I was drifting off to sleep after taking my evening vicadin in order to stop the incessant pain in..

[WCGreen]

my surgically repaired hip when a promo for the new ABC series PanAm came on and jolted me out of my oncoming pharmaceutical bliss.

In case you missed it, PanAm is the newest in a spate of Mad Men copies that have sprung up over the last three or so years. It’s a story about four girls, that’s what we called women back then, who are out to change the world by becoming stewardesses for the International Airline, PanAm.

Being a stewardess back then was the glamor job for women. I think it even trumped model because it entailed traveling and seeing the world. And you had to have a personality to go along with the good looks.

After all, flying was not what it is today. It was really something for people like me and you to go flying around the world. They called the "in crowd" the "Jet Set" on purpose because it was beyond the grasp of nearly all the people. There were some people who flew all the time and these were mostly the movers and the shakers and, of course, the Beatles.

But that is a different story.

What I find interesting about these shows that glamorize the 60’s is the focus. They are usually about style, the sleek lines, the hip slogans, the way we were led to look at stuff.

And oh there was an explosion of stuff to look at.

But the real life, the life that all these shows gloss over, the substance, if you will, was the explosion of social change that threatened to rip apart the country.

It was the slew of Civil Rights movements that changed the world and not the women who went off to fly over the world on Pan Am. It was the end, so many thought, of the white male domination of our culture. And that is the inherent irony in shows like Mad Men and PanAm that they focus on the style and there for glorify the male dominance and pretend it is what the 60’s were really all about.

I know I am not the only person who cringes when I see those commercials for Korean Airline and the overt sexual and objectification of women that continues to thrive. It’s almost as if they are saying all that happened between Pan Am and now doesn’t really matter.

I wonder if it has to do with the change in the political age that was ushered in by the events of 9/11. Think about it, guys like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were on the verge of being anachronistic when those planes slammed into our collective conscious.

Suddenly, the creepy faux macho guys were in demand. The tough talking fast walking no commenting guys were the new “it” girls.

The shows that are so heavy on style forget about the substance. That is what our politics is all about now. Our popular culture is dominating the age we live in. Just look at how we celebrate any little tweak of technology that comes out as if it were the beginning of a whole new age of man.

Anyway, by all rights, given the weight of the scripts I have taken, I should be asleep. And maybe these are just the midnight musings of a man mostly devoid of style. But is this focus on the superficial, the style of the moment, if you will, the true legacy of the 60’s?

Style has come to dominate politics more than ever. This unhealthy focus on superficiality goes far beyond Election Day and is now the true focus of the group. Everything is based on perception and not reality.

I guess you could say that style is the lasting legacy of the 60’s. But I think if we truly believe that we have hollowed out the framework and left the façade to fend for itself.

Good night and may the force be with you.

[Delphinus]

1. Interesting observations.

Thanks for giving me something to think about. Also, good luck with your healing.

[zippytheplatypus]

2. feel better soon

I could theoretically say something regarding lortab 10s, soma & Glenlivet French Oak (that I heard from someone else of course) but that would probably get me banned from the site so I won't.. I liked that Catch Me if You Can movie, that was good stuff, I saw that Pan Am commercial too, it looks ok but I can't imagine anything on commercial network tv being any good anymore. Pretty messed up to make us yearn for the days when flying from SFO to LAX didn't mean a body cavity search & a violation of every human right imaginable. Instead of a lame tv show let's do the 60s over again for real but without the assassinations. I wasn't born yet & I feel jipped big time.

[InkAddict]

3. For the lack of 1" in height by the Summer of Love, I was not

eligible for flight attendant "school". Dang "overhead" designers and/or inadequate genes.

[WCGreen]

4. It would have been quite an experience....