Mad Men: Sadomasochism For the Enlightened Modern Person
Filed Under: Recommended Media, TV
This weekend, Sarah and I tucked into the first season of the AMC series Mad Men. The concept of the show is in essence a look at the lives of Madison Avenue advertising executives, their office staff, and their families. Oh, and their mistresses. Infidelity is the fuel that ran Madison Avenue, apparently. The show begins in 1960—one the background plots is the election of Kennedy vs. Nixon and the focal agency has to work for Nixon (without being paid). In the first episode, the audience witnesses enough social injustice in the form of sexism and racism to erase all idealistic notions of the time period. It almost crosses the line into parody territory, and perhaps for some it will. I found myself rolling my eyes by the end of the first episode. As the season goes on, they tone this down a little bit (while cranking up the existentialism).
Much of the show’s appeal is the self-righteous indignation I feel when I see African Americans being treated like 3rd class citizens, children being slapped around by the neighbors, or women being commanded by their husbands like servants. I suspect self-righteous indignation for the liberal may be in short supply with our side taking over things for a few years. I recommend picking up the DVD to everyone looking to keep the flames indignation burning so as to not realize that your anger is all that makes you feel alive and fill the hole inside your soul! It’s working great for me so far.
Beneath the obvious “oh my god, they were SO primitive and evil” aspect of the show, I sympathize with the existential dread that much of the cast feels. No one is happy, despite having it all and living the American Dream. The central thesis of this show at least early on is that the American Dream is hollow and meaningless and has nothing to do with our true happiness.
I didn’t really have any interest in the show until I saw it parodied on Saturday Night Live in some of the better sketches they’ve done in the past few years. Despite never having seen the show, and even through the layer of parody, I was intrigued by the premise of the show. For me, it’s the best thing to come out of Saturday Night Live in years.
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