The 1960s are often considered the golden age in American history—with that as the backdrop The Marvelous Mrs Maisel started in 2017 depicting the American standup comedy and show business. Two seasons later, the show is still continuing to dissect the generation of ‘flower children’, how former president John F Kennedy influenced young minds and how women were viewed on wanting to have a career. Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is a New Yorker from the Upper East Side who went to a liberal arts all-girls college called Bryn Mawr.
The 26-year-old has two kids and her father works as a professor at Columbia University. She helps her husband moonlight as a standup comic when he is not working at an MNC during the day. But soon she realises, she has the natural flair to be funny and takes on the stage at local pubs. Separated from her husband, she now goes on to do almost regular shows and in season three. She is signed on by a famous black singer called Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain) to go on road shows.
The late season is an exploration of how comics made their living and the opportunities they were presented—events for the US Army, private parties etc. While it’s interesting to watch Midge’s career unravel, what’s problematic is the sanitised version of history the show depicts. The Marvelous Mrs Maisel presents itself as a period piece but the reality of the fiction is far removed from the truth. In the US Army show that Midge opens with her comic set, a group of black dancers are seen performing.
Her tour with a black musician and his mostly black entourage is devoid of any humiliations such performing acts would have faced in the 60s as history documents. None of these persons of colour are shown to experience any type of unequal or unfair treatment. This distortion of history is made up with Brosnahan’s infectious laughter and antics. While shows like Mad Men and Good Girls Revolt stress details of the era they depict, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is bent on portraying situations which can be best described as fantasy. There is no looking at racism, anti-semitism (Midge is a single Jewish mother) or feminism.
In fact, feminism is used as quirk when Midge’s manager Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein) constantly curses or takes down a couple of goons who are out to kill her. Even Midge uses sexism in the name of forwarding her own career. Nevertheless, the show is enjoyable and with two more seasons in the pipeline, perhaps the makers will use it to lift the curtain on the falsities.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel season 3
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Writer and Director: Amy
Sherman-Palladino
Cast: Rachel Brosnahan, Michael Zegen, Tony Shalhoub, Zachary Levi
Genre: Comedy