Mad Men Madness (with a poll! wait for it!)

[Angeline]

Mad Men Madness (with a poll!)

I'm obsessed with the TV show Mad Men. The writing is so good, all chock full of literary, historical and cultural reference; the whole show is curated with obsessive detail; the characters fascinate me, and it's all set in the 1960s, which were my early adolescent years. I'm just drawn to it.

This is a fan check-in. Come in and discuss, gossip, blurt or otherwise connect with Mad Men (even in tenuous ways--I'm easy). Mad Men-related poetry is, of course, best of all.

At least answer the poll. I'll make it anonymous.

 

[HarryHill]

precious?? and overweening Don't think I would ever use those two together. I thought you might have misspelled, but precocious is far from the mark also

 

[Angeline]

Mad Woman

We sit close together
at if at a slumber party,
sharing graham crackers
and the remote.

He surrenders the ball
game. He likes to indulge
me. We pass the peanut
butter.

That's Joan. She fucked this really crude guy from Jaguar. They made her
a partner.

He takes my hand, we scratch
his back, discuss April 4,
1968 his California my New
Jersey. We listen and watch,
shift and swallow. Like breathing.
We don't think about it.

Don Draper is an existential mess!

He nods and drifts deeper
into the pillow.

 

[Angeline]

precious?? and overweening Don't think I would ever use those two together. I thought you might have misspelled, but precocious is far from the mark also

Well sorry if it didn't work for you. I hope you answered the poll and will post about the show if you like.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I love it but don't have AMC so get my fix via DVD, months after the fact but anticipation makes it all the sweeter.

 

[theognis]

I'm obsessed with the TV show Mad Men. The writing is so good, all chock full of literary, historical and cultural reference; the whole show is curated with obsessive detail; the characters fascinate me, and it's all set in the 1960s, which were my early adolescent years. I'm just drawn to it.

This is a fan check-in. Come in and discuss, gossip, blurt or otherwise connect with Mad Men (even in tenuous ways--I'm easy). Mad Men-related poetry is, of course, best of all.

At least answer the poll. I'll make it anonymous.

I've watched the show a few times, and was impressed with the things you mentioned, plus the acting, but I'm not obsessed with watching it the way you and close members of my family are. It's a very high quality show, however, so I can at least understand the obsession.

 

[NekoParks]

Meditations in an Emergency By Frank O'Hara

I'm obsessed with the TV show Mad Men. The writing is so good, all chock full of literary, historical and cultural reference; the whole show is curated with obsessive detail; the characters fascinate me, and it's all set in the 1960s, which were my early adolescent years. I'm just drawn to it.

This is a fan check-in. Come in and discuss, gossip, blurt or otherwise connect with Mad Men (even in tenuous ways--I'm easy). Mad Men-related poetry is, of course, best of all.

At least answer the poll. I'll make it anonymous.

I love the show too. Sometimes I will see a cup or glass or a pair of pj's that look just like something we used to have in our house. It's fascinating to see my parent's generation portrayed on TV. I bought the book of poetry Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'Hara. I absolutely love that book.


Meditations in an Emergency By Frank O'Hara

Am I to become profligate as if I were a blonde? Or religious as if I were French?

Each time my heart is broken it makes me feel more adventurous (and how the same names keep recurring on that interminable list!), but one of these days there’ll be nothing left with which to venture forth.

Why should I share you? Why don’t you get rid of someone else for a change?

I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.

Even trees understand me! Good heavens, I lie under them, too, don’t I? I’m just like a pile of leaves.

However, I have never clogged myself with the praises of pastoral life, nor with nostalgia for an innocent past of perverted acts in pastures. No. One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes—I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life. It is more important to affirm the least sincere; the clouds get enough attention as it is and even they continue to pass. Do they know what they’re missing? Uh huh.

My eyes are vague blue, like the sky, and change all the time; they are indiscriminate but fleeting, entirely specific and disloyal, so that no one trusts me. I am always looking away. Or again at something after it has given me up. It makes me restless and that makes me unhappy, but I cannot keep them still. If only I had grey, green, black, brown, yellow eyes; I would stay at home and do something. It’s not that I am curious. On the contrary, I am bored but it’s my duty to be attentive, I am needed by things as the sky must be above the earth. And lately, so great has their anxiety become, I can spare myself little sleep.

Now there is only one man I love to kiss when he is unshaven. Heterosexuality! you are inexorably approaching. (How discourage her?)

St. Serapion, I wrap myself in the robes of your whiteness which is like midnight in Dostoevsky. How am I to become a legend, my dear? I’ve tried love, but that hides you in the bosom of another and I am always springing forth from it like the lotus—the ecstasy of always bursting forth! (but one must not be distracted by it!) or like a hyacinth, “to keep the filth of life away,” yes, there, even in the heart, where the filth is pumped in and courses and slanders and pollutes and determines. I will my will, though I may become famous for a mysterious vacancy in that department, that greenhouse.

Destroy yourself, if you don’t know!

It is easy to be beautiful; it is difficult to appear so. I admire you, beloved, for the trap you’ve set. It's like a final chapter no one reads because the plot is over.

“Fanny Brown is run away—scampered off with a Cornet of Horse; I do love that little Minx, & hope She may be happy, tho’ She has vexed me by this Exploit a little too. —Poor silly Cecchina! or F:B: as we used to call her. —I wish She had a good Whipping and 10,000 pounds.” —Mrs. Thrale.

I’ve got to get out of here. I choose a piece of shawl and my dirtiest suntans. I’ll be back, I'll re-emerge, defeated, from the valley; you don’t want me to go where you go, so I go where you don’t want me to. It’s only afternoon, there’s a lot ahead. There won’t be any mail downstairs. Turning, I spit in the lock and the knob turns.

Frank O’Hara, “Meditations in an Emergency” from Meditations in an Emergency. Copyright © 1957 by Frank O’Hara.

 

[Angeline]

I love it but don't have AMC so get my fix via DVD, months after the fact but anticipation makes it all the sweeter.

I didn't watch it until a few years ago. I was ill, sorta confined to the couch or bed for a few days and I started watching it on Netflix. I was instantly hooked. I actually have a cousin who was a creative director for a Madison Avenue ad agency from the 1960s through the 1980s. He had much of that lifestyle (though I hope not as debauched as some of the characters--he always seemed to be flying off somewhere to shoot commercials). At least I know my cousins's childhood was pretty normal! He was going to get me a job as a file clerk (something lowly foot-in-the-door) after I graduated from high school. But my mother, ever the wet blanket, freaked at the idea of 18-year-old me working in the city. I guess I get it: it was during Times Square's sleazy 1970s. And now that I watch the show I'm glad I never got the job.

I know what you mean about waiting. I waited a year for Season 5 to come to Netflix and it was killing me! I wanted to see Roger's acid trip lol.

I shall try not to drop any current season spoilers in this thread!

I've watched the show a few times, and was impressed with the things you mentioned, plus the acting, but I'm not obsessed with watching it the way you and close members of my family are. It's a very high quality show, however, so I can at least understand the obsession.

Well if you read my poem above, you know that my partner, eagleyez, has about the same reaction as you do.

I love the show too. Sometimes I will see a cup or glass or a pair of pj's that look just like something we used to have in our house. It's fascinating to see my parent's generation portrayed on TV. I bought the book of poetry Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'Hara. I absolutely love that book.


Meditations in an Emergency By Frank O'Hara

Am I to become profligate as if I were a blonde? Or religious as if I were French?

Each time my heart is broken it makes me feel more adventurous (and how the same names keep recurring on that interminable list!), but one of these days there’ll be nothing left with which to venture forth.

Why should I share you? Why don’t you get rid of someone else for a change?

I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.

<snip>

Thank you thank you thank you for the Frank O'Hara! I love the guy. Seeing Don Draper reading that book was one of the things that really hooked me on the show.

Nice to meet you, Neko.

 

[Angeline]

Ooooh Mad Men Gifs! Like Joan~

Roger!

 

[NekoParks]

I didn't watch it until a few years ago. I was ill, sorta confined to the couch or bed for a few days and I started watching it on Netflix. I was instantly hooked. I actually have a cousin who was a creative director for a Madison Avenue ad agency from the 1960s through the 1980s. He had much of that lifestyle (though I hope not as debauched as some of the characters--he always seemed to be flying off somewhere to shoot commercials). At least I know my cousins's childhood was pretty normal! He was going to get me a job as a file clerk (something lowly foot-in-the-door) after I graduated from high school. But my mother, ever the wet blanket, freaked at the idea of 18-year-old me working in the city. I guess I get it: it was during Times Square's sleazy 1970s. And now that I watch the show I'm glad I never got the job.

I know what you mean about waiting. I waited a year for Season 5 to come to Netflix and it was killing me! I wanted to see Roger's acid trip lol.

I shall try not to drop any current season spoilers in this thread!





Well if you read my poem above, you know that my partner, eagleyez, has about the same reaction as you do.



Thank you thank you thank you for the Frank O'Hara! I love the guy. Seeing Don Draper reading that book was one of the things that really hooked me on the show.

Nice to meet you, Neko.

Nice to meet you too. Thank you for the welcome.

 

[NekoParks]

Don's Going to Hell...Mad Men's Use of Dante's Inferno

Found this terrific article referencing Don's reading of Dante's Inferno at the beginning of the first episode of Season 6.

This article discusses Don's hypocrisy and the eighth circle of hell...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/Mad-Men-Recap-Don-Draper-is-going-to-hell.html

 

[Angeline]

Found this terrific article referencing Don's reading of Dante's Inferno at the beginning of the first episode of Season 6.

This article discusses Don's hypocrisy and the eighth circle of hell...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/Mad-Men-Recap-Don-Draper-is-going-to-hell.html

Thanks Neko! Good article. I feel like the message being flashed at us over and over is that Don is in hell this season, a hell of his own making but also of the times. It was no accident, I think, that they tie in a Biblical title, "The Flood," to remind us that this is a trying year for everyone, but especially Don. And of course the question is: where will he end up when the year or season is over? Will he save himself or just keep going down? Personally I think the characters that have come to represent parts of Don like Peggy (good parts) or Pete (bad bad bad) will fare better that Don will. He really seems like he doesn't fit the times this year and unlike some other characters, Roger for example, he isn't gonna adjust well.

Course I could be wrong. Mad Men is soooo good at throwing curve balls!

 

[NekoParks]

Thanks Neko! Good article. I feel like the message being flashed at us over and over is that Don is in hell this season, a hell of his own making but also of the times. It was no accident, I think, that they tie in a Biblical title, "The Flood," to remind us that this is a trying year for everyone, but especially Don. And of course the question is: where will he end up when the year or season is over? Will he save himself or just keep going down? Personally I think the characters that have come to represent parts of Don like Peggy (good parts) or Pete (bad bad bad) will fare better that Don will. He really seems like he doesn't fit the times this year and unlike some other characters, Roger for example, he isn't gonna adjust well.

Course I could be wrong. Mad Men is soooo good at throwing curve balls!

I agree that the characters do represent different parts of Don's character/psyche. I loved the scene in which Don was mocking Sylvia for wearing a cross while they were cheating on their spouses. It was interesting that Sylvia told Don that she prayed that he would find peace. It's so strange that Don often marries the more shallow women in his life, but continues to have affairs with incredibly strong and perceptive women. Historically, 1968 was a horrific year for Americans with two assassinations, riots (race riots, Vietnam War protests, and political protests even erupting at the Chicago Democratic Convention), and inflation/economic pressures due to deficit spending during an expensive war. Don does seem to be displaced and disconnected with the people in his life-- including his children. This season may be turning point for Don-- a make it or break it year for him.

 

[Angeline]

I agree that the characters do represent different parts of Don's character/psyche. I loved the scene in which Don was mocking Sylvia for wearing a cross while they were cheating on their spouses. It was interesting that Sylvia told Don that she prayed that he would find peace. It's so strange that Don often marries the more shallow women in his life, but continues to have affairs with incredibly strong and perceptive women. Historically, 1968 was a horrific year for Americans with two assassinations, riots (race riots, Vietnam War protests, and political protests even erupting at the Chicago Democratic Convention), and inflation/economic pressures due to deficit spending during an expensive war. Don does seem to be displaced and disconnected with the people in his life-- including his children. This season may be turning point for Don-- a make it or break it year for him.

Interesting point about Don and his women. He wants his women to be shallow, at least the ones he's public with: the wives. When they get too intelligent or independent or successful he gets all threatened and tries to shut them down, emotionally terrorize them (which will not bode well for Meagan, methinks). And yet, as you point out, the women he dallies with always seem emotionally stronger than him. He's so mixed up about women: he either looks up to them as beyond reproach (like Peggy) or down on them as whores because they sleep with him. And to me the only woman he seems relatively realistic about is Joan, maybe because he sees her as being as cynical about love as he is.

 

[NekoParks]

Interesting point about Don and his women. He wants his women to be shallow, at least the ones he's public with: the wives. When they get too intelligent or independent or successful he gets all threatened and tries to shut them down, emotionally terrorize them (which will not bode well for Meagan, methinks). And yet, as you point out, the women he dallies with always seem emotionally stronger than him. He's so mixed up about women: he either looks up to them as beyond reproach (like Peggy) or down on them as whores because they sleep with him. And to me the only woman he seems relatively realistic about is Joan, maybe because he sees her as being as cynical about love as he is.

You are right about his ambivalent feelings regarding women--and no wonder with the flashback of him growing up in a whore house.

Don lucked into Meagan, but he is systematically alienating her. Although Meaghan is good for him and good with his children, he will wind up losing her. As Meaghan grows and becomes her own woman, Don will not be able to handle it. His fit about her love scene with another actor was both unbelievable and typical of a man with Don's skewed view of woman.

It's curious that Joan and Don have never slept with each other. Joan holds a special position in Don's life--he respects her and doesn't seem to categorize her as a Madonna or a whore.

What I love the most is the time capsule of mores and attitudes that Mad Men explores. After all of these years, Mad Men still has the ability to shock me by the reaction of the characters to historical events. People forget how violent the 1960's and 1970's were. I was a child and don't remember as much as I should, but when I watch Mad Men, memories will come back to me. Have you heard when they plan to end the series. I wonder if they will show the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970 before the series is over?

 

[Angeline]

You are right about his ambivalent feelings regarding women--and no wonder with the flashback of him growing up in a whore house.

Don lucked into Meagan, but he is systematically alienating her. Although Meaghan is good for him and good with his children, he will wind up losing her. As Meaghan grows and becomes her own woman, Don will not be able to handle it. His fit about her love scene with another actor was both unbelievable and typical of a man with Don's skewed view of woman.

It's curious that Joan and Don have never slept with each other. Joan holds a special position in Don's life--he respects her and doesn't seem to categorize her as a Madonna or a whore.

What I love the most is the time capsule of mores and attitudes that Mad Men explores. After all of these years, Mad Men still has the ability to shock me by the reaction of the characters to historical events. People forget how violent the 1960's and 1970's were. I was a child and don't remember as much as I should, but when I watch Mad Men, memories will come back to me. Have you heard when they plan to end the series. I wonder if they will show the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970 before the series is over?

I've read articles where Matt Weiner insists that the series is about the characters and not the times. But, and maybe this is because I do remember living through those years, I don't see how the sixties/early seventies can do anything but overwhelm the characters. So maybe Weiner is being too cute in his analyses (that's what I meant by "precious and overweening"). He must know that some of these people will blossom as a result of the times and others will be dragged under by it. Or maybe some will be unchanged. Like Don. Maybe his hell is just to go on as he has and become one of those anachronistic men caught between generations.

A happy ending would be Don and Joan, but that'll never happen. Don won't get a happy ending. Maybe Roger and Joan will get back together though. I could totally see that happening!

I so love Joan!

 

[Angeline]

Pete, you jackass, you so deserve this.

 

[Angeline]

Sterling, Cooper, Draper, who.....?

Now here's an ad agency name generator. Think the Mad Men could use one of these? It's rather ahead of their time. They don't even have computers yet, not even Pong or Atari! But they do need a new agency name. Here's to us finding it out on Sunday.

L'chaim!

 

[Angeline]

The wisdom of Roger Sterling:

On the necessity of having a crazy comedian sell Utz potato chips:
He knows what that nut means to Utz and what Utz means to us.

Upon firing an obnoxious employee:

Employee: You're a real prick, you know that?
Roger: Damn it Burt. You stole my goodbye.

To an angry coworker:
I'll buy you a drink if you wipe the blood off your mouth.

On the agency's clients:
I love how they sit there like a couple of choir boys. You know one of them's leaving New York with VD.

And his all time classic upon losing an account:
When God closes an account, He opens a dress.

 

[bronzeage]

The thing which impressed me about Dan Draper is, as fucked up as his psyche and secret life may be, he takes care of the people who work with him. Draper creates a team and supports them, which is why he has remained successful at work. Regardless or what people think about him, they are confident they will do better if they stay close to him.

 

[Angeline]

The thing which impressed me about Dan Draper is, as fucked up as his psyche and secret life may be, he takes care of the people who work with him. Draper creates a team and supports them, which is why he has remained successful at work. Regardless or what people think about him, they are confident they will do better if they stay close to him.

He takes care of them because he loves to control people. Mostly that has worked in his favor--at least at his job. He is a boss I'd love to have for the reasons you mention. But all that drinking! Oy. He is definitely a high-functioning alkie.

Would you be insulted if I said you remind me a little of Roger?

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

He takes care of them because he loves to control people. Mostly that has worked in his favor--at least at his job. He is a boss I'd love to have for the reasons you mention. But all that drinking! Oy. He is definitely a high-functioning alkie.

Would you be insulted if I said you remind me a little of Roger?

He had to let Peggy go - and he was surprisingly gracious I thought. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to her, she's one of my favourite character, a duck to Joans swan.

 

[Angeline]

He had to let Peggy go - and he was surprisingly gracious I thought. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to her, she's one of my favourite character, a duck to Joans swan.

Yes and so smart, so so smart. I think Peggy is Don without the darkness. I have been rewatching the old seasons because you can see so much you miss (there's so many layers of references there!), and you can see how the long arc of the story line is moving. I only see good things ahead for Pegs though I do wonder about that baby.

Are you seeing the current season or reading the reviews of what happens? (I don't want to throw in a spoiler by mistake!)

 

[Angeline]

Just for Tess.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Just for Tess.

This scene where she and Joan end up giggling at Peggy's "bull shit" was great. P's J's equal at last.

Thanks, Ange. What's your opinion on Betty?