Mad Men

Film gives people the power to explore the possibilities of imagination. It is pure entertainment drawn from interesting idea and perspective that has a unique balance of experience, narrative, and depth that people of all ages are able to enjoy. Originating in the early twentieth century, cinema grew and developed to become a major part of American culture, similar to cigarette smoking. While people all over the world had smoked tobacco in pipes and cigars for years, the small and compact cigarettes provided a cheap and quick nicotine-driven experience that grew to become habitual for its many users. In the United States, the turn of the twentieth century saw tobacco industries beginning the mass production of cigarettes and “in the 1930’s,
Mad Men is a historical drama that replicates the lifestyle of the high class businessmen of the sixties and exposes the grandiose lifestyle they experienced with all the liquor and cigarettes they could enjoy. In the pilot episode “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, multiple accounts show the lead character Don Draper among other characters smoking cigarettes frequently as well as discussing them. As an advertisement firm, Draper’s business works advertising for a popular cigarette company known as “Lucky Strike” and in one particular moment of the episode in a meeting between the firm and the aforementioned client, the CEO states “We’re selling America” (Weiner). This statement correlates to the society of this time period’s belief that cigarettes were a core foundation of the success and glory of the nation, and why they used them so consistently. In fact, they seem to express the notion that smoking represented prosperity and wealth, consequently leading adolescent viewers of the present to credit the adverse message and risk potential initiation as a means of imitating the glory and prosperity of this time period. Author J.M. Tyree of Film Quarterly publishing counters original beliefs that this show expresses the “glory” of this era in his article, “No Fun: Debunking the 1960s in Mad Men and A Serious Man”, by believing that the show “views the decade through a cynical lens” (35). This cynic viewpoint describes each character reflecting positive qualities and interacting kindly with others, yet surreptitiously functioning to primarily provide for their own needs. While this argument has accuracy and counters the reasoning, it does not have the right depth nor content