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(ReferencestoMad Menabound.)
But a better comparison forThe Queens Gambitwould beThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
It is what one friend dubbed a fake deep period piece.
A great period series is a very particular kind of fantasy.
The white admen ofMad Menhave no clue whats about to hit them in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, the viewer watches knowing how its all about to go down.
and knowing dread (smoking actually is quite bad for you!).
Recall the gorgeous objects that fill each frame of Martin ScorsesesThe Age of Innocence.
The effect of all that beauty is supposed to be devastating claustrophobic and melancholic all at once.
They should not make one feel: I want to go to there.
Instead, the effect is more like: I can never go back there again.
They signify in the show the same way they would at some hipster bar today.
Everything potentially traumatizing or problematic gets actively taken up as fodder for beauty.
Instead, it offers a different vision of the Cold War a happier, less paranoid one.
Russia is not villainous inThe Queens Gambit, and that seems precisely the point.
When the going gets tough in America, America responds by trying to feel good about itself.
(This is the era ofPeak Comfort TV, after all.)
Think of thebeach party movies, or, honestly,EPCOT.
Such fantasies can of course be pleasurable, guilty or otherwise.
