Since the advent of Mad
Men's first season premier in 2007, the rise of social trends, internet
sensations, and 60's emulation/glorification in popular culture took the world
by storm. Noticeably among the forefront was Draping.
Draping is the term used to describe the position in which the person (or
animal as we will later observe) is sitting with his back to the camera or
other similar POV (Point of View), lounging back with his right arm casually
draped over the extended back of the chair or a similar piece of furniture.
Based on the title screen still from the introductory sequence in Mad Men featuring Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
Image credit: http://knowyourmeme.com/
(which won an Emmy as an Outstanding Title Design in 2008) it
was well received by critics and general public alike, who immediately began to
post their own versions of this new phenomena called Draping.
Image credit: http://knowyourmeme.com/
The rise of technology rapidly spreads new trends much
faster than before. Although many tried their hand at being an internet
sensation by trying to be the first to coin and popularize this new meme, attempting to set viral internet sensations is dubious at best. After the
initial trickle of failed gambles, Draping slowly died down as the fans settled
for watching rather than emulating their favorite anti-hero in the new seasons.
Then suddenly, began the era of popular "gestures" used by stars
across a broad spectrum of celebrity, from football to planking.
Tebowing (the process of kneeling on one knee with your elbow to your
raised knee and first to your forehead as a prayer celebration after something
noteworthy -such as a touchdown) bowled over the internet, and as
different celebrities began to pick up quirky internet trends, they suddenly
got a lot much interesting to the observers.
Image credit: http://preachinghelp.org/
With gestures becoming much more
popular again, a Tumblr blog and twitter account was created for the sole purpose of spreading Draping , quickly followed by
other social networking sites such as Pinterest and Flickr, as the 2012 season
of Mad Men came to fruition, grew more and more popular.
But
just because someone famous appreciates the comedic value of an action, that
doesn't necessarily mean we all do. What is it about Draping that appealed to
general audiences? The process of Draping, and casually adopting a pose of
nonchalance that Don shows throughout Mad
Men is a widely popular view in the younger generation - the adopted
attitude of just not caring. This new era of distant emotions makes Draping a
well received sensation - but as we Mad
Men scholars know, Don's attitude and life is anything but casual.
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