A Simpler Time.

I started watching the first season of a show called Mad Men last night.  I had been hearing good things about it, but hadn’t made much of an effort to find it.  It’s on AMC, so it wasn’t like I was going to stumble across it.  The show follows a group of ad men at a Madison Avenue ad agency in the early 60s.  The writing is excellent (executive producer and writer of “The Sopranos” Matthew Weiner), and the characters are very interesting.  Several semi-recognizable actors fill out the cast, and I think the show has a real future.

Boy.  Things sure have changed since the late 50s and early 60s.  Back then, it was all about the importance of family.  Think “Donna Reed” and “Leave it to Beaver.”  Men and women knew their roles.  We had prayer in school.  Mom made apple pie, and everyone walked to school (uphill, I think).  Men were clean-cut and women wore dresses.  Children sat around and listened to swell radio broadcasts AFTER they had done their homework.

Those were the days. 

Traditional church goers often see this as a time in American history when our country was pure and God-fearing.  If only things could be like they were back then.  While I do think that it was generally a more innocent time, I think part of that was simply an issue of people being more sheltered and uninformed than they are today.  Maybe that was a good thing - I don’t know.  On the outside, things certainly seemed simpler.  We didn’t have to worry about all of this political correctness nonsense, we weren’t worried about being accused of sexual harrassment, and most women kept their opinions to themselves.

Sounds great, doesn’t it.

There are some hilarious scenes in Mad Men that emphasize how things have changed.  I realize that certain things are played up for TV, but if even a fraction of it is true, it’s amazing.  One scene has a mom driving through town with her two kids constantly climbing between the front seat and the back.  She ends up having a minor accident, and the kids are found crammed down (but okay and smiling) into the floor of the backseat - a tangle of arms and legs.  Another scene has a small girl walking into the kitchen with a dry-cleaning bag over her head; her mom quickly warns her that she “better not have dumped out the dry cleaning on the floor.”   Then there’s the smoking.  Everyone is smoking.  They’re smoking in bed, at breakfast, in the elevator, in meetings, at dinner, during sex, after sex, and probably while they’re sleeping.

The portrayal of the culture at the ad agency is particularly alarming.  If you were a woman, you were a secretary.  And if you were a secretary, you’d better be prepared to serve the important role of showing off (at least) your assets and stroking the considerable male egos if you were to have any hope of keeping your position.  As a woman, you were expected to accept the comments, the pinches, the leers and the personal afronts that were clearly part of your job role.  If you were white, male and management, - the world was your oyster.

I know it’s Hollywood, and I realize that nostalgia plays a role in how people view that time in our history.  But, I’m glad I didn’t come along until later. 

I appreciate the progress we have made since then - and, hey, I’m a white guy…