The production design of "Mad Men" is as accurate as everybody says, but IMO the show suffers from the "everyone in the past did X" syndrome. Literally everybody in "Mad Men" smokes, while not everybody in the real early 1960s smoked (my parents both come from the "Mad Men" era and never smoked). Every man in the office is having affairs, while not all married men with office jobs in the early 1960s were cheating on their wives.
Particularly in the early episodes, there is also the tendency of the show to point out, "Look at those silly people in the past and all the stupid things they said - Isn't it great that we're more enlightened now?" It's also telling that the "nicer" characters such as Don or Peggy are more enlightened in their attitudes, the really nasty stuff comes from the loathsome characters like Pete or the white-haired company boss with the multiple heart attacks.
The program is also very bound to American value systems (obviously, since it's a US show). The constant smoking and drinking is always singled out as a bad thing to the "enlightened" viewers, yet the script sees nothing wrong with Don Draper smoking pot with his beatnik lover and her friends. Coming from a culture where marihuana is considered a lot worse than alcohol (which is accepted) or smoking (which is no longer acceptable, but not nearly as condemned as in the US), this is baffling to me. In fact, I had a hard time believing that an established person like Don Draper would try marihuana at all in that time, even if he sees nothing wrong with alcohol or tobacco, though things might have been different in the US.
The Peggy sleeping with Pete after her first day on the job thing struck me as wrong, too. Not that she might not have slept with him at some point, but on her very first day? Somehow I doubt it.
Particularly in the early episodes, there is also the tendency of the show to point out, "Look at those silly people in the past and all the stupid things they said - Isn't it great that we're more enlightened now?" It's also telling that the "nicer" characters such as Don or Peggy are more enlightened in their attitudes, the really nasty stuff comes from the loathsome characters like Pete or the white-haired company boss with the multiple heart attacks.
The program is also very bound to American value systems (obviously, since it's a US show). The constant smoking and drinking is always singled out as a bad thing to the "enlightened" viewers, yet the script sees nothing wrong with Don Draper smoking pot with his beatnik lover and her friends. Coming from a culture where marihuana is considered a lot worse than alcohol (which is accepted) or smoking (which is no longer acceptable, but not nearly as condemned as in the US), this is baffling to me. In fact, I had a hard time believing that an established person like Don Draper would try marihuana at all in that time, even if he sees nothing wrong with alcohol or tobacco, though things might have been different in the US.
The Peggy sleeping with Pete after her first day on the job thing struck me as wrong, too. Not that she might not have slept with him at some point, but on her very first day? Somehow I doubt it.
Cora
Reply
Leave a comment