After the initial praise for the pilot of the new AMC series Mad Men, the cable network gave the producers the greenlight for an initial 13 episode season.
I have trouble thinking of another television series that is taking place in 1960. The series follows Don Drapper as a senior ad executive for the Sterling Cooper Advertising Company. Mad Men is nostalgic, without being hypocritical. Without trying to sugarcoat the past in pastels and trying to change it to a better one.
Mad Men comes from a writer of the acclaimed HBO series The Sopranos, Matthew Weiner.
The series has a compelling visual style, all directly from the late 1950s. Stunning costumes, cars and production values make this series visually compelling. Mad Men doesn’t only concentrate on the workplace; it explores the lives and social mores of the men depicted in this show.
One of the things I love in any series taking place in that time period, is the copious amounts of smoking and drinking that all of the characters indulge in. I think there is one character who is trying to stop smoking, but all of the other characters do smoke. In fact, the tobacco companies have just received word from the government that they can no longer use doctors in their commercials, saying that cigarettes are good for you.
The series is historically accurate, with portrayals of gender bias, sexual harassment and racism of the times. The series also explores the sexual liberty of men of that era; marriage never stopped them from seeing other women. Don Drapper has an affair with Midge, an illustrator. Most of the girls in the office have affairs with the account execs and get fired or shuffled away when they are no longer of interest. This duality of expectations is also felt in Drapper’s home, as a new divorcée moves nearby. The expectations are that the divorcée is a loose woman, while the married men pursue her and the execs bed their secretaries.
The series revolves around Don Drapper. Even though he is sexually biased against women, he is confronted with Rachel Menken, in charge of a luxury department store, who wants to attract a higher class clientèle. After initially dismissing her, he is able to reexamine his views on women and accept to deal with her. While the other execs just patronize her, he actually deals with her as an equal. However, since there is a strong attraction there, it complicates matters for Don, who is already involved with a mistress and his wife Betty, who is suffering from neurological problems, which have been misdiagnosed as psychological ones. Don strongly dislikes Pete, since Pete has made it obvious that he wants Don’s job. Pete lacks talent, but Don is forced to work with him, after Roger Sterling informed him of this.
This drama is strange to classify. It paints an accurate picture of America in the late 50s, with its giant gas guzzling cars and social attitudes which will change over the decades. I really like it though, and it’s one of those shows that I immediately watch without waiting for further episodes. The other part that I like is that Don thinks a lot and sometimes says little. We can see the torment that he goes through in his personal life. Torment that he naturally created himself. Drapper is a creature of habit and womanizing comes naturally for him, though the other execs comment that they never see it. Also, Drapper doesn’t reveal anything about his past, neither to his wife, his boss or his co-workers. All we know is that he served as a Lieutenant in the army and that he didn’t have a nanny whilst growing up. These tidbits make you wonder is something happened in his past, other than his time in the army. There are intricate layers to Don.
One of the best scenes is in the third episode, entitled Marriage of Figaro, where Drapper and the other execs ceaselessly talk about a Volkswagen advert that they see in a magazine. It reminded me of the new Volkswagen ads in the nineties that were also quite effective.
I recommend this series.
Mad Men is an American television drama series set and produced in New York City. Created by The Sopranos writer and executive producer Matthew Weiner, the series is broadcast on cable network AMC. It takes place in 1960 at the fictional Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency on New York City’s Madison Avenue and centers on a high-level advertising executive and the people in his life in and out of the office; it also depicts some of the social mores of late 1950s America that were soon to change. Mad Men premiered on July 19, 2007, and was given an initial production of 13 episodes. After the airing of the pilot, the series received critical praise for its historical accuracy and visual style.
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