Mad Men

I went to school for Graphic Design and received my degree in 1999 from Columbia College Chicago. I have enormous respect for advertising art. As a Warhol sycophant, it stands to reason that I would appreciate advertising. As a trained graphic designer, I know it is a true art.

It is true that it has been bastardized repeatedly for that quick buck. It has been employed for immoral purpose. I think the Germans, Russians, Cubans and the US made some kick-ass propaganda posters all believing that they were on the side of righteousness. As with advertising, you get to decide.

On that note, I wanted to comment on the hit show Mad Men. It's on AMC of all channels and it's from Matthew Weiner, Scott Hornbacher, Phil Abraham and Bob Shaw (and others) of The Sopranos. Some of the other people responsible for this acclaimed smash are from The West Wing, Rome, and Big Love - all shows I love - but, The Sopranos seems to be the connecting project. Well, this project is a home run and it has the gargantuan fan base to prove it.



As a piece in itself, it is incredibly representative of 1960. America is not in a war and the economy is booming. This is that time where the world truly admired us because we had it all. And we knew it, flaunted it, and lived as if there was no tomorrow. Cigarettes were good for you. Drinking at lunch was the norm. We could not be stopped. What a wonderful wonderland to write about.

That's the setting. The synopsis revolves around the Mad Men - a name used by the advertising executives working on Madison Avenue in New York. And what a wonderful wonderland to sell everything too. When it is perfectly acceptable to have a casual relationship with the truth, you can sell everything. The show has an incredibly talented cast and fantastic writers. There is sex, gluttony and lots of smart talk. There are also plenty of those Soprano-type moments of pondering induced by alcohol where our evil hero questions his moral purpose. I am wild about this show.