A few weeks ago... I sent the "Mad Men" Season 1 DVDs to the top of my Netflix Queue and we started watching. I got hooked. . . for several reasons. The writing's great. Numerous moments have taken me back to life as a child. Blink, and you'll miss a host of subtle visual and scripted cultural references that are sometimes just plain funny. There's the not-so-funny elements of excessive tobacco-use, alcohol abuse, philandering, and work-place sexual harassment. While still present in today's world, those things worked themselves out in different ways back then. And while the story sometimes feels like a soap opera, it does capture the realities of the human condition, our brokenness, and our deep yearning for redemption. Lead character Donald Draper is a tragic figure who knows that's the case.Read the rest.
As a youth culture watcher, "Mad Men" has grabbed me because of the way it documents the rise of consumer culture and marketing. For the most part, we have no clue at all how pervasive and compelling the marketing soup that we swim in everyday really is. Watching "Mad Men" is like taking a step-back away from the soup to see what the original marketing-chefs were doing when they were creating the recipe. We not only see the universal human longing for wholeness - something that can only come through Christ - but the ways in which marketing makes redemptive promises it can never fulfill. . . over, and over, and over again.
I have not seen this show yet. Don't watch much TV, but might dive in with this one on Netflix since I have heard so many good things about it. Any other takers?
2 comments:
My wife and I watched all of the first two seasons of Mad Men, often against our better judgment. On some level I fear we began to enjoy the depravity depicted. The social commentary and witty dialogue can lure you into a show that offers many temptations. Be careful!
I concur. We also watched the first season, but it got darker and darker and darker. The depravity is depicted with a tremendous amount of quality and commitment, if that makes sense. We stopped after the first season. Our lives have not been empty without it. ;)
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