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Pan Am is a US drama series set in the 1960s following the lives of young women set on leaving their ordinary lives behind, and finding adventure and excitement in the glamorous and elite world of air travel. The drama follows the stories of the Cameron sisters, two girls desperate to escape the social conventions and expectations of the era in favour of a more dazzling and glitzy lifestyle.
The first episode sees older sister Kate (Kelli Garner) help a younger more apprehensive Laura (Margot Robbie) run away from her own wedding because she decides it’s not what she wants from her life and wants to see the world, much to the horror of her mother. We see there is conflict between the sisters’ desires and their mother’s aspirations for them, and this develops in the second episode when their mother secretly gets on the flight they are working on to try and coax Laura, the ‘favourite child’, to reconsider her life path and get back with her ex fiancé.
The drama contains a fair few storylines, all intricately sewn in to keep the viewer’s attention. I cannot deny that these reeled me in whilst watching, yet the script at times felt a little weak. Like a soap the show is a somewhat airy and superficial portrayal of air travel in the 1960s and, I feel, more aimed at female audiences. The stewardesses are all beautiful and Barbie-like which only adds to this soap like conception; we see them going for constant grooming and girdle checks as well as frequent weigh-ins. There are also little bits of romance throughout which likens the show to a Desperate Housewives-type saga. In the first episode we see strong willed, stylish Colette (Karine Vanasse), the saucy stewardess from France, realise that her recent lover is married with children, when he boards the flight not knowing that she would be working on it.
There are also bouts of feminism. The stewardesses, being sexy and refined, obviously attract attention from sleazy business men. We see the headstrong, sassy Maggie Ryan (Christina Ricci), perhaps the only one not taken in by the elitist lifestyle and glamour of the job, ward off a drunk business man in first class with a fork. She is then horrified to be told by the co-pilot of the plane to offer him a complimentary drink for his trouble, since this seriously undermines her right as a woman.
Perhaps the most farfetched storyline is the one which shows Kate being unknowingly recruited by the CIA as a replacement for ex stewardess, Bridget (Annabelle Wallis), who has mysteriously disappeared from the Pan Am crew leaving behind a heartbroken Captain Richard (Jeremy Davidson), who had asked her to marry him all but six months earlier. It certainly makes for intriguing viewing, yet the inclusion of the CIA feels a bit like a forced attempt at gripping male viewers with the added extra of a bit of espionage, and I was left a little confused as to why it had been put in the show at all.
Despite the somewhat soap-like, glossy element, I enjoyed watching the various characters’ plots unfold. Some have compared Pan Am to a poorly written Mad Men, set in the same era, the same glossy lifestyle, just not as clever or proper a portrayal of the evolution of female equality. For me, however, Pan Am, whilst it may not be realistic or serious enough for some, makes for easy viewing and I am eager to see what happens next.
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