The AMC series Mad Men ended ten years ago, but a scene from season 5, episode 1 still remains viral (and a meme) to this day. It features Megan Draper (née Calvet) singing “Zou Bisou Bisou”—while performing some light burlesque to it—during Don Draper’s birthday party. This resulted in the scene and song trending online even before the episode ended. The appeal of that scene is manifold: it’s used as a way to add some color through the widely different reactions of the attending characters; from a plot-specific and dramatic point of view, it teases the brewing disconnect between Draper and his new wife; and from a cultural standpoint, it portrays Mad Men’s in-universe ongoing fascination with Frenchness.
English-language media has historically been filled with signifiers and direct references to France. Consider Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s 1934 novel Tender Is the Night, the 1951 musical An American in Paris, the 1957 musical Funny Face, and even the 1954 comedy/romance Sabrina, in which the title character owes her metamorphosis to a prolonged sojourn in Paris.
“If the French can be attracted to the American Dream, Americans’ fascination with French culture is also a reality,” argues Carole Salmon in The French Review.
The most emblematic case of Mad Men’s fascination with France is the character of Megan Calvet, a Montréaler played by French-Canadian actress Jessica Paré who, as “the embodiment of Frenchness in the series, moves into a leading role by becoming the second wife of the main character, Don Draper,” writes Salmon. Her Frenchness is immediately established during a trial session for Pond’s Cold Cream.
“Megan positions herself as being from a different cultural background by mentioning that her mother has perfect skin but does not use any products,” explains Salmon, noting that the character’s own mother, in fact, uses water but nothing else. “The message is clear: Her ways are different from those of American women.”
Calvet’s actual heritage is further expanded in a few instances. When first introducing herself to a co-worker who asks where she is from, she replies: “I am of French extraction” (season 4, episode 4). Later, when asked by a client: “So Megan, you’re French?” she replies: “I’m Canadian” (season 5, episode 2, by which point she’s married to Don Draper). In fact, her parents, Marie Calvet and Emile Calvet, played respectively by British actress Julia Ormond and Belgian actor Ronald Guttman, suggest that the character is Canadian but the daughter of European émigrés.
“In season 6, episode 5, Marie explains that she is ‘French’ but lives in Montréal,” writes Salmon. “This detail broadens the Frenchness of the Calvet family and portrays Montréal as a city of immigration for French speakers, even though we can imagine that she moved to follow her husband.”
Other characters are engaged with Frenchness as well. In season 1, a focus group for the fictional beauty brand Belle Jolie allows Peggy Olson to first showcase her copywriting talent, and, as she advances professionally, she repeatedly expresses the desire to go to Paris, whether for work or for leisure. Roger Sterling (John Slattery) refers to himself as an “expat” in Paris during his youth.
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“Roger speaks some French in several episodes, sings ‘Frère Jacques’ after the ‘Zou Bisou Bisou’ party, and brags about his knowledge of French culture,” notes Salmon. “Therefore, it is not surprising that he has an affair with and eventually marries Marie Calvet.”
During a trip to Palm Springs, Don Draper takes up with Vicomte Willy Monteforte d’Alsace and ends up sleeping with his daughter.
“This family’s behavior portrays a certain image of moral decadence and sexual freedom, an ongoing stereotype about French people in the Anglophone world,” observes Salmon.
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Overall, “Frenchness in all its forms is so present that it could be considered a personnage à part entière,” but America retains its pull even for the French characters. Megan did move to New York City because she wanted to become an actress.
“In her own way, she is following her American Dream,” notes Salmon. And while at a ceremony for an advertising award for which she was nominated while working as a copywriter, it’s her own communist, atheist, university professor father who reminds her of her original dream (as opposed to her selling out for a corporate career). His reminder leads her to book a role in the soap opera To Have and To Hold, and, eventually, move to California. Marie and Emile eventually divorce, and Marie leaves Montréal to marry Roger Sterling. Peggy herself never gets to visit France.
“Peggy does not—cannot—go to Paris because her Frenchness is, precisely, a fantasy,” observes Salmon. “She constructed an image of Paris for herself that would be shattered if she went.”
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