People always idealize their favorite eras in this way. I thought the 80s were fucking great because of the pop culture, but then I grew up and started to see how rotten things were once I scratched beneath the surface of that decade. And the biggest culture shock was that the polished veneer was a result of that rottenness.

The elegance and politeness of the mid 20th Century may have a certain charm about it, but there was a certain toxic patriarchal social authoritarianism underneath that we're best left leaving to the ash heap of history. I mean, if one finds a way to bring back some of that civility in a fashion that validates and reenforces modern progressive values, I'm all for it. I don't really think it's doable though. No one on their right mind wants a return to the world of Joseph McCarthy and Donna Reed.