I guess it's not for everyone -- to me, Mad Men was a really interesting commentary on consumer culture and suburbia; along with giving a much more realistic vi

I guess it's not for everyone -- to me, Mad Men was a really interesting commentary on consumer culture and suburbia; along with giving a much more realistic view of a period of time that has been extremely influential yet usually reflected in a pretty one dimensional way. If someone asked me to read an essay about the values on 1950s/1960s america, I really don't think I'd care, but by giving me interesting characters and presenting their values in concrete situations, it made learning about that time a lot more interesting and relevant. I think with fiction, when it works, you learn a lot without even realizing it. That can make it seem like it's not valuable because sometimes you don't even realized it planted a seed in your mind. I mean, how much more effective was a novel like 1984 versus someone talking about the dangers of government surveillance? I'd argue 1984 had much more impact (unfortunately, probably not enough), even though it was entirely fiction.