‘ GOOD GIRLS’ GOES ‘ MAD’ IN RE- CREATING THE VIBE OF THE ’ 60S
Authenticity comes from people, not vintage stuff
Anna Camp wants to make one thing clear: Good Girls Revolt is not trying to be the next Mad Men.
The Pitch Perfect actress should know, having appeared in both 1960s- set series. In Mad Men, the Emmy- winning drama that put AMC on the map, she had a multiepisode arc as a winsome socialite who was set up with anguished adman Don Draper ( Jon Hamm). In Girls, streaming on Amazon on Friday, she plays an ambitious researcher fighting for equal rights with her fellow female journalists.
“Mad Men came from a place of Don Draper’s voice, which was much more bitter and jaded,” Camp says. Girls is “from the perspective of three women who are filled with passion and light and hope. Historically, it picks up right where Mad Men leaves off, but ( the time period) is pretty much the only similarity.”
The comparisons aren’t unwarranted. Even before it signed off last year after seven seasons, networks have been trying to duplicate Mad Men’s retro charm and soapy drama with their own ’ 60s shows — most of which were poorly received and canceled after one season.
ABC revisited the era by way of flight attendants ( 2011’ s Pan Am) and homemakers ( 2015’ s The Astronaut Wives Club), and NBC put a tame, stylized spin on Playboy bunnies ( 2011’ s The Playboy Club). Starz ( 2012’ s Magic City) and HBO ( this year’s Vinyl) tried to capture the glitz and grit of the time period. Showtime’s Masters of Sex is in its fourth season, but its ratings and awards luster have faded.
The problem that many period dramas run into, particularly on broadcast networks, is that “they want to be aspirational, therefore new and shiny,” says Girls creator Dana Calvo, who adapted it from Lynn Povich’s 2012 non- fiction book. “We veered into that a little in the ( first episode) and reined it in” afterward. “We had a lot of clothes made and fresh ( props) on set. As we were filming, we weathered things more.”
As a former journalist for the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times, period accuracy was paramount to Calvo.
Like Mad creator Matthew Weiner, she was particular about not using songs or slang that came after Girls’ 1969 setting, and sourced outfits, typewriters and telex machines from collectors.
Given that the series found a home on uncensored Amazon, they also were able to show nudity along with smoking, which helped create a more authentic vibe. “We would fill the newsroom with smoke. It might’ve been hard for us to breathe while we were shooting, but it was true to the time,” Camp says. “When you’re doing a period piece, you can’t hold back. Unfortunately, I think that’s why some network period pieces just don’t last, because they don’t come off ( as) real.”
Another stumbling block for many ’ 60s shows is that they’re “more concerned with the major historical moments than they are with how the characters are reacting,” says Ron Simon, curator of television and radio at The Paley Center for Media. “Mad Men really excellently showed how events” — such as the civil rights movement and the moon landing — “impacted or didn’t impact people.”
Good Girls eventually recounts the landmark 1970 gender discrimination case against Newsweek by female employees, using the lawsuit as a way to explore other topics such as the wage gap and misogyny.
“Instead of just trying to get the period right you have to get the issues that we’re still struggling with today, and what they meant in the ’ 60s,” Simon says. “That’s the hardest thing to do.”
‘ Good Girls’ is “from the perspective of three women who are filled with passion and light and hope.” Anna Camp