A Touch of Madness for the Modern Man

"Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be."-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Picking up the broken pieces and walking into the sunshine. Wouldn't it be nice if life worked that way? Sadly, it often doesn't. Friends move on and pretend like they never knew you, with no explanation as to why; loved ones get sick with uncurable illnesses, and the tears just keep pouring; husbands cheat on wonderful wives, and tear their families apart in the process. It's a sick, twisted world and one can easily get depressed. Sure you want to keep reading?

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been watching Season One of AMC’s tv series Mad Men. I can’t explain exactly why I decided to start watching the series, but it had something to do with a review I read that suggested it was relatively true-to-life. In many ways I think it is. And probably, some critics don’t’ like it because it’s a bit rough around the edges. But, then again, so is life.

Set in the 1960s during the reign of cigarette moguls and post-depression era corporate steam engines, Mad Men depicts the working and private lives of a handful of ad executives-some of whom are vying for a ride to the top at all costs. Standing besides these men are trophy wives,-cast aside for intellectual thrills, quick fixes, and cocktails-whose only real claims to fame are the success of their husbands or their 2.5 perfect children. And supporting these men in the office is a team of snazzy underpaid women, who hold few qualms over their male cohorts’ illustrious affairs, and facilitate a great deal of ego-padding at the cost of their own self-worth.

Front and center into this cinematic universe steps Donald Draper: the man women love to hate, and also hate to love. He’s the one we fall for time and again, even though it hurt so bad the first time. Smooth talking, witty, not-to-mention handsome, he’s the strong silent type and an absolutely amazing businessman. He’s a man focused on the present, taking each new opportunity by the horns and sucking it dry for all it can give him. Don Draper is a tried and true modern man: a man who says he doesn’t believe in love, prides himself on being self-made, and pretends he has all the answers but quite obviously has no idea where he’s going. He’s a total charmer who can tell a story like nobody’s business, and seems so good at spinning yarns that he’s fooled himself in the process.

My take on the show so far is that it upsets me-it upsets me how accurately it depicts the tense realities of the human condition, the mistakes so many of us make trying to carve out a better life in our own strength, and the intense failure we always face when we realize we simply can’t twist an imperfect world into sheer bliss. It’s certainly no Little House on the Prairie, but really is that reality?

Take, scene. The red curtain opens to nothing less than real life, complex and confusing though it is. The John F. Kennedys of the world were garnering votes through mere appearances, and ad executives masked the dangers of cigarettes through simple puffs of smoke. Things looked good on the outside, but the inside was as sour as pure lemon juice. The growing movements known loosely as abstract expressionism and all things avant garde began to show hints of that not-so-obvious spoiling below the surface. AMC's Mad Men holds the tensions of history in balance, brilliantly showing that the world is messy, and that people long for answers but often look in all the wrong places. The show turns the clock back to a time when the American Dream was all but a complete farce for most of mankind, contrary to what we might think or believe. Fairytales were no truer then than they are today. Like it or not, the olden days were not quite as peachy as mom and dad might have suggested.

This show is not a Cinderella story, but it has something to teach us. That something is found amongst the tattered ashes of wounded marriages that continue on, and careers that move forward only because the men doing them do not know where else to turn. This is not one of those "no more tears, no more sadness" kind of feel good dramas, but it does remind us of our own deep brokenness. A world wounded, in need of help and guidance. This is the world of 1960s Mad Men and it’s the world of today. No matter how you spin it, it’s mad; mad until we give up trying to make it better all on our own.