tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post6708362027520169042..comments2024-03-22T20:34:13.792-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: The Popular Culture Pre-Inaugural Oasis Day 2: Of the Good Ol' Days and Mad MenLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-65981158297313031662009-01-21T10:47:00.000-06:002009-01-21T10:47:00.000-06:00Aimai, your parents and mine probably crossed path...Aimai, your parents and mine probably crossed paths.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-18156013886959298012009-01-19T12:38:00.000-06:002009-01-19T12:38:00.000-06:00I agree with this post, which brilliantly describe...I agree with this post, which brilliantly describes what's wrong with Mad Men despite so much of what is right, and also with Liza's post up above. This is a period of tremendous, if sometimes hidden, self discovery for women, gays, african americans--lots of people who were forced to the fringes of politics and mainstream culture but who were struggling to define a new reality for themselves. On the one hand, individuals caught up in the process might not realize their historical significance (which is the tack the show takes, that all these people are essentially uncritically and unconsciously acting out their situations and their lives) but on the other there's plenty of evidence that people were wrestling with this stuff very consciously and had been for a long time.<BR/><BR/>I look at the whole thing slightly askew--the characters are just a little bit older than my parents but my parents occupied a completely different world. A jewish world of politics and science. How "the war" was thought of--which war, btw? WWII or Korea, we keep trying to figure out which war the main character was in. How science, government, the academy, progress, etc...were thought of was a complex and multi stranded thing in american society even if the misogyny, racism, religious bigotry etc... were still on the front burner for most subgroups and classes.<BR/><BR/>At any rate, you've put your finger on why although I enjoyed what I saw of the first season I wasn't sure I wanted to keep watching. Because its not emotionally or morally or historically complex enough. Because it squints narrowly and shows only a few points of view. I would have loved an "upstairs/downstairs" or in this case "uptown/downtown/midtown" view of things with big chunks devoted to the african american experience, jews and gays, and as part of an equal split the white shoe advertising firms. That would have been fascinating and well worth it. But hard to do, no doubt.<BR/><BR/>aimai<BR/>(my husband's father, btw, was in one of the many "jewish" advertising firms that employed the men rejected by the kind of firm Mad Men depicts.)aimaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956073425680585780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-69786879049373303462009-01-17T11:02:00.000-06:002009-01-17T11:02:00.000-06:00The point might be to critique modern class race e...The point might be to critique modern class race etc. but I agree with Lady Zora that it does a bad job. <BR/><BR/>For example, why depict, as the only gay character, a self hating closeted Italian American gay man with no visible ties to the vibrant and thriving gay cultures of New York City in the early sixties? Closeted at work? Sure, although an art director? Come on. Salvatore could have been networking and socializing with 99% of all the other advertising art directors in NYC. <BR/><BR/>It's as if the writers and producers only know a superficial history of the oppression of gays but nothing of actual gay history. Couldn't they even have watched Boys In The Band?<BR/><BR/>The same applies to the other characters in their varying identities.<BR/><BR/>What the show does do - fabulously- is costumes. Wow. I read that the costume designer even insists that the ladies' foundation garments are historically correct. That's awesome. Ditto for the sets.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-40900208417731207612009-01-15T21:25:00.000-06:002009-01-15T21:25:00.000-06:00I'm puzzled as to why people haven't commented on ...I'm puzzled as to why people haven't commented on this one.<BR/><BR/>Since I've never seen the show, I can't talk specifics. I wonder, though...might the point of the show be to critique modern class, race, and gender relations? The 50s setting could simply allow for some critical distance.gordon gartrellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07453017150507048961noreply@blogger.com