In 2009, when Virgin Airlines made their ‘Still Red Hot’ commercial to celebrate their 25th anniversary, they did at least manage to combine an expert re-creation of the historical period in which it was set with a clear sense of irony and a tongue-in-cheek appreciation of the fact that the world is a very different place today – both qualities that Pan Am is sorely lacking.
Leaning heavily on the Steven Spielberg movie Catch Me If You Can for its visual capturing of the early 1960s (we spent the first half an hour expecting Leonardo DiCaprio to appear) the show follows the lives of four air hostesses working for the titular airline, each one of whom has a back-story that’s either preposterous or merely tedious.
There’s headstrong, free spirit Kate Cameron (Kelli Garner), who’s moonlighting for the CIA; her green-as-a-dollar bill younger sister, Laura (a likeable post-Neighbours Margot Robbie), who is papped by Life magazine on the way to a uniform fitting and becomes the unwitting face of Pan Am (she also gets her arse slapped by sour-faced dresser Mrs Havermeyer, who barks, ‘Are you wearing your girdle?’ with ghoulish relish); unlucky-in-love Collette Valois (Karine Vanasse); and proto-revolutionary purser Maggie Ryan (film star Christina Ricci), who lives with a group of earnestly-bearded Marxist poets in the Village and is clearly not opposed to sticking it to THE MAN. (To emphasise how unafraid of defying convention she is, she changes clothes in the back of a New York taxi. Phew. Rebellion.)
Sat on the other side of the yawning sexual divide – the dismally unaddressed sexism is best exemplified in the difference between the young lad who (in a moment that brings to mind either the scene in Airplane! with Captain Oveur and little Joey or the fact that Pan Am is set in a distant, pre-terrorism utopia) gets taken to see the flight controls because he wants to be a pilot and the little girl who stares wistfully at the hostesses in their oh-so-perfect uniforms, as if they represent the zenith of her aspirations – are blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American captain Dean Lowrey (naturally, his stewardess fiancee Bridget has mysteriously disappeared, paving the way for him to start dating blonde-haired, blue-eyed all-American cover girl Laura later on) and first officer Ted Vanderway, who is clearly keen to put the cock in ‘cockpit’ when it comes to cabin crew relations.
Upon learning that Maggie will be filling in for Bridget, he quips, ‘Who’s filling in the rest of her?’ Later, Kate warns him off her sister: ‘Consider her restricted airspace.’ If there’s any character here who’d be better suited to a guest role in Mile High, it’s Ted.
‘Wasn’t that something?’ Maggie remarks sarcastically upon seeing Laura’s picture on the cover of Life. Well, since you ask, no. It was as insubstantial as the in-flight meal in cattle class, with its desperate lack of irony or subtlety and endless, perfectly-toothed smiles enough to have you reaching for the sick bag.
The visuals are exquisite (the flying sequences are expertly-rendered special effects and everything else is dressed with a fine eye for detail, even if the stereotypically rain-soaked ‘London’ scenes are very clearly about as close to the UK as Kate Cameron is to her namesake at 10 Downing Street). But they can’t make up for the clichéd characters, lightweight story, or the unmistakable stench of 21st century sexism dressed up as historical accuracy which lingers around the show like the stench of beer sweats on a budget airline flight home from Magaluf when the air-con fails.
Aired at 9pm on Wednesday 16th November 2011 on BBC Two.
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