Anna Hellsten rekommenderar en text av Heather Havrilesky inför den fjärde säsongen av Mad men. Länk

This is the genius of “Mad Men,” its dramatic reenactment of the disconnect between the dream of dashing heroes and their beautiful wives, living in style among adorable, adoring children, and the much messier reality of struggling to play a predetermined role without an organic relationship to your surroundings or to yourself. We’re drawn to “Mad Men” week after week because each and every episode asks us, What’s missing from this pretty picture?

Svaret är ingen överraskning och frågeställningen har inte åldrats märkbart sedan slutet på 50-talet.

What’s missing on both a personal and a broader scale is empathy, of course — embodied most gruesomely in the lawn mower accident last season, but also wrapped up in the sharp edicts Don and Betty issue to their children, in the distracted insults Don aims at Peggy, in the self-involved funk of Joan’s doctor fiancé, in the cruelty that springs from Pete’s existential desperation. While “Mad Men’s” detractors often decry the empty sheen of it all, claiming that it has no soul, clearly that’s the point. The American dream itself is a carefully packaged, soulless affair.

Slutorden är nattsvarta:

In show creator Matthew Weiner’s telling, the birth of the advertising age coincides directly with the birth of our discontent as a nation — and what got lost in the hustle was our souls.

Vad är det som saknas?