Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Rob Instigator
My issue with television like Mad Men is that a good portion of their audience does not understand that what they are watching is a historical reconstruction, and take it to be something they should model their personal views after.
|
There has been a number of television shows in the past 10 years or so that asked us to root for a amoral or self-serving character. This started with "The Sopranos", where we are asked to root for a criminal. Tony Soprano loved his family, sure, but as the series went on his character grew more self-serving. Then there's a show like Dexter which wants the audience to root for a murderer. Shows like "Dexter" and "Breaking Bad" are wish-fulfillement shows that focus on a character who does what they want, and each week we want them to get away with the terrible things they do. Don Draper may not be a killer but his loner doesn't want to make any serious attachments lest he has to recreate his identity persona is another sort of wish-fulfillment to do as we please and if things don't work he can leave and let others to pick up the pieces he's left behind. In each of these shows the audience is asked to root for selfish, even delusional characters who justify their self-serving actions.