Why Pols and Pundits of All Stripes Love Mad Men

In one of the Mad Men forums on the  Television without Pity blog a poster recently reported:

I was today listening to Rush Limbaugh today (Yeah, I know. Hanging my head in shame).., and he had really great things to say about MM. He had a woman caller who said that women loved cowboys, men who weren't afraid to get down and dirty, and lived up to their reputations. Rush then entered in to a discussion about MM and how much he loved it. He said that Don was a real cowboy, and was a very interesting character because he lived his life with no apology, even though he is a true cad and womanizer. Rush waxed poetic about how authentic the settings and lifestyle of the characters were, and how it all really rang true for the 60's. I don't know that I have ever heard him speak so fondly of a TV show before.

This highlighted for me a great point about the show's appeal.  Politicians and pundits LOVE Mad Men. In the last few weeks, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and now RUSH have all said how much they admire the show .


In fact, in her Dec. interview with Vogue, Hillary said, “That's how it was!" "That's why the women's-liberation movement was so shocking. It was like news from outer space." http://bit.ly/34861t


It's a great quote, and one that demonstrates the polysemic and symbolic nature of both history and television. It's telling because Mad Men's representation of 1963 makes liberals like Clinton remember the urgency and necessity of social change, while simultaneously allowing a conservative like Rush to revel in nostalgia for masculinity without apology. Both admire the authenticity of it all, but to obviously different conclusions.


The contrast highlights the fact that this period is a wonderful Rorschach test and a lesson in symbolic history. It's a period remembered for its profound change and courageous and just social movements, or, as George Will characterizes it, one that was “Noisy with the voices of fundamentally frivolous people feigning seriousness”. Or, as Newt Gingrich calls it, a time when "the whole system began decaying."


Part of Mad Men's genius is that Matthew Weiner's vision accommodates all of these views. For now at least. The next season should be particularly challenging as that change accelerates.