“Mad Men,” the hit television series about Madison Avenue’s high-living advertising execs circa 1960 (AMC, Sundays at 10), has won critical acclaim and is now in its fourth season.
But at the risk of stirring up a hornet’s nest, let’s consider this question: Is entertainment this good bad for us? To put it another way: Does a well-crafted portrait of sustained moral decline teach us something we need to know — or does it lead us to feast voyeuristically on depravity?
A meticulous recreation of the social dynamics, lingo, apparel and gender roles of the early 1960s, “Mad Men” inspires an army of bloggers debating the office politics, familial struggles and extramarital flings of the generally amoral employees of one ad agency. Its gifted, self-destructive creative director, Don Draper, serves as the central protagonist.
Don draws our interest and sympathy because he’s a classic “self-made” American success story. The illegitimate son of a prostitute, he later assumed a dead Army officer’s identity while serving in the Korean War. Now he’s a rising star on Madison Avenue, the man with his finger on the pulse of a seismic shift in American culture.
His agency is in the business of seduction: priming a newly prosperous nation to develop an insatiable appetite for consumer goods and shifting “lifestyle” options. Even our democracy is being transformed: The first season depicts the impact of JFK’s superior campaign ads on the outcome of the presidential election.
Don possesses a gift for spin, not industry. He coaxes skeptical clients to sign lucrative contracts and weak-willed women to relax their morals. For a while, he performs the same magic on his spouse, Betty. She’s the suburban wife who greets him with a cocktail and a hot dinner after work and cares for their two offspring with the maternal love he never experienced. Miraculously, she doesn’t seem curious about the nights he stays in town (or so he initially believes).
Of course, Don isn’t the only American man to embrace the modern conceit that a person can maintain two identities — devoted family man and after-hours swinger — and sidestep the contradiction.
Many fans are mesmerized by the antics of Don and his like precisely because their circumstances help explain how some buttoned-down grown-ups, like their parents, ended up in divorce court.
The show’s creators are upfront about Don’s internal contradiction. He wants the stable family life he never had, but he can’t or won’t sacrifice much to secure it. The visuals accompanying the opening credits depict a man falling past Manhattan skyscrapers into an abyss below. The rest of the ad agency’s employees aren’t far behind, including the secretaries that are straight out of Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl.
“Mad Men” offers complex storytelling. In one episode, Don conducts a hotel tryst with a stewardess and her signature TWA-wings pin ends up in his suitcase. His daughter finds the wings, and Betty pins them onto the girl’s blouse. The sequence suggests that Don’s in serious denial: He can’t protect his family from the consequences of his infidelity.
The show’s audience, then, has been primed for the ongoing debacle that defines Don Draper’s existence. The historically authentic characters are props for the notion that we’re witnessing a tipping point in American culture and maybe there’s no turning back. Every significant character seems morally compromised.
As I watched my first season of “Mad Men,” I thought about Michael Corleone, the tragic protagonist of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola’s classic film adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel. Michael is the war-hero son of a Mafia boss who loses his way after killing his father’s enemies.
The Godfather reveals the power of a family’s legacy on one man’s conscience. But Michael’s fall from grace occurs within a deeply spiritual framework. The sacraments are available, but Michael has placed himself above the moral law. In one memorable sequence, the camera cuts between Michael performing his duties as godfather during the baptism of his infant nephew and Corleone henchmen carrying out multiple assassinations of the family’s enemies.
In “Mad Men,” Don and the rest of the office are on their own. God doesn’t surface during the fast-paced banter. Meanwhile, out in the suburbs, Betty Draper drifts through an antiseptic existence that deprives her own spousal and maternal commitments of any real moral significance.
No doubt, “the Sixties” marked the dawn of a more secular era that encouraged moral disorder. American social institutions — families and churches included — were in need of renewal after the strain of two world wars. Betty Draper hopes that therapy will soothe her soul.
Meanwhile, “Mad Men” discounts the power of love and hope, divine and human. The ensuing vacuum lets everyone off the hook, the audience included.
A real tragedy, of course, hinges on a catharsis. But a complete resolution to Don’s hellish plight isn’t possible when a television series depends upon a constant cycle of hotel trysts, corrupt career moves and marriage breakups to keep its audience entertained and the blogosphere engaged.
Before continuing along this slouch toward conventional TV titillation, Matthew Weiner, the creator behind “Mad Men,” would do well to meditate on Pope John Paul II’s 1999 Letter to Artists.
“Society needs artists,” the Holy Father wrote. “The particular vocation of individual artists decides the arena in which they serve and points as well to the tasks they must assume, the hard work they must endure and the responsibility they must accept. Artists who are conscious of all this know too that they must labor without allowing themselves to be driven by the search for empty glory or the craving for cheap popularity, and still less by the calculation of some possible profit for themselves. There is therefore an ethic, even a ‘spirituality’ of artistic service, which contributes in its way to the life and renewal of a people.”
For their part, rapt Catholic fans of this show — and they are many — have to consider whether the “Mad Men” habit loosens our grip on reality rather than helping us, as John Paul put it, make of our life “a work of art, a masterpiece.”
Anybody ready to change the channel?
Joan Frawley Desmond writes from Chevy Chase, Maryland.
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It depends on what you watch. If you’re watching old sitcoms like I Love Lucy then it’s very good. If you’re watching more recent shows like Sex in the City, it’s very bad.
For the most part, game shows, certain sports like billards (pool) and bowling, and infomercials are about as safe television as you can get. Also most cartoons that us baby boomers grew up with are a pretty safe bet your brain won’t be morally corrupted anytime soon.
Finally, with the exception of some of the immodest outfits, Archie Comics is comic relief for most of today’s youth. Then there’s always Peanuts.
Speaking of jp2’s letter to artists, he also wrote this: “Even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption.” Just saying. (I haven’t seen mad men.)
You must not watch the show. Betty Draper (now Betty Frances) shows no love for Don’s children. In fact, she is absolutely abusive to them.
Our morals are only in jeopardy from watching shows like Mad Men if we are not convicted in them. I am horrified by some of what happens on Mad Men, but I watch it because like all art, even the most horrific, it makes you think about yourself, and about the world, and reminds you of the dangers inherent in living “of” the world.
I’ve never watched an episode of “Mad Men” as from the beginning it didn’t seem to involve space or time travel (or ghosts). If a show doesn’t contain any of these, it’s a tough-sell for me.
Anyone looking for a slick and stylish hour-long drama (sans space/time-travel and ghosts) should look into USA’s “White Collar”. The show promotes the virtues of friendship, comaradarie, and trust (building and maintaining trust is actually one of the core themes of the show: whenever one of the main characters intentionally misleads another character, there are always consequences) and it also has (at least in the first season, before Tiffani-Amber Thiessen went off the show for a bit on maternity leave) probably one of the strongest, most positive portrayals of marriage in any prime-time drama currently on the air.
From the opening sequence where a silhouetted man falls headlong through space, sliding off a shapely female foot, to the end of each episode where we see each character ever more alone and separated from the others, there is no illusion that a life of material success, limitless sex, booze, and the power to go with the power suits is one of great satisfaction. Who would really want to be Don? So handsome, urbane, creative, potent at work and in bed—all at the price of forfeiting intimacy and losing his family to his ambitions? Or poor, beautiful, brittle, disappointed Betty who can’t see beyond the surface of things? Or Joan, gifted with a magnificent femininity, but unhappy in her marriage to a real jerk and increasingly irrelevant at work? Or Peggy, who has married the job, and won professionalism at the cost of love and intimacy? There isn’t a single character who knows how to love in a selfless way or who IS loved, genuinely, by anyone else in the show. This is godless secular materialism, all dressed up in beautiful clothes, and even more chilling for all the pretense at success. Some shows, like this one, work so well because of what they leave out. They give the viewer some way to participate, to put him or her self in the world of the characters and then to decide if he or she would be willing to live in that moral vacuity. The show never pretends that these people have fulfilling intimate and spiritual lives. B16 warns us against godless secularism all the time. This is part of what he means. How, we should ask ourselves when we watch Mad Men, can these characters be redeemed? What would grace be like in their lives? The writers moved Don forward a little bit towards self-recognition this past week when he begins to swim to clear his head and to journal to know his thoughts. All the other characters are brought up against their limitations as well. But I don’t think any of them will end up at a Communion rail. Only Peggy has organized religion (Catholicism) in her background. But God can redeem us even without the great help of the sacraments. Those of us who are Catholic should learn from this show to appreciate more than ever what faith has meant and can mean in our lives. But Don is also loved by God, and meant to be saved from himself, the world, the flesh and the devil. Let’s watch and see if it happens.
Not having cable makes it easy to miss all of this. At first our decision was a financial one as we were just starting out and now (over 20 years later) it remains financial as we just cannot imagine spending that much money on something where we would only use about 10% of the product (# of channels we would watch vs. the number of channels in any package). It would be like buying a gallon of milk, pouring one glass to drink and then pouring the rest down the drain.
Making do with ‘regular’ TV and programs/movies only available on-line limits our choices (my husband suffers a bit every football season) but we’ve found we can manage quite well without knowing any of these people. The question to ask is does watching any of this make you a better person and is it really the best use of your time? I’m not against TV but I think too many of us turn on the TV as more of a default mechanism at the end of the day, during the baby’s nap, etc. rather than as an active decision that what I am going to see is going to be really good/funny/life-changing/beneficial. Just a thought.
I’m not against TV but I think too many of us turn on the TV as more of a default mechanism at the end of the day, during the baby’s nap, etc. rather than as an active decision that what I am going to see is going to be really good/funny/life-changing/beneficial. Just a thought.
Yep! It’s called “unwinding”. :-)
You completely miss the point of this show. No one’s idolizing the characters. The audience knows they’re watching empty people who are MISSING what should matter most in their lives. Showing the painful results of Godlessness is often infinitely more powerful than the facile faith of more easily-digested Christian tripe. There’s a void in Don Draper, one he tries desperately to fill. He fails again and again precisely because he’s trying to solve his problems in the absolute wrong ways. I’d love to have the man’s talent, but I couldn’t stand his empty life.
Sin in this show is often presented as tragedy on the purely secular level. The storytelling is phenomenal. The acting is superb. A deservedly-acclaimed show that speaks the truth about sin does good for our culture. The show should also be commended for avoiding the gratuitous nudity and violence common in the cable world.
I struggle with myself with these same issues each time I watch the show.
Why? It’s great entertainment, the people are beautiful and glamourous, and it fascinatingly interweaves the history of the times. It also shows how seductive and deceptively beautiful sin is. On the other hand, a thinking person concerned with morality can’t help but deeply regret the decline and disintegration of their lives. Will any of them, ultimately, see the Light? I don’t think Matthew Weiner is too interested in that storyline.
Victor - you are right. It is called unwinding and I’m not against that either. I am just reminding all of us that sometimes what we are choosing (or not choosing but just turning on) might not be good for us. Let just be be active in what we do, even recreationally (call it unwinding, downtime, destress, whatever). You, for example, actively choose the sci-fi type of unwinding and I’ll join you in reruns of almost any of the Star Trek series! I’ll bring my great guacamole and some chips, you provide the beverage! ;-)
The ads alone were enough to dissuade me from watching the show. Ironic, don’t you think?
There’s very little on television that is worth allowing into your home, regardless of how much “critical acclaim” a program gets.
I know the “topic” here is specifically the show MadMen..but generally it
is about the culture of tv and its effects on the spiritual lives of the
Catholic (family). In all this commentary there is no mention of the best
tv has to offer…EWTN! No commercials and excellent programming..never
have to worry about being offended, the children being exposed to un-suitable programs, and best of all you can use your mind and learn much
about not only your faith but the news in general ( The World Over with Raymond Arroyo) This is TV worth watching! Do yourself a favor and google
EWTN for a list of all it has to offer ..and program times. Personally I
love Dale Auquist’s show on Chesterton…Fr Benedict Groeschell Saturday Night Live..and Father John Corapi’s taped talks. On the lighter side there is programming that showcases some great music and Saturday am is
given over to the youngsters. Many good older movies can be watched as
well as world coverage of pertinent news events. Check it out! ps I have
not watched Mad Men but I have seen enough here to know that it is
really a waste of valuble time…even though I appreciate there are times
when one needs to “veg out” or want to follow their favorite sports team.
I have to say, those were all interesting points. With regards to Jason’s post, all I can say is that one man’s trash is another man’s art.
No, I love this show because it shows consequences for actions done. Because Don has been unfaithful, he loses his wife to another man. His ex-wife is ignoring the children, or even abusing the little girl, and as a consequence she is suffering emotional distress and is seeing a psychiatrist.
Because of his drinking habits, on this last episode (he got drunk earlier) he seems to be assessing his life and wanting to make some changes.
It also shows how women were treated in the office during this period, highly accurate although I sure wouldn’t want to agree with women’s lib.
So, none of the characters are getting away with anything. The British ad man lost his family, and most of these guys get divorced, a result of too much drinking and in some cases being work aholics.
There is so much JUNK on TV, I usually read or watch EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network),
and some occasional news.
Normal TV has become a waste of time if not sinful - promoting the gay lifestyle, adultary, fornication, immodest dress and activity bordering on porn, etc.
Even the History Channel is wrong a portion of the time - so its not History.
Regarding safeguarding our Minds and Souls - and those of our families -remember “Garbage in, Garbage out”.
EWTN is wonderful, and I agree with you Edward. However, I do enjoy some of the other shows (not Sex in the City ). I still like some of the others like NCIS, White Collar, and Closer, as well as the CSI shows.
I grew up with some of the old comedies, and they were funny but none of the shows now could hold up with the old Jack Benny shows, Red Skeleton, George Burns, among others and of course Bishop Sheen.
I do believe though there is a lot more immorality on during the soap operas during the day, and shows like Oprah I don’t watch either.
I don’t know how old you are, but I am a senior, and worked at a radio station (non-rock) during the sixties and I can tell you that it was like Mad Men. The sales people fooled around, affairs were going on. Only thing they didn’t do was drink in public but behind closed doors, and they treated the women there just like they do on “Mad Men”. So this is why I like this show and also when the characters find out the sinful paths they’ve chosen for themselves. Life then was definitely not like “Ozzie and Harriet”, at least in the workplace.
Right on Edward!!!! The junk that we watch in “the name” of entertainment or justification we are learning the lesson that actions have sometimes disastrous consequences is called justification for titilating minds with drivil poured out by the godless minds that write this stuff..it is easy mindless voyeurism. How we spend our time in leisure is our own personal choice…and it can become an occasion for sin if we are not careful. Read what St Paul has said on what our minds should focus…on what is good, what is holy, on what is from above…if we want to follow Christ and be saved. Holiness is not just for an hour on Sunday! Be careful about what you allow to come into your homes via the mass media including tv programming. Be extra careful if you have children in the house! I know to some I will sound like a “killjoy” out to ruin your fun but if one truly believes oneself on a journey toward eternal life should we not be concerned more about the time we waste as well as the time we move forward toward our goal of eternal life with the All Perfect?
If the shows you watch, Shamrock, are an occasion of sin, don’t watch them. Being female, I don’t lust after the females on Mad Men, nor think that the men on the show are ideal husbands or fathers, but that’s just the way it was in some areas during the sixties.
If I had children or grandchildren in the house, these programs definitely would not be their viewing experience,
However, I do pray during the week (Rosary) and sacrifice. As far as I’m concerned, the network news shows, and some of the PBS selections are far worse than Mad Men. They idolize current celebrities with no morals. Even the Disney Channel is not like it used to be.
Pope Paul and the Church says to choose the programs we watch wisely, and I do. Father Corapi, Journey Home, and Sunday Night Live are among my favorite programs.
But I do suggest that if you don’t like Mad Men and some of the others, and these shows are an occasion of sin don’t watch them. I for one, don’t get an urge to drink or smoke, let alone have an affair after I have watched this show. I am only reminded of my husband’s days as a newscaster to know that these situations are sadly enough true. However, some of the other shows show worse things like gay immorality (I never watch these) promiscuous behavior (on any sit com) and slanted anti-Catholic news on the network shows. I surely hope you don’t watch these!
It is good to know sometimes what you are against in “Spiritual Warfare”. I would not be surprised if at the end of this series, all have either broken marriages, careers, or serious problems with alcoholism.
Sadly enough though, this show is a representation of the early sixties, and it just goes to show when all of our moral troubles began.
If “Don Draper” the star of this show should suddenly realize he is on the wrong life track after all, it will be a good ending.
I got tired of explaining to my kids how TV commercials were degrading and how plots were contrived by screenwriters to make evil appear glamorous. So I stopped watching TV four years ago, and the kids also stopped, of their own accord. It now feels like we have a lot more time together. It’s been wonderful.
Rosemary…all I am saying is our is time is short,,eternity is forever and we should not focus or squander our time on the journey with what amounts to voyeurism into the salacious offerings of reality tv..and I remind us again what St Paul has said what we are to focus our minds upon.
Yes your are right that the 60’s of the last century began the downward spiral and has brought us to the place we are today with broken homes, marriages and spirits. How more uplifting it is to focus on the good than the bad..not in a polyanna way but on the things that will bring us back from the brink. I admire Will for getting the tv mindset out of his life and focusing his time with his family! He might want to turn to EWTN to
add enrichment to their lives…and give an example to his children of how the media can be used for the good! MadMen is not the only worthless tv programming…but this is the focus of the article. Not all tv is bad…we have to use discernment in choosing what we watch…and not fall prey to
the “everybody is doing it” kind of mentality.
No one doubts that alcoholism, adultrous affairs, sleazy business tactics, etc are among society’s ills. It is the “glamorization” and the deadening effect that the constant drum-beat of this form of “entertainment” without balance has upon the conscience that is objectionable. I have not seen (nor do I have any desire) Mad Men show…if it is all that it is purported to be I cannot understand any Christian wasting the precious hours of life on such drivel. You who have watched it and claim it has redeeming characteristics have not convinced me that it is strictly entertainment and even enlightening morally. That sounds adolescent to me and something like my teenagers would try to “pull” to justify something
that is actually and probably endangering the life of their soul…even if in only small increments! Why play with fire…and encourage the ratings of these shows that have little redeeming value and often much to endanger one’s sanctity. Can you imagine any saint spending their lives in front
of television…well, only EWTN or its equivilent…maybe! They would more likely be found serving one another in this difficult life…as we are meant to do.and finding their leisure in more wholesome activities. I know for the die-hard tv fan this will sound overly pious and practically speaking impossible….then read Will’s comments…it is not impossible
to have a good life ...without television. After all most of humanity has
done just that…and accomplished a lot more for that matter!
I know I might be to sensitive but I hope Shamrock wasn’t telling anyone what to watch.
No Mark, I am speaking of discernment…not control! This weekend the Pope will be cannonizing a true man of God, John Henry Newman, who spoke to the developement of conscience according to the teachings of the Church. Without a proper conscience one cannot develop an intelligent sense of discernment….and easily fall prey to all the social ills plaguing our society today.
No, I was speaking to discernment ....not about control!
I do believe Shannon that you are sincere in your comments. However, if you have never watched a show, it seems to me that judging someone else’s views is a little prejudicial.
I for one, think that the news shows are far worse and definitely most of the reality shows. Maybe because I did work in an office though, I do find that Mad Men does show a realistic scene of what really went on. I am 67 years old, and I think I can make up my mind if a show is filthy,and turn the thing off.
When i was in parochial high school in the late fifties, we were urged to view TV, movie, and books with a critical eye. I have never watched “The Sopranos” because of the foul language and glorification of the mob.
Discernment is part of TV viewing. Many programs such as “South Park”, “The Access(on during the day) “Modern Family” “The Ellen Show” and Oprah are far worse as they portray secularism to the hilt, and attack the Catholic Church regularly. The History Channel very often shows anti-religious programs, so I would much rather decide for myself, as the nuns taught us, what is a good program or not.
I for one am looking forward to my old favorites, not only on EWTN but “the Apprentice”(teaches you about greed) NCIS, and The Mentalist. If you want tV to teach morality, it sure can. I don’t have any kids in the house though, and when bringing up my daughter, reading vs, TV was the rule, and I still would rather read a good book (Catholic) then watch most TV.
So before you condemn other “Christians” as you put it for watching a program, maybe you ought to watch one episode so you know what you are criticizing. The off button is on all TV’s.
Rosemarie…you make excellent points. I am sorry if I appeared to be
judging people…I meant only to suggest discernment concerning what
we watch on TV…especially liked what you had to say about watching
appropriate programs with your offspring ...and getting them to practice
what we teach about moral discernment. I was commenting upon the article
and I think what I said was pertinent even if I am not a fan of MadMen..
Admittedly I find very little of much interest on network TV and find
myself so disgusted with their control of news that I gather information
about current events from Fox cable news…It is far more balanced and
objective than the liberal networks. Like you I would rather read a good
book than spend/waste time on what is mostly offered as entertainment on
TV…and I am 73 years of age! I remember life BEFORE TV!!
We agree on one point, Shannon. I watch Fox News also. I agree that most of Network TV is for the birds, and the new shows don’t sound all that good either.
I do miss TV shows like the ones we had in the fifties—what talent there was, even the Ed Sullivan Show and Bishop Sheen (who I hope will be canonized soon).
My favorite program on tonight is EWTN;s “The Journey Home” so you see, I don’t always watch program’s like Mad Men. I guess the point I’m saying is everyone’s taste is different. The show yesterday brought a good social justice situation—-a client who refused to hire blacks in the south for their business. The lady copywriter was angry about it, but the head ad man said something to the effect that it was their job to only do an ad, not to judge who they were hiring.
Now this would look extremely bigoted and be boycotted. So you see for me anyway, there is a kernel of truth in every episode, and I love seeing the old ad’s such as Samsonite Luggage.
I’ve enjoyed many of the comments above. I watched ‘Mad Men’ once with my spouse, having been lured into the essence of the show while listening to a piece on NPR about the fans who try to find faults or inconsistencies with the period and dialogue of the show.
It is a well-written show, and I agree with those who see a budding societal materialism and nihilsm in the content. It is the time period depicted that most entralls me. The mesmerizing curls of smoke from the now-illicit office cigarette, the open drinking at the desk. It is so dated, so languid, so luxurious and exotic. It is only of interest to me as I contemplate the early part of the 1960’s, before America’s ‘first suicide attempt’ of the late 1960’s, specifically 1968…
I also like EWTN and BCTV, and end up there most evenings if I am trolling TV wasteland and none of my kids object…
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