What really bothers however, is that Mad Men fetishizes advertising life in the 1960s - you are supposed to desire and be jealous of these men for the spoiled, sexist lives they lead. Mad Men is about power - specifically, it is about male power, which comes in two forms: money and sex, and one will get you the other. It is Don Draper's power that makes him the ultimate man, since in our society, in 2011, male= power, female= disempowerment. This is also why James Bond was the ultimate man.
JB however (good thing he wasn't Bond James), is abot using sexual power for politics; his sexy body allows those in the free world to continue their daily lives, by preventing a communist takeover.(Even SPECTR is essentially a bunch of crazy Eastenr Europeans bent on world domination - kind of USSR stand ins for the sake of plot variety.) Our generation is disillusioned with politics and has no cold war mentality. We are proudly capitalist, and that capitalism is threatened not by the USSR, but by the decay of quality of life from within the system itself, so Mad Men is all about power as money. Sex is an extension of that, since money buys sex - it buys wives, access to easy ass at the office, and nights out on the town meant to culminate in orgasm.
The women in the series, except for Joan, are mostly one-dimensional - stereotypes of the opressed housewife, the office slut, the husband-getter, and the girl just trying to work her way up so she can leaver her opressive childhood behind her (Peggy).
Speaking of Peggy, it is completely unrealistic a) that Peggy gets fat when she is pregnant, in a very non-descript way. Pregnant women usually develop a very distinct shape, and may in fact not look overweight while pregnant. It is the male mind that equates the two: Pregnant = fat =sexually unattractive. It is unlikely no one would notice Peggy's pregnancy, and that weight would not concentrate in her breasts and belly. b) that Peggy does not notice she is pregnant until she gives birth. Presumably, missing 9 periods would stand out. It does sometimes happen that extremely obese women do not realize they are pregnant, but Peggy isn't one - why would the TV industry have a real part for an extremely obese woman, anyway?
Also, I do not think men said "I want to suck ur blod like Dracula" in 1968 - i think that was subconscious Tiwhglight-ization of the series.
I have not decided yet whether or not I will watch the second season; time will probably be a major factor in that decision. I am fascinated by the show's popularity as a social phenomena, however. I think part of its popularity might be because all of the show's characters are acting: The wear personas at the office, and different personas at home. The characters are lonely: Since they are always wearing personas, they have a hard time forming real relationships, which require showing someone who you really are, not just who you want to be or feel you are supposed to be. We live in an internet age, in which we are constantly under the public eye, constantly wearing our personas, on display - which is why the idea of a world where you spend all your time acting out an identity, an idea which veils its own hypocrisy, is so appealing to us. Today, even a private moment may not be private - it is always a Facebook upload away. Think about the case of Tyler Sclementi: A decade ago, a shmucky roommate might have secretly videotaped his gay sex and showed it to friends for a laugh. Now, within hours it was on youtube, available to people literally across the globe.
This also accounts, in a logistical way, for part of MM's success: Not only is it available on TV - it is also disseminable on the internet, both through legal and illegal means, for cheap or for free, which allows it to reach a wider audience.
A friend shared an interesting article with me about Mad Men:http://www.nybooks.com/
and here is one I found on my own: http://www.newwestnotes.com/2010/07/26/the-mad-men-file/
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