Jump to content

Mad for Mad Men Corner


Recommended Posts

Yes, I watched it. I'm usually off and on in watching "Mad Men". If the Sunday Night NFL game is any good I watch that. But Indy was running away with it, so I watched most of last night's episode. Before I read your post, my thought was this was one of the best episodes I had ever seen. I can't get the picture out of my mind of Don's smashed and bandaged up face at the end and how he walked into the office as if nothing had happened. And Betty's absolute non-reaction to his injuries as he came home, told her he had signed the contract and headed up the stairs. Leaves you wanting more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 230
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I watched it as well--good summary/analysis here. No sign of Joan last night--what's she going to do, now that her husband's told her she has to get her old job back? Wasn't sure about the young couple... were people really already marrying to avoid the Vietnam draft as early as the summer of '63? (I wouldn't know, not having even been on earth at that time--I've talked to a friend whose parents did that in mid-1965, but at that point, of course, the war was pretty much front and center in Americans' consciousness.)

Edited by ghost of miles
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did anyone see this evening's episode (9/27/09)? The best episode of the season and one of the best of the series.

This is what I love about the show.

The entire course of the season has just been completely changed again.

Don signing a contract only after Cooper holds a career gun to his head. No question Don now definitely hates Roger.

Betty once again looking for attention. Duck and Peggy, WTF?

:tup:tup:tup

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don signing a contract only after Cooper holds a career gun to his head. No question Don now definitely hates Roger.

Yeah--didn't he say, "I don't want any more contact w/Roger" when he signed the contract? Bad, bad move on Roger's part, calling Betty.

We'll probably see it was also a bad move by Bert Cooper to force the contract the way he did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did anyone see this evening's episode (9/27/09)? The best episode of the season and one of the best of the series.

This is what I love about the show.

The entire course of the season has just been completely changed again.

Don signing a contract only after Cooper holds a career gun to his head. No question Don now definitely hates Roger.

Betty once again looking for attention. Duck and Peggy, WTF?

:tup:tup:tup

I really don't see how Don can avoid seeing Roger once in a while, given that it's such a small firm. Also, Roger can pretty much do whatever he wants.

As for Duck and Peggy...now Peggy should DEFINITELY not move to that other firm.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Duck is a spreader of chaos. Pete may have put it in a hysterical way, but his instincts concerning Duck (stay away from him) are right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched it as well--good summary/analysis here. No sign of Joan last night--what's she going to do, now that her husband's told her she has to get her old job back? Wasn't sure about the young couple... were people really already marrying to avoid the Vietnam draft as early as the summer of '63? (I wouldn't know, not having even been on earth at that time--I've talked to a friend whose parents did that in mid-1965, but at that point, of course, the war was pretty much front and center in Americans' consciousness.)

I was around and fairly aware in 1963 and think most people didn't start worrying about Vietnam till about a year later. But I may not remember correctly. I do think there are some anachronisms in the show. Most of the writers are too young to remember (or know) the exact chronology of things. They may only be a few months off but if you lived through it, that's important to you. (Eg I think they have someone going to a Dylan concert and everyone knowing who Dylan was in 1962, whereas he was not very well known outside of Greenwich Village until The Freewheelin' came out in May 0f '63. Didn't his first record sell only 5,000 copies?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nearly through Season 1--watched the next-to-last episode, "Kennedy vs. Nixon," tonight before doing my board shift at work. Wow... :o The whole Adam Whitman storyline is really haunting (not to mention all of the other stuff in Don's background). This one and "5G" were real heartbreakers...and the confrontation scenes between Pete and Don were really well-acted, even by this series' exceptional standards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well acted, but that's where I lost any sense that Don was a decent person. And that began to change my perception of the whole show!

It's a good show, but I'm not as enthusiastic about it all as most everyone else posting seems to be. Wonder how many more seasons it will have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a lot of truth to that. I see that, and agree.

The problem for me is I don't identify with any of them, any of their dreams and aspirations and desires or general personality. It looks to me as if I'm looking at denizens from another planet in important ways. That really unsettled me. I'm used to being different, I've a different upbringing than most I know and I've even cultivated a separateness at times in my life. But this work seems to cry out for an empathy that I can't muster. Maybe it's a failing in me. I really see it's value, but I really look at the characters as people I don't want to be. More so than on any other tv show I'm watching.

I definitely am intrigued and keep watching. With a certain disconnect, a distance I wish weren't there.

Thanks for making that point D.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I kind of feel the same way, Lon. There seems to be a certain exaggeration (deliberate?) in some of the caricatures, which makes you say, "There's a grain of truth here, but it's taken to the extreme. People are not really quite like this. Close sometimes, but there's something not quite right here." I think it may have to do, as was pointed out above, the age of the writers, who would have been very young in the 60's or not born yet at all. So they're sort of projecting backwards to the era, saying "This is what people must have been like,", taking the worst stereotypes of the era and applying it to all the characters. Again, perhaps it's deliberate. I think it's hard to really identify with any of the characters in the show. To me, they're all jerks, but that's what makes it fascinating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I kind of feel the same way, Lon. There seems to be a certain exaggeration (deliberate?) in some of the caricatures, which makes you say, "There's a grain of truth here, but it's taken to the extreme. People are not really quite like this. Close sometimes, but there's something not quite right here." I think it may have to do, as was pointed out above, the age of the writers, who would have been very young in the 60's or not born yet at all. So they're sort of projecting backwards to the era, saying "This is what people must have been like,", taking the worst stereotypes of the era and applying it to all the characters. Again, perhaps it's deliberate. I think it's hard to really identify with any of the characters in the show. To me, they're all jerks, but that's what makes it fascinating.

I think there's often a condescension to earlier eras. "Look how dumb those people were as compared to how sophisticated we are now." This is especially true of novels/films set in the '50s and early '60s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I long ago stopped trying to "identify" with the fictional characters in movies, TV, novels, or short stories. I mean, sure, sometimes I do just that, sort of automatically, but it's not something I require. What I do require is good storytelling, and characterization that's consistent or convincing or just interesting on some level. And in movies and TV, good direction and good acting. I don't need fictional characters who I'd pal around with in real life, or want to "be" myself.

For instance, take "Breaking Bad"---not as good a show as "Mad Men" but I catch it once in a while. I don't really identify much with the main character, Walter, played by Bryan Cranston. And his young partner I have zero identification with. None. But the show is well-crafted on a number of levels, so I find it pretty watchable.

Something of the sort goes for "Mad Men." Just my take.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I get that. Not normally a necessity for me either. But it's really an issue with me and Mad Men.

Partially for me I think it stems from the awful way that women are treated. I just broil when I see that in real life and here it is sort of "glamorized." You can say "well, that's how it was then." Well my parents are the age of the characters in that show and they weren't like that, nor other members of my family. None of my menfolk would put up with it, and none of my womefolk would have just gone along with the flow.

I didn't even have the slightest inclination to watch the show because in my last year at the office the only things I heard about the show was from the most chauvinistic characters working there who were gleefully recounting of how the guys get away with lording over the women on the show. I only did get the first season because a woman I worked with said it was an excellently produced and acted show and she wanted my opinion of it. I saw shadows and echoes of this behavior and philosophy in action in the worki places I had worked in and I detested it. So I really don't want to see it in action here. I can't put myself in their shoes, I can't conceive of their behavior being right, I can't see them continually going on with it and prospering without a creepy feeling.

I can't shake that creepy feeling watching the show.

Edited by jazzbo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...