From Mad Men to Black Maids: Desire, Position and Cultural Critique

[tsenft]

Television theorist Jason Mittell has just written a very thoughtful essay about Why he's not a fan of the show Mad Men. I have little patience for writers who spend their time hating, but he's doing negative critique the right way, I think, by inserting himself and his identity position front and center. Jason also posted the essay on his blog for

Comments

Yea, a walk on,

[i_dread]

Hmmmm, Terri, you know this train of thought causes me must despair, in relationships and that ilk. I view everything, through the eyes of me, in a former place or a forward one. History hasn't been kind and I don't see much Golden, in the backward years.

I've learned, maybe everyone doesn't have to feel my view or voice on these subjects, told through my self awareness of those "great old days" and I can sit back and watch the show for what it's worth. Nothing at damn all, in my own reality. I do appreciate seeing this written though.

on Mad Men, my walk on would either be holding towels or committing a crime. I would be a lesson, for other blacks and the justification of dislike or hatred for whites. It would be completely innocent too. Just stating the facts, however loose or tighten.

[cyborganize]

I responded to the post too (comment not approved yet) -- I hope it wasn't too gauche to do so before reading Jason's essay. I got the gist of it from all his tweets. I said, essentially, that it doesn't make sense to take a piece that is explicitly non-fannish as representative of aca-fan scholarship. I like to think that what is great about aca-fandom is the passion it brings to critique, and all the ambivalence intertwined in that contradiction. That passion seems to be exactly what is missing from Jason's Mad Men response.

[cyborganize]

whoops, sorry for duplicate comment!

[ayun]

I was hoping Mittell's critique would be a bit more like yours. The "We're Just Telling It Like It [Was]!" position of the show is...fraught for a lot of subjects, but none more than race. I've seen a lot of good writing on the nostalgic reveries prompted by the show ("Oh, I wish I lived in a time when men still wore hats!") versus the baggage that comes with that surface cool ("But it's sure nice not to accept sexual harassment as the norm in corporate culture!")

The most insightful critiques I've seen of shows like Mad Men come from people who enjoy them enough to think hard about them and why they're problematic. It's difficult to write with as much substance about something you didn't enjoy enough to watch more than a couple of episodes of (though it was right of Mittell to go back and watch a full season when writing the essay).

Thanks for passing along these posts - they made a long airport layover pass a little faster for me yesterday.

[hiphopdiary]

the thing that freaks me out is that anyone under the age of 32 won't even remember the painful shit that came before them.

i was on the a train 2 or 3 years ago and eavesdropped on 3 black girls, about 16 years old, talking about the episode of the hills that had aired the previous evening and not one of their comments reflected any tinge of "lol, white people" sentiment. i'm 41, so rewind back to 1986- back then those girls would not be on the train talking in deadly earnest about 90210. they'd be talking about cosby show, or whatever.

so, in one way, yay multiculturalism- balck people can now fully embrace dumbass white people shit. but on the other hand, as someone who had the struggle drummed into her, it pains me that the generations after me have completely glossed over it.

but honestly to me, modern multiculturalism is simply shorthand for "white people feeling comfortable with walking through bed stuy at 3 in the morning."

Nice

[johncrestani]

that is dillema, for a multiculturalism that is need a adaptation. make your day change 180 degrees. and you must start it from zero