They May Look Like the 20th Century, But They Talk Like Today

Posted on June 19, 2012 at 8:45 am

The producers of “Mad Men” and “Downton Abbey” are justifiably lauded for their meticulous attention to period detail in the clothes, furnishings, and world events of the eras they portray. And audiences love seeing the styles of 1960’s New York and early 20th century England. But there is one area where it would be too difficult for the writers and too jarring for the audience to be true to the period, and that is the language. While they may avoid obvious modern expressions like the use of “okay” in “Snow White and the Huntsman,” an alert grad student has documented the anachronisms in these shows and elsewhere and it makes for an entertaining and most illuminating interview on Slate’s “Lexicon Valley” podcast. What year did we start using the term “put him on hold?” When did we first use the word “wartime?” Did we say “more traditional” in eras where traditions had not changed much in decades? And what two-word phrase you need to use nearly every day was hardly ever used until the 1970’s — and what does its rise as the prior phrase fell out of use tell us about the way we view ourselves?

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Mad Men Enters the Civil Rights Era

Posted on March 25, 2012 at 8:00 am

From the New York Times:

There was no question that “Mad Men” would get around to the civil rights movement. From the start, racism was the carbon monoxide of the show: a poison that couldn’t always be detected over the pungent scent of cigarettes, sexism, anti-Semitism, alcoholism, homophobia and adultery, but that sooner or later was bound to turn noxious.

That promise was made in the opening scene of the premiere episode of Season 1. The first face on screen is a black one in profile, that of a waiter carrying a tray of cocktails across a bar crowded with white, mostly male customers. The camera closes in on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), scribbling ideas on a napkin for a Lucky Strike campaign. Asking for a light, he notices that the busboy, an older black man, smokes Old Gold, and Don asks him why he is so loyal to that brand.

“Is Sam here bothering you?” a white bartender interjects before the busboy has uttered a word. Shooting the black man a warning look, the bartender tells Don, “He can be a little chatty.”

It was the dawn of the 1960s, and that kind of humiliation was so commonplace that both Don and the busboy shrug it off.

What I find especially interesting about this is that, contrary to most depictions of the racism of the era, there is no attempt to portray the white characters as aware of or concerned about the casually bigoted arrogance of the time. Don Draper is only interested in how to help his clients. But I suppose that reflects an element of self-interest that played a role in the era’s changes as well.

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Mad Men-era Ads in Newsweek

Posted on March 24, 2012 at 8:00 am

Newsweek salutes the long-awaited return of “Mad Men” with a special issue this week, including examples of real and unabashedly sexist ads that ran in the magazine back in the 1960’s. These are what the real Mad Men of the era were working on, along with some pioneering and underpaid Mad Women like Peggy.

As another ad of the era would say, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” (Of course, that was an ad for a “women’s” cigarette!“)