Series Review - Mad Men by Matthew Weiner
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how movies and TV differ as mediums of storytelling. Whereas films are suited well for visually translating stories concisely into a beginning, middle, and end, TV shows draw out these stories in a serialized way. Character arcs extend over episodes or even seasons, the world along with the characters changes, and in general, you have more room to develop plots and themes of your stories. However, it isn’t necessary that one medium is superior over the others, sometimes two to three hours is all you need to tell a story in a satisfying way. In the end, it boils down to the story you want to tell, and the best pieces of art are always the ones that fully take advantage of their respective medium in a way that you cannot think of translating them to some other form without changing the essence of the original work.
Mad Men is one of those shows that fully utilizes the serialized format of TV to tell some of the best long-form character studies. On the surface, the show is simply about the lives of the people working in an advertising firm, but it is how it explores the psyche of these characters that makes it so good. The show is stacked with characters and it is amazing how well it is able to develop each and every single one of them in very subtle ways while staying grounded. In any other shows like this, you can expect the main character to be an advertising wizard who can just close their eyes and think of the best ad in the world and save the day. But Don and Peggy are not portrayed as these messiahs, you understand why they are so good at their jobs because they put so much of their personal experiences into their work which speaks to others. Almost all the characters are flawed to some extent and at one point or another will do something quite unlikeable, but the show does not want you to root for them or judge them, it wants you to understand them, which it succeeds in doing so well.
Apart from the characters, the other thing that can benefit a lot from long-form story-telling is the world these characters inhabit. One criticism that I have with a lot of TV series, even the good ones, is that the world is often restricted to develop only when it is tied directly to the plot, but otherwise, it is kept fairly static. In Mad Men though, the world grows and changes along with the characters. The show takes place during the 1960s and portrays a lot of historical events that took place in the decade, like the famous Nixon vs Kennedy election, Ali-Liston Fight, JFK Assassination, the first moon landing, etc. But these events are not just there to serve the plot, Donald Draper is not secretly involved in the assassination of JFK. The show plays these events in the background and explores how normal people at those times reacted to them. This ever-changing world adds a sense of authenticity to the show and makes it feel much more real.
If it hasn’t been clear yet, I absolutely adore this show. Matthew Weiner had done a remarkable job in creating one of the most mature and nuanced shows I have ever seen.All the actors were in their A-game in this show and did a stellar job in containing the subtleties of these characters through their performances. Finishing the series finale yesterday, had me in shambles, I felt I have been part of this world, that I knew these characters like they were real people and I wasn’t ready to leave it yet. And that my friends is what TV is supposed to be.
Theme by Ankit Sultana. Yi Yi illustration at the bottom right by Anna Vignet.
