“Sorry fellas, heavy is the head
that wears the crown.” Mad Men is a show about people
who feel like outsiders trying to conform or claw
their way to mainstream success. But there’s one character
who represents the ultimate insider: Roger Sterling. “When a man gets to a point
when his name’s on the building, he can get an unnatural sense
of entitlement.” At first we vicariously enjoy the fun
and affluence of Roger’s lifestyle, but over time,
we also start to pity him. “I wish I was going somewhere.” Because while many other characters
have upward arcs that involve forging a future, his journey is one of decline. “You get to a point in your life
where it’s the last chapter.” And along the way, he ventures
into some deep, dark places, questioning whether life has
any meaning at all. “One of my partners…
he ended it all. You’d have to be so sure you were going
some place better, wouldn’t you?” Mad Men may glamorize the heyday
of advertising execs living the high life, but it’s actually about
the end of this era. “Peggy can you get me some coffee?” “No.” Through the ultimate mad man Roger, the show questions what these times were
really all about. If you can value anything
when you have everything, and whether there’s an intangible harm
that privilege does to a person. “I always envied that. The way you were always reaching.” “I always envied you didn’t have to.” Before we go on, we’re excited to tell you
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and treat yourself, just like Roger would. Now back to Mad Men. Roger is the quintessential
“mad man” of the show’s title. “When God closes a door,
he opens a dress.” Through him, we get to
live the indulgence and joie de vivre of feeling like you belong
in the most elite of clubs. “I'm the president of this agency,
I don't have to ask anybody anything. You know what? I could call a holiday
for the whole office right now.” Roger embodies the good times
and, most of all, the attitude that delights us
about the mad men. He observes the ways of the world
with a jovial clarity that only a true insider
can really have. "Who knows why people in history
did good things? For all we know, Jesus was trying to
get the loaves and fishes account.” And he goes about things
with a light touch. This seems to be
why Joan falls for Roger too. These kindred spirits get
how the world operates. “Marriage… don’t know why you’d
want to join that club, baby.” “Hasn’t stopped you
from having a good time.” Yet they maintain a sense of humor, resisting the urge to get
too weighty or serious about it all. “She died like she lived. Surrounded by the people
she answered phones for.” Joan comes to look on her
far more exhausting husband, Greg, as ultimately more limited
because he lacks this lightness. “Where’d you pick that up?” “Greg, stop that, you know there is no before.” “Right.” Joan and Roger don’t
end up together, maybe because they’re too similar
or such good friends, but Roger’s ability to attract
the most desired woman on the show does underline how charming this guy is. “He was all over you,
the time you wore that red dress. the one with the bow in the back
that makes you look like a present.” “You have an incredible memory.” “Well… I think about it a lot,
that dress, I mean.” At the same time, Roger also embodies
the darker side of the “mad man” identity. He’s racist and out of touch,
like in the cringeworthy episode when he tries to make fun
of another agency by advertising SCDP
as an equal opportunity employer. “Is it just me, or is the lobby
full of negroes?” “They saw the Y&R ad.” “The humor was Iost on them.” “Not on me.” He’s had everything handed to him, He’s the son of one of the founders
of Sterling Cooper, “I’ve acted like I’ve started
a business my entire life, but I inherited it.” And you would not call the guy hardworking. He pretty much just coasts. Roger’s a part of “the Greatest Generation,”
who served in WWII and significantly shaped
American society afterwards. “Don never talks about the war.” “‘The war’? His war, you mean.” “Not much to say. You boys used up all the glory.” In Tom Brokaw’s book,
The Greatest Generation, he writes, quote, “At every stage of their lives they were part of
historic challenges and achievements of a magnitude the world had
never before witnessed.” “You fought to make the world a safer place
and you won and now it is.” But Mad Men uses Roger to explore
the complex experiences of this generation after their glory days were over. “It’s incredible what passes
for heroism these days.” The Allies’ fight in World War II
tends to be viewed — at least in the US and the UK — as the most morally black-and-white conflict
in living memory, essentially as close as you can get
to a showdown between good and evil. But the 60s became more grey,
and how was the Greatest Generation supposed to adapt to that? “Are you drunk? “Pearl Harbor day, show some respect.” In season four, Roger tries to sabotage a
deal with the Japanese company Honda because of leftover bitterness
from the war. “We beat you, and we’ll beat you again,
and we don’t want any of your Jap crap. “So, sayonara.” and this just makes him come across as rigid
and stuck in the past. “It's been almost 20 years
and whether you like it or not, the world has moved on. These are not the same people.” “How could that be? I'm the same people!” He struggles with the feeling
that the best is behind him. “Maybe every generation thinks
the next one is the end of it all.” “I bet there are people in the Bible
walking around complaining about kids today.” His greatest fear is
becoming irrelevant. “I'm exhausted from hanging onto the ledge
and having some kid's foot on my fingertips.” And he’s forever trying to recapture
that relevance he had when he was younger. Sometimes this comes out
as nostalgia for the past. “God, I miss the fifties.” Other times as attempts to be hip,
like when he experiments with LSD, “You always say I never take you anywhere.” or adopts a 70s style. And his relationships with women
reflect a clear desire to chase youth. “At a certain age, they lose that.” “What?” “That glow of pure youth. It's like they hit 30, and somebody puts out a light.” As time goes on, Roger’s era is
inevitably fading away. "My generation, we drink
because it's good, because it feels better than
unbuttoning your collar, because we deserve it. We drink because it's what men do.” This is symbolized
in his health struggles. He has his first heart attack
in the midst of seducing a young woman. “Mirabelle… Mirabelle…” “Mona. Your wife’s name is Mona.” So it’s a very physical reminder
that his pursuit of youth isn’t working. “I’ve been living the last 20 years
like I'm on shore leave. What the hell is that about?” And by the end of the series,
the age of the “mad man” — as embodied by Roger — is over. Roger Sterling spent his life
continuing his own father’s legacy, but now there’s no one left
to carry on his family name. “No more Sterling Cooper
and no more Sterlings. Margaret is the only daughter
of an only son of an only son.” “All I’m going to be doing
from here on is losing everything.” “You feel loss.” “Damn it, how many times do I have to say
this? I don't feel anything.” Roger spends a lot of the series searching
for a deeper sense of purpose. Doing things like writing his memoirs,
seeing a psychiatrist, and leaving his wife Mona for a secretary,
Jane. “It’s different with this girl.” But all these attempts at fulfillment fall
flat. “You better not have locked that door.” “Go away!” “Or what, you’ll commit suicide?” And as he endures several
big personal failures, like the loss of
his biggest client Lucky Strike, the end of his second marriage,
and the death of his mother — he starts to reveal a nihilistic side. “It turns out the experiences are nothing. They're just some pennies you pick up off
the floor, stick in your pocket, and you're just going
in a straight line to you-know-where.” Roger’s flirtations with nihilism are
deeply linked to his hedonism. All his sensual pleasures and supposed fun
only seem to leave him feeling bored and adrift. "Well, I gotta go learn a bunch
of people's names before I fire them.” He reflects how the “mad man” persona
was hiding a deep emptiness that alcohol, sex, and money couldn’t fill. “That's a hundred dollars.” “Well I suppose I’m going to
have to drop one of you off, you decide who.” There’s another reason for Roger’s lack
of meaning that’s even more at fault than his hedonism, and that’s his privilege. “Do you know how invigorating it is
to go in and write a check for $6500 and not care?” Roger’s fear of losing relevance is
only possible because for a lot of his life
he’s felt very relevant to begin with. As we said in our Don Draper video,
everyone wants to be Don, but no one can be -- not even Don himself,
who feels like a complete fraud. Roger’s the real deal -
he does actually have it all and he was born into this life,
with the total pedigree. “I sure as hell didn’t get to
choose what I wanted to do, my father told me.” Even his last name “Sterling” makes us
think of sterling silver or the British Pound Sterling— so it’s as if his name is
truly currency. As Flavorwire put it, quote,
“Roger is the anti-Don. If Don exemplifies the American dream
of the self-made man, then Roger is the antithesis
of that dream.” It’s an understatement to say Roger’s
entitled. “What kind of company are we going to be?” “The kind where everyone has a summer house?” Pete Campbell is entitled; Roger’s on a
level where he couldn’t even begin to fathom why he should ever not be entitled anything. And as younger, ambitious Pete
keeps one-upping Roger over the course of the series, the clash between these two privileged men
reflects the changing times. “This does not invoIve you, Roger. Nor does Vicks, PIaytex, Life cereal, Samsonite, Sugarberry Ham, Secor Laxative. Need I go on?” “What are you suggesting?” “He's suggesting that you give him your
office.” Yes, Pete got his foot in the door
thanks to his good family name, he still feels he has to prove himself. “Now now, I’m just pleased
that after a long effort, I was able to sign them.” Whereas Roger’s from an era where his background
meant that he could take it easy. Through Roger, though, the show forces us to consider whether having
everything handed to you is really a privilege after all. It’s because Roger’s had so little struggle
that his life can feel pointless. “It’s too easy.” It’s hard for him to
attach any value to things that have been given to him
free of charge. Whereas the Dons and Peggys of the world
know exactly what things are worth to them, because they’ve had to pay
for what they’ve got. These kinds of characters don’t suffer
from Roger’s bouts of existential darkness and fears of meaninglessness. Because they’re never received
the external validation that Roger could always rely on, they’ve have had to create for themselves
the feeling that they matter at all. “Believe me, nobody wanted me there.” Sometimes Roger even considers throwing in the towel
and living a life of leisure. “If I'm useless, so be it. There's a deck chair somewhere
with my name on it.” It’s hard to imagine Don or Peggy
ever talking that way. “I want to work. I want to build
something of my own.” So the show uses Roger
to weigh up the possibility that all of life could be meaningless…
but ultimately it rejects this view. Mad Men underlines
the importance of working hard and making sacrifices in order to
define your own dreams and meaning. Because he hasn’t done this,
Roger’s growth has been stunted. “And you have talent, and skill, and experience. But you’re not a leader.” That’s why, despite being
so high up on the totem pole, he’s kind of a joke at the company. “Mr. Sterling's not on that chart at all.” “That's true.” “Ah, well, that was an oversight.” He gets even less respect
when he loses the Lucky Strike account, “I don’t owe you squat,
you inherited this account.” and then tries to hide this
from his coworkers. “Saving that account was impossible.” “Because you ignored it! One damn account, and you ignored it!” Roger can be sensitive about
the lack of appreciation he gets. “You don't value what I do
any more than they do.” It's as if his privilege has even made it
hard for him to respect himself. “Lee Garner Jr. never took you seriously
because you never took yourself seriously.” In the next generation, Roger’s daughter
Margaret follows her dad’s example in proving the
aimlessness felt by people aren’t forced
to make their own way. After doing all the right things for her social
class, marrying a suitable guy and having a kid, she’s so unhappy she runs off to join a
commune. “I’m really happy here daddy.” “I know.” By the end, Roger does find a way out
of his existential swamp. “I guess somebody finally got
their timing right.” It would be a little unbelievable to see
Roger Sterling become a model family man. But the last we see of him, at least he’s engaged to
an age-appropriate partner who actually challenges him. “Roger, please don't ask me for anything. Please don't ask me to take care of you.” It’s symbolic that Roger’s endpoint is
a lot less grand than Don’s, yet it’s satisfying perhaps
because of its smallness. Roger needs to stop chasing youth or
expecting some grand important purpose, and focus instead on the simple
human satisfaction of feeling loved. “I’m trying to make you happy. That was our agreement.” You could say that Roger embodies
the spirit of Mad Men, and our feelings toward him sum up how the show is making us feel
about the “mad men” overall. “Roger Sterling, no matter what you do,
everyone loves you.” It’s easy to envy Roger’s lifestyle,
but in the end we see that we might be better off
for not having all that he has. Mad Men is really about the progress of characters
who didn’t have it so easy during the 60s. “It’s exciting. I mean I know it's going
to be challenging, but I needed that.” We have no choice but to approve
of the demise of Roger’s kind. Still, we can’t help saving
a special spot in our hearts for Roger and his particular way
of looking at the world. “Not to get too deep
before the cocktail hour, but do I need to remind you of
the finite nature of life?” Hey guys, did you know that in Italian,
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to get fifteen percent off your order. You know Roger would approve.
Yesss I was hoping they would come out with one for our legend. Thanks for posting, im about to watch. I’ve been loving their other ones
I watched it this morning. Not one of their more insightful ones, but still an apt and thoughtful reading of Roger’s character. I really can’t get enough of these ScreenPrism Mad Men character analysis videos.
Cool! But laughable that they’re peddling watches in the same video haha a little ironic imo
Roger is from privilege, but Pete is from privilege lost. Pete was hungry and ambitious because of that. Roger just drifted.
One of the interesting things about Roger is he never loses bets. Not at the underground casino, not on the Liston-Clay fight, not in the mergers. The only time he loses money is when he gets mugged or fleeced by one of his subordinates ("I have to stop carrying so much cash").
Get these ads out of my video essay about a show about advertising!
Roger is, by far, my favorite character. I'm a sucker for witty banter.
I often wonder if he was good in bed, or if he just coasted the way he did in life.
Great video!
Good ol' Roger