The 60's gave birth to rockabilly, right? Johnny Cash and The Doors... Sonny and Cher... Jimi Hendrix! Wonderful sounding garage bands and all the predecessors to punk rock! There's a lot of style there. But it seems to me, like this newly refurbished aesthetic is clinging to a look that I can't quite latch on to. The whiteness.
I've been watching Mad Men, to try and understand the appeal to this phenomenon. The acting is superb, the cast is a powerhouse and the dresses make me swoon. The story lines are engaging, though not over-the-top. I'm not bored, but I realize the tension for me is that I'm uncomfortable and can't quite explain why. It dawned on me today while watching- I understand completely the necessity of portraying a time period faithfully, and in America that means paying attention to racial relationships, stereotypes and taboos. In this show, there's the closeted gay guy who can't come to grips with who he is, even when a clear opportunity is presented to him (A scenario where another clearly gay man propositions him and he turns the man down angrily)- The black elevator operator, the black house maid and the black shoe shine man. No Latinos, No Asians, no one even remotely subversive (unless you count the poser, pot-smoking, beatniks attached to one of Mr. Draper's mistresses. They even have their own bongos.)
I realized today that I don't like this one bit. I mean, yes, there's a character on the show who has a black girlfriend. We've met her once in two seasons. So far, there's no mention of Martin Luther King Jr., even though at this point in time, he'd already lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington is only months away. There have been tiny, I mean minuscule by todays' standards, attention paid to the issue of segregation or race and politics. This is a show about the executives of an advertising firm on Madison Avenue. Why am I supposed to believe that no one is talking about this?
They talked plenty about Kennedy and Nixon, they spoken of Marilyn Monroe's death, but so far, not one mention of any person of color who had notoriety or fame in that era...Perhaps I've dozed off a few times and didn't catch them? I'm realizing that I don't much like the show because of it. I feel like it leans in a very fascist direction. I feel the same when I walk by American Apparel and I see their latest line. It looks like Wally and Beaver Cleaver to me. I hate it. I'm not interested in the average, American White family anymore. I don't care how "controversial" they are, if they get divorced or if they're alcoholics.
Bottom line for me? I'm tired of American television training me to be a racist. Whether it's by them cueing my interest in something that is/was or intends to be a primarily white function, show or fashion line, I don't care. I'm sick of it. Why does the primary cast of any show, need to be of any particular ethnicity? What's the point of a show going back to the 60's, in order to see how white people lived and why do I need to fantasize about their wealthy, privileged lives? So you could do a lot with $50 back then. So what. I feel duped by all of this and I don't want to support it, even though I believe in the talent of the actors and I like some of the story lines. I just don't think it's OK.
If TV producers want me to yearn for the 50's or 60's, put some black panthers on the tube. Write some tory lines around people who fought to make the positive, lasting changes we see today. I'm sorry, but I don't believe in the myth of the Kennedys or other rich White folk. Not even the Rockerfellers- Why not make a show where people I care about are the focus?
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