‘Mad Men’ changes with the times
Hemlines shrink, drug use grows and New York ad man Don Draper struggles as “Mad Men” closes out the tumultuous ’60s.
AMC’s four-time Emmywinning drama, which begins the first half of its 14-episode final season Sunday, moved from 1960 to late 1968 in its first six seasons, detailing changes in fashion (from a buttoneddown, conservative look to Megan’s miniskirts), design (from drab rows of secretarial desks to Roger’s modern office furniture) and politics (from Ike to Camelot to Nixon).
“Time moving forward is a real thing, and ... we really try to reflect the changing attitude,” says Jon Hamm, whose Draper has gone from suburban married man to remarried city dweller over the course of the decade. “Starting in 1960 and ending where we’re ending, that’s a pretty big leap. It’s a different time and they wore different things.
“If you pick up Vogue or Esquire magazine from 1969, it looks a hell of a lot different than it did in 1960.”
Much has changed over the years for Don, his family and his colleagues. As Season 6 ended at Thanksgiving 1968, the once-rising advertising star found himself on involuntary leave, with some colleagues and possibly his wife, Megan (Jessica Pare), about to move to the promised land of California as the advertising business took on a more bicoastal feel.
“At the beginning of [‘Mad Men’], when it was 1960, I think there was still a heavy ’50s influence, especially with [Don’s] home life and maybe the more old-fashioned characters. Moving through the decade, the effects of what was happening in the ’60s are finally taking hold, as they do in real life,” says Elisabeth Moss, whose Peggy Olson has risen from secretary to copy chief at a time when women were starting to advance in the workplace.
The characters, who have had to deal with political assassinations on the world stage and triumphs and tragedies in their own lives, have adjusted to the times in different ways, she says.
“Some people change. Some people don’t. You have to make conscious decisions to change and not make the same mistakes. If you don’t, you’re going to end up repeating yourself,” she says.
In the end, “Mad Men,” known for its precise attention to period detail, isn’t just about the past, says creator Matt Weiner.
“Don Draper’s journey last year was about his anxiety for the future,” he says. “The culture was inundated with it; 1968 was inundated with it. And 2013 was inundated with it.”
With the final seven episodes now in production, and which will be seen next year, nostalgia has spread to the show itself as Hamm reminisces about the first-season Sterling Cooper office.
“It had that beautiful ceiling and those rows of typewriters. I can always remember walking down those rows of typewriters to my office down in the corner,” he says. “And my office was a very quiet, cool place.”