I just finished watching the first season of Mad Men today after borrowing it from a friend. In the last few years, I’ve heard a lot of buzz, but was never intrigued by the premise. I’m just not that interested in watching 1960s ad executives philander, you know? After a few years of that, though, I admitted that I was interested in seeing what the hype was all about.
It’s a great show. The characters are incredibly well thought out and brilliantly performed. The production design is truly remarkable. I wasn’t alive in the 60s, but, after an hour watching Mad Men, I feel like I would recognize cultural artifacts from the time just as quickly as someone raised then. The cinematography is absolutely incredible. Always intentional and interesting, a still from this show could be painted on a canvas and be at home in a museum.
Despite how much I’ve enjoyed this show, I can’t quite figure out what makes it tick, story-wise. Sure, the main character is great. Don Draper is a man that all women want and all men want to be – calm, bold, suave, creative, and action-oriented. Like Indiana Jones before him or James Bond before him, audiences are drawn to characters that are just more interesting than us. Except Don doesn’t raid temples or save the world. In each episode, his desire line is significantly more muted. In fact, in many episodes, he just doesn’t seem to have one.
The same could be said for many of the characters. Very rarely is there an episode-long desire guiding the action of a particular character. This really leads to some muddy stories. There are episodes that seem to drag on forever because nothing is really moving forward – at least, not at a television pace.
And yet, it works. I kept on watching episode after episode.
I’ve got some thoughts on why I kept coming back for more, but I’m curious to know what you think. Have any of you seen Mad Men? Why do you like it? What kept/keeps you coming back to watch more?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Why does Mad Men work?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It's a good question. I think there are a lot of reasons why the show works, and if I had to summarize it, I'd say it's because it succeeds in portraying the time period with authenticity while maintaining a modern perspective. It shows the characters living within their worlds, but gives a nod to the fact that we know more of the complete story. For instance, themes like feminism, masculinity vs. misogyny, racism, mental health, disabilities, consumer behavior, technology, etc. All those perceptions were shifting back then, and we get to watch the drama unfold, knowing how a lot of it ends up.
But the show's strongest point is in focusing on the characters who are going through these changing times/perceptions. We see the struggle of people whose personal experiences collide with the social norms and mores of what "ought to be" and are left with the task of figuring it all out. And again, since we're 50 years ahead, we know how it all shakes out, and we end up rooting for these characters - hoping they'll come out of it all knowing what we know... If there's hope that they make it through, then there's hope for us as we deal with our own culturally-unique struggles.
I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it :-P
I'm almost done with the fourth season, and the show has kept me up until 6AM on multiple occasions. What has kept me intrigued is the intricate backstory of Don Draper. The bit you see in the first season is literally only the tip of the iceberg known as Mr. Draper.
The interaction between the characters is also very attractive to me. I wish people could be more open and honest and forward with each other like they were in the 60's (or at least how they show it to have been in the 60's). I understand it is a TV show and it's dialogue, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's how people communicated back then. Nowadays, everyone is so damn afraid to express themselves, because they don't know what other people are going to think of them or their opinions. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT PEOPLE THINK.
also, as a footnote, this show makes me want to drink and smoke all the time. Just sayin'.
Jon, I think you hit it pretty well. For me, a lot of why I keep coming back is the dramatic irony. We, as an audience, know how all this is going to turn out. Certainly, there's the "this" of culture. We are, like you say, at the other end of 50 years of cultural advancement(?).
I think more to the point of each story, though, is the moral dramatic irony (if that's even a thing). Characters are backing themselves into a corner. Very. Slowly. We want to see what happens when they finally have to deal with the consequences of their actions. The show is filled, for the most part, with cheating, lying, scheming, selfish people. We have been conditioned to see that, eventually, all of those things will catch up to characters in stories. Don can't keep cheating forever until his home life and all he loves is rocked. Pete can't keep being a snake. We've already seen in season one that Sterling paid for his lifestyle. The thing that keeps me coming back, I think, is waiting to see how it crumbles around everyone else.
Adam, you're right. Don Draper is a mystery. But, to me, he's not that deep. He's not like Jack, from Lost, for example. I knew Jack had to be hiding something. Don is hiding plenty, but I'm not as intrigued to see what that is. Just to see him get caught.
Thanks for the thoughts, gentlemen.
Post a Comment