PAN AM. Or Am Not?

Hmmm...  so I just watched Pan Am on Hulu.   Its very much along the lines of Mad Men, somehow...  the glorious age of America, when we were triumphant and a world power to be reckoned with.     And this leads me to wonder why we feel we need stories like this.   Is it because the rest of TV world is filled with the bad side of America?  There is Hoarders, what not to wear, the biggest loser (and thank goodness one of the trainers left that show, I saw a smidgen of the first show of this season...that is not a smart way to lose weight!).  There are shows where the father is crass, and the whole family is unrefined...  There's a show called "Intervention" and "Are You smarter than a fifth grader"?

Just so many, many, many shows about the negatives in this country.   And maybe that is why Mad Men is so popular.  And why I suspect they made Pan Am.   Because it shows America as a world power, as a shining star.   And I think we do need to take back the image of our country.   And we need to see ourselves in a positive light...It was a time when women dressed well, when men had their own role, when everything had a place, an idealistic show (both of them) about the times.

I just find it interesting...  and wonder if its a trend....  and in some ways I hope so, but in other ways not.  Because even though it was a photogenic era, it wasn't a wonderful era.  It wasn't fabulous for women, by any means.   An airline stewardess was often one of the few career paths open for women.    They were viewed as adornements...

And in terms of the new tv show, they had an Indian man in the cockpit?   It would have been highly unlikely in reality.  From what i remember from my childhood (seven years after the setting of the show), I remember blonde.  I don't remember ethnic.  I don't even really remember brunette, per se.... They had an Asian stewardess shown...  They haven't even shown the smoking.   Plays set in the era had smoking, constantly.   The characters were always reaching for cigarettes...  which at least Mad Men got right.   Mad Men has glossed over, a little bit, of some of the issues of the day, glamorized them a little, but Pan Am takes it to an extreme..... really trying to idealize an era.