You can’t consider this a spin off of The Sopranos but in many ways a successor to it. Mad Men creator, Matthew Weiner, was a producer-writer during the last few seasons of David Chase’s seminal HBO series and brought much of that series’ sensibilities along with him. A large ensemble cast consisting of emotionally scarred, compelling though not necessarily appealing characters. A penchant for artifice in the use of flashbacks, dream sequences and glorious attention to detail in shot framing and art direction. Themes rather than merely plot points driving storylines.
What differentiates the two series (aside from the lack of gun play, violent deaths, strippers and swear words in Mad Men) is that The Sopranos always seemed like an intensely personal expression of its creator. Mad Men works on a much larger canvas. It’s not simply about the Drapers or the personal/political machinations of Sterling Cooper. It’s about postwar America and the rise of the consumer society. Events in the outside “real” world have repercussions in the world of Mad Men. The Bay of Pigs and the Cold War. The civil rights movement. The death of Marilyn Monroe. JFK’s assassination. As the world turns, so do the lives of our Mad Men.
Advertising underwent massive changes during the late-50s and 60s as TV supplanted the printed word as the only media that mattered. It was ahead of the curve in recognizing the changing of the guard and ultimately dragged society along with it. I don’t think it a stretch to say that advertising remade American (and subsequently the rest of the world) in its image. Mad Men charts that evolution and after 3 seasons it has only begun to scratch the surface. Here’s hoping to a long, fruitful journey.
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