A Portrayal of a Different Time

Nowadays, some comments, especially online comments, lead to a huge kerfuffle. Things are taken from their face value and exploded into a ridiculous conundrum of all these people pushing a PC (politically correct) lifestyle. However, Mad Men and, in particular, the seventh installment of the fourth season, “The Suitcase”, portrays a different time where people wouldn’t get all up in arms over a comment or a joke. For example, when one of the employees at the firm complains about a ticket being pricey and being conservative about his expenses, another employee retorts, “You Jew”. Although what that statement was referring to is indeed a stereotypical Jewish trait about being conservative with funds, in today’s society, that would get you fired from your job, and would not get a couple of laughs from the coworkers, as it does in this case.

Yes, times were different. Yes, there were different views than there are today. However, by putting a show based in the 1960s on modern television, one can see how the times have changed and one can see how Mad Men is pushing back at our PC-centric times we live in. Suggesting that a woman slept with her superior to get a promotion or a job was casual conversation back in the day. Today, that would get you fired with all of these “#MeToo” and “Time’s Up” movements going on. Women have more opportunities nowadays than they used to. However, “The Suitcase” shows how hard women had to work in order to move up in society instead of simply sleeping with the boss. “The Suitcase” allows us to step out of our PC comfortable, kerfuffle of lives, and go back to the brashness and savagery of the ’60s and allow us to have some rude awakenings and jaw-dropping moments at some of the zingers they could get away with in an office job, that we wouldn’t even think to say out loud today due to the risk of backlash and scrutiny.