specifically because she is a woman, and the men she works with don’t think she can relate to them. This dynamic is consistent even before this episode, but is particularly focused on to help show how much Peggy changes from the very beginning of the series. Before, she would put up with the men doing things without her, but this episode marks her becoming more willing to change to become one of the guys. The key move made by Peggy that gave her the respect of the men is when she shows up to a strip club to hang out with Peter Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Sal Romano (Bryan Batt), and the rest of the creative department — even then, she wasn’t invited and had to hear about the after work event from someone else. What this implies, however, is that in order for a woman like Peggy to be respected by her peers, then she has to act more masculine and play to their interests. This type of discriminatory behavior in a 60’s based television show seems realistic, but what does this say to the people watching? Especially when Don is having a bad day and giving Peggy hell?

AMC continues this trend with Michonne in The Walking Dead, whose character takes a backseat within the show’s hierarchy until she develops a romantic relationship with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) in season six episode 10. Before that she was more of a motherly figure and love interest of Rick’s (our white male lead of the show). The first time the two met was in season three episode six ‘Hounded’, and Michonne came barring baby formula of all things. The two shared an intense staredown together, but it wasn’t one of hate. Instead it was more wondrous, and was what ultimately sparked the beginning of the two’s relationship together. Many times throughout the series, Michonne was there to comfort Rick about his feelings, anxieties, and his dark side. She even goes as far as to establish a bond with both of Rick’s children — acting as a caretaker for the both of them. While this is all nice and heartwarming for the audience, Michonne (one of the few African American characters to survive for a long duration or to not be seen as clinically insane like Morgan Jones [Lennie James]) constantly takes the backseat when it comes to being represented as powerful within the group in any sense.

Rick and Michonne meet for the first time in season three (credit: https://flydrsdotcom.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/the-walking-dead-season-3-hounded-review-2/)

Whenever there is a big decision to be made for the group, Rick always turns right to his second in command Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). This is especially true throughout season three as Daryl helps clear walkers from the prison for Rick, takes leadership over the group while Rick mourns his deceased wife, and he even voluntarily puts his life in danger to save his friends from imprisonment at Woodbury. Daryl has been a fan favorite in the show because of his good looks, masculinity, and for his bravery at the hardest of times, which gave him more of the spotlight than Michonne for a very long time. Although Michonne proves to be a valuable fighter and leader all the same, Daryl takes the spotlight during the show because he’s a white male who rides a motorcycle and the ladies of the audience adored.

With these two character examples in mind, we can understand that AMC definitely has a pattern of using female characters (and non-white characters as well) as less powerful or important as the men in the show. Despite the work of both Peggy and Michonne in their respective contexts, they are always undermined by the men in the show. This representation of the minority (AKA not a white male) is extremely deprecating to the very capable minority groups within TV and for us as the audience. We are actively being taught that we should love, care for, and pay more attention to the represented majority white male protagonist, which can prove to be problematic for us as a society.

Now with representation, we talk merely about the portrayal of the person in a TV show. We are more concerned with who we see on the screen, their role within the show, and how this character can impact the audience’s viewpoint of that gender or ethnicity as a whole. On the other hand, power sends very different signals.

When studying media, power typically holds an important role in any given literature, film, or (in this case) television show. Directors and writers of these creations get to use the power position(s) within their stories in order to establish a system of hierarchy and understanding of respect amongst characters who hold different levels or types of power. As a viewer, we use the concept of power to understand who is important to the main sections of a story and to dictate who to follow. Plus, the types and amounts of power shown to us in entertainment media set the standard for what we expect and want in our real world, making it essential to question and understand. With that being said, I find AMC to use both Don Draper of Mad Men and Walter White of Breaking Bad as strong examples of this idea.

In Mad Men we are taught early on in the series that Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) are the owners of the ad agency and demand the respect of everyone working there, but Don holds a large sum of the power at the agency due to his talent, charm, and ability to successfully run several ad campaigns. We find this out as early as episode one of the first season (‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’) where Don refuses to work with a client because she is a woman who doesn’t believe in his sales idea. He finds it disrespectful that what he came up with wasn’t good enough for her and even says “I’m not going to let a woman talk to me like this”, which in itself implies that Don was the one in the room with all the power — even despite Roger’s presence. His talent and ability to sell his creative ideas to clients is what drives the company’s success, and Don knows that all too well. Roger and Bert know that as well and even have to give him the type of treatment you would to a spoiled child. They typically let him settle down, have a drink and then send Roger in to talk him out of his own head to get back to business. This sort of ‘spoiled only child’ treatment gives the audience the idea that Don is very successful and that he is not used to being told no. To Don, being told no means that he loses his authority with a client and he no longer feels as if he is in the driver’s seat.

On top of his talent, Don also happens to be one of the highest paid employees at the company, giving him a financial status that others know, respect, and want. Everyone wants to be as rich and powerful as Don — viewers included. Money, especially in Mad Men, is extremely important and tends to have influence over characters in the story. Season two, episode three’s ‘The Benefactor’ highlights the importance of a paycheck when Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) accidentally opens Ken Cosgrove’s (Aaron Staton) paycheck and immediately becomes jealous of his slight advantage in weekly pay, which leads to Harry demanding a raise and attempting to show how valuable of an asset he is to the company. Since everyone knows they will never make what Don does, they compete with each other to move up in the ranks and make more money. Meanwhile, Don is seen by the audience time and time again splurging his bonuses and paychecks on all sorts of unnecessary expenses. He always covers dinners, pays for drinks, and even gives people money for seemingly no reason. Don even gives his brother $5,000 to stay out of his life and protect his secret identity. All of this winds up showing the audience that not only does Don have so much money that he can do anything he wants, but we are also shown that he uses money as a way to reserve his status as an authority figure.

Walter White of Breaking Bad is very similar to Don in a variety of ways. Both lash out on people close to them when they are frustrated, are experts in their respective fields, and are very powerful men in their own contexts. However, what separates Walt from Don is his excessive and aggressive nature to assert his power. Walt earned his self-proclaimed reputation as ‘Heisenberg’ when he began his transformation from meth cook to cartel overlord early in the show. At first, he was a passive, anxious man that just wanted to use his talents as a chemist to make money for his family for when he died, but Walt experiences what it’s like to feel power for once in his life and becomes addicted to the feeling. He gets so into this power role as the infamous ‘Heisenberg’ meth cook that he begins to instill fear in his partners and often resorts to violence in order to establish his dominance. We already know of his destructive insight, but are really awakened by it when he tells his wife Skyler White (Anna Gunn) that he “is the danger” in season four episode six (‘Cornered’). A few episodes later, the pure evil within Walter really comes out when he feared losing his throne so much that he went as far as to blow up a retirement home in season four episode 10’s ‘Face Off’ to kill Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), who Walt felt was a threat to his “empire” and his own life. This is the peak of Walt’s lust for blood and proof that his hunger for more power has gone too far.

Walt is offended when Skyler doesn’t give him the empowerment he feels he deserves.

In his Keywords for Media Studies piece, Nick Couldry puts emphasis on the third dimension of power, which he feels gets ignored very often. Couldry describes the third dimension of power as “A exercis(ing) power over {B} by influencing, shaping, or determining his very wants”, which is in many ways describing the power held by characters within the AMC universe.

Aside from their more direct power from their status in their different social hierarchies, characters like Walt and Don both use third dimensional power to get whatever they want from those around them. For example, Don is infamous for constantly using his power as a rich, attractive white man in the 60’s to play out all of his sexual fantasies with numerous mistresses. Typically, the affairs would happen right after something at work happened where he felt less powerful than usual. Anytime he loses a big client, fails at a pitch meeting, or gets in trouble with his bosses — he would use dominance in the bedroom as a mechanism to cope. He would make demands for his mistress(es) to take clothing off, bound them to the bed, and for them to say they “want” him. In more ways than one, Don uses sex to manipulate women and to re-empower himself.

One scene in particular perfectly combines Don’s need to feel powerful at work and with his mistresses. In a previously mentioned season two episode, ‘The Benefactor’, Don is at dinner with comedian Jimmy Barrett (Patrick Fischler) and his wife/manager Bobbie Barrett (Melinda McGraw) because Jimmy had made an offensive comment towards a client they were all working for. The dinner was meant to be for Jimmy to apologize to the client, but Bobbie instead was trying to make Don pay for her services to get Jimmy to do so. Rather than put up with that, Don corners her in the powder room, pulls her hair, puts his hand up her skirt, and uses sexual dominance to threaten to ruin her husband’s reputation and to make his client happy again. What this shows us is that Don uses third dimensional power in the sense that he uses his status as a wealthy, attractive white man and his sexual fascinations to influence Bobbie’s wants and behaviors. He uses her lustfulness and want for him in bed to get his way when it comes to business.

Don’s lust for sexual and business based dominance leads us here.

Through a gruesome scene like this, AMC expresses its interest with the idea of third dimensional power to further develop their own characters’ obsession with authority. Although I mentioned Draper specifically, Walter White, Rick Grimes, and many other protagonist characters throughout AMC Dramas are guilty of using their status in their environment to get the things they want and to influence the mindset and behavior of those around them, which creates a very concerning influence for society to see, digest, and potentially replicate.

So far, we have discussed the importance of the key terms representation and power as they relate, individually, to AMC drama television. However, to further my proposal that AMC is setting our standards for real life power holders, I find it essential to now put the two concepts together to really put everything together. To do so, I want to take a look at Mark Andrevic’s essay titled “The Kinder, Gentler Gaze of Big Brother”, which is mostly focused on the ways in which reality television can affect the viewer’s expectations for real-life, but I think it goes beyond that context.

In the essay, Andrevic talks about how when viewers sit and watch reality television, they are likely to believe that they could be the ones on screen. Reality TV, as we know, is literally a documentation of people’s everyday lives in unique situations. Whether it be a group of young adults living in a beach house together, a beautiful lonely woman who dates several guys at once to find out her true love, or a handful of people living in isolation communicating with each other through a special social media network — these are all filled with seemingly ordinary people, which leaves the viewer to believe they could easily live that life or be on that show. I believe the same goes for any sort of TV show that tries to depict a realistic setting and story, despite any wild twists or turns the show may take.

In the case of AMC television, they like to empower the viewer by providing them with characters who seem average (or at least talented and within reach) and then find themselves in a very powerful position. As a viewer, we are manipulated in a sense to want to be that character. We want Don’s looks and money, Walt’s confidence and intelligence, and Rick’s ability to lead a group of people. AMC is constantly coming up with white, male lead characters to dictate our expectations for our own lives. By telling us what the concept of “power” looks like through the representation of men like Don, Walt, or Rick, AMC tells us that a few good qualities outweigh the numerous bad ones and justify their right to power — even if there are better candidates in the background that are less problematic as human beings like Peggy or Michonne.

The representation of the lead in the show sets the standard for “what works” for the audience for the rest of the time that show airs, but also pushes us to think the same way about real life. To consistently tell their viewers that the one who deserves the power and attention is a white man, is to say that AMC doesn’t want their audience to experience a minority figure in power or even treated the same as a man. As Kristen Warner discusses in her article “In the Time of Plastic Representation”, representation is essential to influencing expectations. What is seen on screen has a lot of value symbolically to the viewer and tells us that what we are looking at could be progress in terms of diversity in entertainment media and what to expect of these diverse characters in the real world. However, the mere presence of a “diverse” cast doesn’t mean that the complex of those minority characters will be the same as the lead, which we see constantly throughout AMC dramas. As outlined previously, AMC dramas tend to have diversity in terms of physical appearance and visually on screen, but in the terms of power and audience relationship — the connection is not quite there. The major point being that AMC has, seemingly, guided us to believe they want diversity in their shows, but have avoided diving into a diverse character in favor of an overflow of white men with authority — which is why power and representation are so powerful when put together. Separate, they can tell us a lot about how these shows are constructed and what a producer may want things to look like in an aesthetic sense, but together the two terms speak largely to the true meanings of characters, roles, and events within a given context.

As mentioned in the very beginning of this piece, this can all seem like a way for writers and producers to drive their intended narrative from the perspective of the viewer, but now it can be understood that representation and power are essential in understanding where a network, company, or even an entire industry may stand in relation to who deserves to be in power. In this case, AMC has chosen to stick with the old Hollywood themes and values of white heroism to appease a white audience with a traditional white man always being in charge. This way of thinking, writing, designing and representing power on television will continue to set our expectations of reality and our ideas of what power looks like in terms of race, gender, and behavior until we make an effort to really diversify our focus on minority characters on drama television.

Works Cited

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Surrey, Miles. “Here’s How Much It Costs to Make an Episode of ‘The Walking Dead.’” Mic, https://www.mic.com/articles/161740/here-s-how-much-it-costs-to-make-an-episode-of-the-walking-dead. Accessed 14 Dec. 2020.

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