Mad Men: Culture Clash

Ah, the 60s, a time of sexual revolution, rebellion, and subversive rock and roll. Or at least, that is what the decade would become known for. At the beginning of the decade, the conformism and rigidity of the 50s still reigned. Mad Men begins in 1960, and follows the life of Don Draper, an ad man with a Madison Avenue firm. Unlike Pleasantville, which points out that much of the nostalgia we have for "better days" never actually occurred, Mad Men shows us that maybe the good ol' days weren't so good after all. In Draper's New York, it is a (white) man's world where women and minorities are barely second class citizens and money not only buys everything (except happiness), but people who can do so are idolized.

The series juxtaposes Draper's separate lives at home and work to show how both areas of life were vastly different only 48 years ago. At work, the men of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency spend almost as much time drinking and chasing women as they do working. Higher ups like Don and partner Roger Sterling take long lunches at expensive restaurants, and pay with the company's expense account. Everyone (err, every man) has a full bar in their office, and absolutely EVERYONE always has a cigarette in their hand. Oh, and the workplace banter would probably put the place out of business in modern times after litigating all the sexual harassment suits. But make no mistake, the men of Sterling Cooper are certainly good at what they do; if they weren't, they wouldn't be able to afford all the expensive whiskey, cars, and jewelry for their wives. The women at the office are basically waitresses and servants to the guys. A secretary at Sterling Cooper takes her man's coat and hat at the beginning of the day, gets ice for meetings, and "covers" for the men when they aren't where they are supposed to be. The only woman at the office with any actual power (at least at the beginning of the series) is office manager Joan Holloway, who knows how to use her sexuality to her advantage (that was pretty much all a woman would have as leverage in the workplace back then, because a woman's talent meant nothing).

At home, Don is the king of the castle. His two children worship him and his wife dutifully does what she is told. Betty Draper makes sure to have a hearty dinner ready every night when Don comes home, and doesn't ask questions when he doesn't come home. On the subject of the Draper children, to the unassuming (modern) observer, Don and Betty would seem to be the worst parents ever. At one point, Betty reprimands her daughter for running with a plastic bag over her head. The purpose of the reprimand is that Betty doesn't want Sally to run in the house (but the suffocation risk is fine). The kids mix gin and tonics for their parents, and corporal punishment is is routine. But that is how things were done back then.

After reading that, it may seem like the term "simpler times" would apply, even if the simplicity is derived from less than desirable aspects of society. There were a lot of things going on below the surface that certainly weren't simple, and society tried to keep them below, which created a spiral of complexity. Poor mental health was seen as a sign of weakness, something to be ashamed of. Therapy was for crazies, and if a family member needed to see a psychiatrist, that was guarded information (also, the doctor-patient relationship seems to be a little different back then). Furthermore, men were expected to be "men". It was expected that young guys would get drunk and chase girls; making a fool out of oneself was a badge of honor. This comes out very effectively in two very different ways in two very different characters. Pete Campbell (played by Vincent Kartheiser, who spent a little over a year playing Connor on Angel) is an up-and-coming junior account executive who actually overdoes the man's man bit. He doesn't know when to back off, and this has created a fair amount of emnity between him and his superiors at Sterling Cooper. Maybe my desire for any one from a Joss Whedon show to be likable is painting my interpretation of him, but when Campell sets aside his machismo, he shows that he is a remarkable employee who is struggling to fit in to a culture in the only way he knows how. On the other hand, there is Sal Romano, the head of Sterling Cooper's art department. Sal is very well-liked at the office by both the men and the women. What his coworkers don't know is that he's gay, and despite a few notable hints, none of them ever suspect (at one point, the girls operating the telephones gossip about how dreamy he is). Sadly for Sal, society would reject him if he were to come out, so he pretends to be something he is not and in a series of tragic characters, his story is one of the saddest.

As I said, money buys everything on this series except for happiness. Many of the characters seemingly have everything a person could want; Don, Pete, and Roger are all married to beautiful women, have promising careers, and all the booze they can drink. Their wives are provided for and can do anything they want. But absolutely no one is happy. The men always want more and the women want their men, not the gifts that come from their absence.

Up next: Progress...