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OccWallSt commented on The very white poetry of 'Mad Men'

Right on. When Matthew Weiner recently said that 1967 is "too early" to be dealing with the civil rights movement, he's right... on his own ignorant terms. Which is to say that it's too early for his (white) characters to "care" about black Americans and/or civil rights... because they haven't yet been forced to pay attention. What this reveals is that Matthew Weiner has no more interest in civil rights than his 1960s characters do (which is why black characters are female and limited to brief, "exotic" girlfriends and closed-mouth maids––dropped or fired just as things begin to get interesting). Weiner obviously assumes that his (white!) audience has no more interest in black civil rights (or black characters) than he does. Sadly, the way (white!) people continue to fawn over the show, that might be true. I hope it's not. But I, for one, won't be watching next season... Mad Men also doesn't care about ethnicity, queer characters, class issues... I find it to read as an extremely conservative show. It comes off to me as nostalgic for a time when the pasty normals "didn't have to" care about those outside of their own experience. I for one and sick of it. It showed signs of going in certain interesting directions and then it disappointed at every turn, opting to play it safe. They lost me. I have to agree with other commenters on The Wire, though. I suggest giving it another watch. It's not perfect, but it's miles better than Mad Men.

Posted on June 17th, 2012 12:03am