The Triangle

Issue date: 8/28/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Rob Kim Lanto/MCT Campus

We are in the age of contradictions. In the culture of today, everything that is really new, is actually old. Our entertainment outlets have converged into one large, streamlined culture-reality shows are now scripted and dramas take influence from reality. We watch TV on the Internet and see the news live, minute to minute as it happens. So in an age of immediacy, it seems strange that we would have such a strong penchant for nostalgia, but we do. Perhaps in the complexity of modern times we yearn for the simplicity of the past, forgetting it was never so simple to begin with.

And that is the magnificent and engaging argument that "Mad Men" makes. Now in its third season on AMC, the show's ratings have only climbed with each new episode debut and has an astounding 16 Emmy nominations and two million viewers. Commercials for the show dominate the television airwaves, and 20-foot ads for the show about ads hang in Banana Republics everywhere.

With hype like this, it was essential that the debut of the third season blast viewers everywhere with the excitement, adultery, retro fashion and social commentary that the show is known for. Luckily, the first two episodes did not disappoint.

The opening scene to the season debut was a flashback into the dark past of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the show's leading man. Watching history within history, flashbacks into Don Draper's past are a rare commodity and eagerly sought by viewers of the show. We want to know everything about the tall, dark and handsome character with slicked-back hair and an impeccably fitted suit. Starting the season off in this way was an ode to the core fanbase of "Mad Men", but it may not have resonated with the show's new viewers, since they have yet to fall in love with Don.

But after the flashback, the plot swiftly moved to a friendly flight attendant who was engaged yet having an affair with the married Don Draper. To people who don't watch the show, this may seem despicable-but for fans, we have come to expect this behavior. We no longer ponder Don's morality; instead, we wonder why he does it. We excuse his character flaws because we relate to his overwhelming sense of boredom and his disconnect from all those who surround him.

He works in an ad agency, surrounded by lawyers in three-piece suits all vying for a promotion that will only bring them more work. Don Draper is a lost soul in the midst of the "Great Generation." He offers a realist look into the ills of society in the 1950s. Unsure of his political stance, we see a neutral view of the world through his dark and jaded eyes. From his poor upbringing, we see the ills of a society that locks out the poorest class of citizens from success. From his ritzy job as an ad man on Madison Avenue, we see the hollowness that money brings people and the unbearable task of finding meaning in monotony.

Continued...

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