The appeal of Mad Men « Northwest Digest

The appeal of Mad Men

By Anton at August 31st, 2009.

After another great episode Sunday night (Peggy smoked marijuana!), it is clear Mad Men is wholly appealing. It appears to have reached the collective conscious of America. Jon Hamm, playing the lead role as “Don Draper”, an ad executive at Sterling Cooper, is, perhaps, the most interesting character on television.

The rest of the characters at Sterling Cooper each have a unique niche in the show and add to the storylines within and outside the agency. The assorted spouses, girlfriends and boyfriends add drama and intrigue to a perfectly slow and evolving narrative. When the topic of Mad Men is raised, the conversation invariably includes the words “stylized” and “sexy” – like so many other period pieces. Somehow though, Mad Men has busted the mold. It’s not a regular television period piece. In that regard, it’s different from regular motion picture period pieces as well. It’s much more than “stylized” and “sexy” and that makes the story and its myriad of plotlines incredibly interesting and thought provoking. The show provides a unique glimpse into the recent past while sending an undeniable message to its viewers.

No doubt, the show is sexy. Set in 1960s New York City, Christina Hendricks as “Joan” and January Jones as Don’s wife “Betty” make sure sex appeal is on the menu. Much of the show’s dialogue barely keeps a lid on the innuendo and often embarrassing behavior of the players. The inclusive yet lonely setting of the City equals a potent cocktail of just-restrained sexuality. Speaking of cocktails, Mad Men has plenty of them and the drinking, without a doubt, adds to the style and inherent appeal of the show. The men on the show, all dressed neatly and stylishly, drink cocktails liberally and smoke cigarettes constantly as they march forward in their path to success (basically searching for the almighty dollar). The women do as well. It is impossible not to notice the propensity for drinking and smoking on the show. Pregnant women also partake. It adds to the style; to the, almost, foreign feeling of the show. Viewers want to scream at Betty for smoking and drinking while pregnant but instead dismiss it as an almost harmless vice for a woman under pressure and wronged many times by her wayward husband, Don. However, sex appeal and style alone do not a successful television drama make. Mad Men must be more than that.

Mad Men provides an exceptional glimpse into the decade of the 60s; a decade often discussed and memorialized on television and in film but never looked at so intimately and in such in a unique way. In most episodes, either via a television or radio in the show, the viewers of Mad Men get a glimpse into world events and how the cast is affected by them. The viewer listens in as the characters discuss Camelot; the White House of President John Kennedy and his beautiful wife Jacqueline. Viewers watch as Sterling Cooper and the City are transfixed and terrified with the events surrounding Cuba and the Soviet Union. Subsequently, the show eases out of the crisis and shows the characters easing out of it as well. In one episode, Don is sitting at his desk reading the newspaper when he is interrupted by a colleague at his office door. When asked if he has a free minute to talk, Don jokes about a minute being all he has. It begs the question: Is Don Draper, a successful, wealthy playboy with a beautiful home, wife and family, scared of the threat of nuclear war? During another revealing series of moments, Don must play peacemaker between a brash and often vulgar comedian and the family behind the production of a popular chip marketed by Sterling Cooper and Don. In perfect Don Draper style, he saves the account, repairs broken relationships and, of course, benefits himself and his firm immeasurably. Don is a savvy business man, a powerful force within a powerful organization; it’s about the bottom line. In other words, he and Sterling Cooper operate under the same motivating factors present today. Further, even though Don and his colleagues didn’t use email or videoconferencing and have no idea what the internet is or the threat of greenhouse gases, how different are they from us? A period piece only works if the viewer can see him or herself in it and yet, at the same time, it must provide an entirely unique perspective on the condition of human nature and the world. The combination of these two essential elements is rare. Thankfully, Mad Men possesses both.

The most recent subplot in the show involves Betty’s father Gene and the family’s inner-battle on how to handle his deteriorating health. Betty’s brother wants Gene sent away to a “place for people like him”. Betty won’t hear of it. Tired of dealing with the issue, Don decides Gene will move in with them but Gene’s home will not be sold, thus removing a large part of Betty’s brother’s motivation for a move in the first place. Now Gene is in the house and acting a little crazy. The entire subplot is not at all unique. It can be argued that the drama surrounding the issue is being blown out of proportion. It is a mundane topic. Nothing about the issue is particularly interesting. Yet, somehow, the viewer is pulled into the storyline. One can’t help but wonder how it will be finally resolved. Will Don eventually give Gene the boot? Will Betty change her mind? Will Gene get better? It is truly unbelievable such a mundane seemingly off-topic plot line is so captivating; unbelievable unless one understands the appeal of Mad Men.

As a period drama, Mad Men is unprecedented. Other than a couple wonderful and truly unique shows on HBO, Mad Men is the best show on television. It is stylish and sexy but it is so much more. It is a glimpse into the Big City in the 1960s. It constantly reveals human shortcomings in an interesting, almost therapeutic way. The behavior of the cast of characters can make the viewer feel better about his or her own shortcomings and feel both empathy and anger for them at the same time. The lives of the characters on Mad Men are very different from the lives of similar Americans today. At the same time, under the surface, no matter the exterior, – thin ties and seer-sucker suits or jeans and t-shirts – the lives involved in Mad Men prove no different than our own.

Tags: Betty Draper, Christina Hendricks, Don Draper, January Jones, Joan, Jon Hamm, Mad Men