Mad Men, The 90s Revival, and Post-Irony

This week, we're doing a Mad Men series. Why? Well, it seems like since the early 60s popularity is hitting its zenith (/starting to decline), it's time to do what we can to celebrate it. Plus Mad Men's phenom.

So, first--Mad Men in 60 seconds


Second, a Post-Ironic look at the shape of 60s nostalgia: (more after the jump)




Over the last 2 years, as early 90s nostalgia started to hit hard (don't believe me? Kiss & Listen to Bis, Chinese Democracy finally came out, flannel popped up everywhere, nerdcore (not fantasy) ruled the boxoffice, Batman brought the joker back, Gossip Girl lovingly talks about Alice in Chains, there are remakes of 90210 & Melrose Place, the sitcom seems to be back, etc etc etc), my only hope was that it would be shortlived. After all, unlike the 70s and 80s nostalgias, what could there possibly be in the 90s nostalgia? How much was distinctive? We'll go from the early 90s grunge, to an odd late 90s powerpop scene, and come out a little sugar high, but mostly unscathed.

I was ecstatic when our PIS researchers noted the cultural impact of Mad Men style. Skinny ties, drinkin' gin and whiskey, monochromatic male colors & cleanshaven faces, curves in women, a sense of ironic earnestness, of european ability to revel in evil, a good looking president who liked to send troops to asia while saying nice things about peace. All these things and more seemed to be the equivalent of entirely discarding the bad dream of the 90s nostalgia.

Oh how I wish it were that simple.

One night at the office, as I whistled "Tu Vuo fa'la'Mericano" to myself and danced a little swing step, I remembered something about the 90s. After the flannel era came the neo-swing era.

I gasped, I dropped my dark sunglasses, my black tie went grey.

But let us not forget the mid-90s, with Swing Kids, Swingers, the resurgence of the Martini, the fascination with old-fashioned drinking and dancing. It should have hit me earlier. After all, Vince Vaughn is in a reasonably successful movie right now, Christian Bale was in everything (well almost everything).

There are differences, sure. The early 60s are not the early 30s. But what they mean in nostalgic terms... well. Then it falls within the Breclaw-Standard-Nostalgia-Discrepency scale (it actually has a BSND score of 0.43, well below the .94 necessary to differentiate).

Let's look at the similarities:

• defined gender roles
• near-constant drunkenness
• more formal, yet sexier styles
• slicked back hair
• gin/the martini
• music your grandparents listened to that you secretly like
• the feeling of transgression you get when you connect the two time periods

And it's terrifying. We here adore Mad Men, and the style (though many of us just call it the Fellini look, but regardless). But the explosion of early 60s style onto the cultural landscape fits perfectly within the 90s nostalgia. This may be one of those virii that can't be overwhelmed until we get truly sick (which might mean another half a decade, and a whole lot of 98˚ cover bands).

We remain, as ever, hopeful that the 80s will simply return.

Check back tomorrow for more on Mad Men (perhaps even more on Mad Men the show, not the phenomenon), but first: