These two women are characters in a movie and TV series that have a particular focus on women in the 1960's. They also happen to be played by the same actress, Elizabeth Moss.
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| Elizabeth Moss |
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| Peggy Olson |
Peggy Olson is from the TV series
Mad Men, about a big time accounting firm and all of its dirty secrets. Peggy started as a secretary and worked her way up to a writer's position. Peggy defies the laws of "60's womanhood" by throwing out the possibility of becoming a domestic housewife. In the middle of the series she has a baby, but gives it to her own mother to raise in order to pursue her career farther. She also owns her own apartment, has her own secretary at the firm, and has a few different boyfriends throughout the series.
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| Polly (Torch) |
Torch, on the other hand, is trapped at Claymore, a mental health institution, in the movie
Girl, Interrupted. Torch burned herself as a child and was deemed clinically insane. However, Lisa, another mental patient, notices how Torch loves to act like a child and doesn't want to leave the mental health institution. Torch seems to retreat to childhood in order to escape the fate of becoming a woman in the 1960's.
These two characters seemed to resemble two sides of the same coin for me. Peggy works her butt off to be respected by the men at her accounting firm while Torch hides behind her scar and toys. The TV series and movie also seem to represent the same coin by depicting women in the 1960's either successful, quiet, or insane. I found it ironic that these two characters were played the same actress, but it helped to see the two (theatrical) extremes of the decade.
