Mad Men

by Will on October 22, 2009

This excellent Atlantic article on the show echoes a few criticisms first aired in an equally excellent Culture11 review last year. Unfortunately, the original article is lost to the Internets, but I found a decent summary at Postmodern Conservative.

Tagged as: culture11, Mad Men, television, The Atlantic

Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.

{ 7 comments }

1 E.D. Kain October 22, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Will – check your second link.

Re: Mad Men, I’ve only seen the first three episodes. I thought it was a bit much, quite frankly. The sexism is too overt, and I’m not sure that its portrayal is accurate enough. It’s almost too malicious, and not offhanded enough. I don’t know. I just think to the movies I’ve seen from that time. There was plenty of sexism, but it was … different than how Mad Men does it. Nonetheless, I’m intrigued enough to probably keep watching.

2 Mark October 23, 2009 at 12:13 am

I agree with your sense of it being a bit too much. I believe it is justified in the sense that it has to to get a lot about the time across in 1 hour. I think the time constraint condones a little hyperbole/exaggeration.

I am curious about the movies you are referring to because I certainly share your opinion and would like to know specifically which movies you have in mind.

3 E.D. Kain October 23, 2009 at 6:57 am

Well I watched a lot of Cary Grant movies and film noire…so things like Arsenic and Old Lace, Vertigo, Sunset Blvd., and just a bunch of other films. I mean, in most of them there’s some inherent or underlying or structural sexism, but it’s almost never, ever so overt.

4 Mark October 23, 2009 at 8:20 pm

I have a feeling that Madison Ave. in the early 60′s was more overt. The rendition may not be all too far from reality though I am sure there is a little exaggeration. Anyway, even considering this, the show is stunning. I think it really does belong in the upper echelon of American produced television.

5 James Joyner October 22, 2009 at 12:37 pm

Your PMC link goes to TLOOG’s editing window.

6 James Joyner October 22, 2009 at 12:37 pm

Ah, never mind — it’s been fixed. Was true of the RSS version.

7 Will October 22, 2009 at 12:39 pm

Yeah, sorry about that. The curse of tabbed browsing.

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