Mad About "Mad Men"

David Edelstein On The Hit Cable Series That Pre-Dates Anti-Heroes, Feminism And The Counterculture

(CBS)  The hit cable television series "Mad Men" is about a subject near and dear to us in commercial broadcasting … the world of advertising. Here's David Edelstein:

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"Mad Men," the AMC series that's all the rage, is part-satire, part-soap opera, part-head trip.

It tackles a familiar theme, the individual versus the social order, in a strange way - or strange for TV, which generally showcases rebels, heroes who aren't slaves to fashion.

They are here: controlled, constricted, lobotomized by their culture. Even stranger is the period, the early 60s, which we thought we knew from cheerful old sitcoms but have, it turns out, repressed.

Did people really smoke that much? Could men really get away with treating secretaries - all women - like servants or whores? Were we really such prisoners of the social order? Are we still?

Matthew Weiner created the show, which centers on a Madison Avenue ad agency. The protagonist is executive Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm: a madly attractive actor in a madly elusive role. Look at that name: Don - like Corleone, powerful; Draper - hidden, isolated.

Don mines his real emotions for phony-baloney advertising slogans - he's a cynic, he believes in nothing. But he has a moral code.

… But every time you're ready to embrace him as a hero he doesn't rise to the occasion. He's too much of his time.

That's the fascinating thing about "Mad Men": the hero isn't much of a hero, and the villain, a squirt named Pete Campbell played by Vincent Kartheiser, isn't much of a villain. Pete is an ambitious heel - but he is also a child, a miserable prisoner.

I love that you can't get a clear fix on the characters; they're always trying to reconcile what they're supposed to be with who they want to be.

Don's secretary, Peggy, played by Elisabeth Moss, has been drilled in female subservience by Christina Hendricks's Joan - kind of the office's chief courtesan. But her ambition keeps sneaking out.

"Mad Men" has been made with 20/20 hindsight, and part of its richness comes from our knowledge that it's set on the threshold of feminism, the civil rights movement, and a counterculture that would blow this conformity away. Yet it's also the infancy of national TV advertising, which would usher in Youth Culture - a big theme in the second season - and another kind of conformity.

Very dizzying, but don't be afraid to surrender your bearings. Take your cue from the great credit sequence - reminiscent of "Vertigo" and "North By Northwest" - and take the "Mad Men" plunge.

[jets4ever69]

In my humble opinion, Mad Men is an excellently produced show. I accidentally came upon it early in season 1 and fell in love with it immediately. I even got my wife to tune in and we are now both big fans. The acting is superb, the sets are, as far as I can tell, appropriately real, and the characters are compelling. For someone who was growing up in the 60s, Mad Men provides a significant insight into what American culture and society was like. It has given me a real perspective and a deeper understanding of how life was like for my parents'' generation as they were raising us baby-boomers. I highly recommend it. It is a real treat.

[johnnywould]

I was 24 in 1960 so seeing a show about my era as a young adult has been flattering. The open office set without cubes is memorable with so many woman typing, because so many men of my era did not learn typing in school, cause you were considered a sissy, (sic) gay if you knew how to type! The 3 martini lunch with all male waiters was common and chains of fast food places unknown. This show has made me recall fondly a time of life that I enjoyed very much. by the way, I typed this note myself without the hunt and peck style of most of my gents of my age.

[katjm]

Interesting that you assumed Peggy is Don''s secretary. She is a junior copywriter. Maybe we haven''t come so far from the 60s? Or maybe you didn''t really watch the show.

[lifeboatwhis]

Peggy was Don''s secretary and he made the bold move to advance her to "Junior Copywriter". This occurred in several steps over several episodes.
Who is assuming what katjm?
The tension generated by her breaking through, to a junior degree, the glass ceiling is a pretty central theme in the program.
Maybe you haven''t been watching?

[lifeboatwhis]

Peggy was Don''s secretary and he made the bold move to advance her to "Junior Copywriter". This occurred in several steps over several episodes.
Who is assuming what katjm?
The tension generated by her breaking through, to a junior degree, the glass ceiling is a pretty central theme in the program.
Maybe you haven''t been watching?

[lifeboatwhis]

Peggy was Don''s secretary and he made the bold move to advance her to "Junior Copywriter". This occurred in several steps over several episodes.
Who is assuming what katjm?
The tension generated by her breaking through, to a junior degree, the glass ceiling is a pretty central theme in the program.
Maybe you haven''t been watching?