I certainly remember "Mad Men." I was enthralled by the story during the first several years of its run. But then it seemed to morph from a depiction of the business world of the 1960s to more of a soap opera probing the personal lives of the characters. Kottke found and posted this video analysis of a key episode in the third year; it will bring back memories to those familiar with the storyline, but will be of little interest to those who haven't seen the series.
I agree with your analysis. The series lost me over time. (By contrast, The Sopranos got stronger and stronger.) What bugs me about Mad Men is the way my feminist friends tend to see it as having documentary-like authority. As if it’s an accurate description of the culture of the time; specifically, male on female disrespect. I’ll agree it’s more accurate than what we see in Bonanza, but as with Bonanza, Mad Men is more an artifact of our time, and our gender wars, than the time depicted in the program.
ReplyDeleteI would respectfully suggest that you didn't live in that time period as a girl/woman, and thus don't actually know how accurate it was.
DeleteSpoiler alert: it was worse than depicted, not better.