Substance more important than style in AMC’s Mad Men

I have to admit that I’m caught up in all the Mad Men drama that’s sweeping the nation. For some reason I used to think that the show was on HBO, so I sort of wrote it off as something that I wouldn’t see until years from now when it was streaming on Netflix. I just found out it was on AMC. With all the buzz, I decided to watch episodes from the first season. Obviously one of the major draws of the show is the lovely mid-century design of the furniture, the clothing, the atmosphere. But I wonder how much Don Draper, the main character, considers the design of the desk that he uses, the line of the chairs in his office, or the style of the tumblers into which he pours his whiskey. He’s got style, that’s for sure. But the style of the show just draws you in. Its the complexity of the characters that keep you there. I want Don to be a good husband. His wife, Betty, is awesome. She’s so much more than the stereotypical wife of the 60s. She’s the PERFECT wife. She’s gorgeous, intelligent, loving, can cook, a kind mother, dresses insanely well. But Don cheats on her. Every time he does it, you want to slap him. But its so more complicated than, “He has everything but wants more.” His marriage and family is a sort of imaginary world that he’s built. His family life as a child was ridiculously horrible. This imaginary world with his wife Betty and their two children is completely free of his past. He doesn’t talk about his childhood, he doesn’t open up about himself and his feelings, he doesn’t want to taint the stereotype of his present with the hideousness of his past. He is two people at once. So when he cheats its easy for him to separate and compartmentalize his life. There’s the Don Draper who goes home to turkey and a wife with an apron, and the Dick who is sleeping with two other women on the side. So the audience may go in for the style, but they’re definitely staying for the substance.