Mad Men on the Power of Nostalgia

May 12, 2015 - PRLog -- The week, AMC’s juggernaut Mad Men ends its eight year reign over cable television. No longer will we have our window into 1960s America and the salacious happenings at Sterling Cooper advertising agency. Since its debut, Mad Men has received multiple awards (Emmys, Golden Globes, Writes Guild) and critical acclaim for it’s acting, writing, and directing. The show also stands out for its nostalgia-inducing historical authenticity.

There is always a certain amount of nostalgia associated with watching a period-based program from earlier in our life. It reminds us of a simpler, better time. Was it really simpler and better? Probably not, but we were younger, less experienced, and not yet cynical so it feels that way.

Musing over the past was not always so acceptable. In 1688 a Swiss doctor defined nostalgia as a “neurological disease of essentially demonic cause.” Prevalent in soldiers far from home, it was tied to damaged ear drums and brain cells. Two hundred years later, nostalgia was classified as “immigrant psychosis,” based in melancholia and repressive compulsive disorder.

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