Personally I disagree that it feels empty. The period it examines has a rich set of defining issues (e.g. post-war trauma, feminism, rise of consumerism, generational shifts, automation) with several character arcs that I found compelling and realistic.
Agreed. It felt far more realistic to me too. The characters in Breaking Bad, Sopranos, etc... most people aren't that complex; for some reason, they fail to hold my focus. Mad Men and The Wire are more realistic to me. (Not surprising, as The Wire is of course based on real life accounts).
It took me giving it a second chance to see past this.
The first time I watched it I didn’t get it, a bunch of office drama, cheating and pettiness mixed in a timepiece. Great visuals but that’s it.
What I understood better the second time(and I suck at putting this into words) is that it’s a show where you have to appreciate the metadata more than the main story. Its about the changes in the times, the contrast between what life seemed to be and what life actually was, the psychological changes as time progressed, the “tough looking but house of cards psychology” if everything at the time is what got me to appreciate it more the second time.
I've always took the view that a show about the birth of consumer society from the point of view of ad executives is a brilliant take. We get to witness the machinery of post war capitalism taking shape. If the same concept was applied to investment bankers in the 80's it could be pretty interesting.
Don is kinda like the past, trying to adapt. Struggling with a new identity, escaping past trauma. I think the character embodies the old fashioned behavior (as himself and Betty refer to themselves often), while Peggy is the youth of the 60, stumbling into an old world and at the same time making it her own because many of the epochal changes resonate with her. Her walk into the 70s ready to shake things up at the end of the series is amazing.
I think the main point of the show was how fast American culture changed in the 1960s rather about the characters. The beginning seasons in particular set in the early 1960s focused a lot on how openly people said racist and sexist things and how all the advertising execs were white men, with women only at the secretary level, but as the decade goes on, women, and finally people of color begin to show up at the executive level and society begins to resemble much more our society. Despite cultural changes since, the 1960s probably were the decade of the most cultural change in the shortest time.
The show also followed several decades of demonization of the changes that happened in the 60s. I sometimes think of Mad Men as making the point that the 60s happened for (good) reasons.
Mad Men's popularity hinged on style over substance. There was a semi-interesting set of stories, but people mainly tuned in to experience an early 60's time capsule.
My mom watched the show because it reminded her of when she started work in an office, up to and including the casual sexual harassment. She wasn't so fond of that part but "that's the way it was back then". Similar to how cops claim The Shield was the most accurate depiction of policing.
> Mad Men's popularity hinged on style over substance
To the contrary, all of the fan base at the time hinged on character developments! Married Pete got Peggy pregnant in the first episode, was anything ever going to come of that? would Don ever stoop so low as to make a pass at Joan? would Roger and Joan's series-long tryst blow up their respective relationships? etc etc
A lot of it is left un-shown, as each season jumps ahead in time. You slowly figure out what happened during those jumps by inference. I thought it was great.
So we're just going to pretend that Season 5 of The Wire never happened? Because that story sure stuck out like a sore thumb.
My point is, all shows have their ups and downs. Sopranos/BB/Wire were great and definitely kickstarted the golden age of television, but Mad Men just hits differently and I think I now know why: the visual richness and spectacular screenwriting/character development.
You saw one middle episode of a largely serialized show with no context as to the characters or overarching plot lines and you expected to be satisfied?
That's like flipping to a random chapter in the middle of the Harry Potter series and saying "I don't get what they're doing with the latin and these wands, and what's with the owl? Who's Ron? We never met him in this random chapter, whole book series is just unsatisfying."
abm53|3 years ago
jollyllama|3 years ago
culopatin|3 years ago
The first time I watched it I didn’t get it, a bunch of office drama, cheating and pettiness mixed in a timepiece. Great visuals but that’s it.
What I understood better the second time(and I suck at putting this into words) is that it’s a show where you have to appreciate the metadata more than the main story. Its about the changes in the times, the contrast between what life seemed to be and what life actually was, the psychological changes as time progressed, the “tough looking but house of cards psychology” if everything at the time is what got me to appreciate it more the second time.
namaria|3 years ago
Don is kinda like the past, trying to adapt. Struggling with a new identity, escaping past trauma. I think the character embodies the old fashioned behavior (as himself and Betty refer to themselves often), while Peggy is the youth of the 60, stumbling into an old world and at the same time making it her own because many of the epochal changes resonate with her. Her walk into the 70s ready to shake things up at the end of the series is amazing.
boppo1|3 years ago
jhbadger|3 years ago
sylens|3 years ago
apress|3 years ago
sybercecurity|3 years ago
My mom watched the show because it reminded her of when she started work in an office, up to and including the casual sexual harassment. She wasn't so fond of that part but "that's the way it was back then". Similar to how cops claim The Shield was the most accurate depiction of policing.
lelandfe|3 years ago
To the contrary, all of the fan base at the time hinged on character developments! Married Pete got Peggy pregnant in the first episode, was anything ever going to come of that? would Don ever stoop so low as to make a pass at Joan? would Roger and Joan's series-long tryst blow up their respective relationships? etc etc
A lot of it is left un-shown, as each season jumps ahead in time. You slowly figure out what happened during those jumps by inference. I thought it was great.
dirtybird04|3 years ago
My point is, all shows have their ups and downs. Sopranos/BB/Wire were great and definitely kickstarted the golden age of television, but Mad Men just hits differently and I think I now know why: the visual richness and spectacular screenwriting/character development.
Koshkin|3 years ago
scottLobster|3 years ago
That's like flipping to a random chapter in the middle of the Harry Potter series and saying "I don't get what they're doing with the latin and these wands, and what's with the owl? Who's Ron? We never met him in this random chapter, whole book series is just unsatisfying."