tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490006990580611900.post6642791506425769031..comments2015-05-20T09:28:20.474-07:00Comments on Mad About Mad Men: "The Real Thing"Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06406367604160528926noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490006990580611900.post-91718833756733760242015-05-20T09:28:20.474-07:002015-05-20T09:28:20.474-07:00Thanks for your reflections, Philip. I love your i...Thanks for your reflections, Philip. I love your image of the great white hunting. That seems apt. But, I think Don was genuinely hunting for himself and some meaning, while also--great ad man that he is--always ready to experience the world as material for the next great ad. I read a New York Times interview with Jon Hamm, in which he shared his interpretation of Don's final moment on the show. He sees Don as genuinely questing for his true self and that what he realized whlie meditating is that who he really is is an ad man. The two came together for him in that moment. Cathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06406367604160528926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490006990580611900.post-42615451757712321922015-05-19T04:15:11.819-07:002015-05-19T04:15:11.819-07:00Nice reflection, Cathy. I don't have much more...Nice reflection, Cathy. I don't have much more to add, other than I loved Evan Arnold's monologue as Leonard, the 'invisible' office worker in the fridge. I thought the writing and acting in that scene were both outstanding. The words themselves could be laughable in the wrong hands, but the little-known actor (new to me for sure) makes a masterpiece of it.<br /><br />Most of us are Leonard; easily forgotten and there are times this creates an existential crisis in us. <br /><br />Don hugs him and later we see him meditating, outside with others.<br /><br />The show leaves us wondering: has Don discovered true inner peace and stepped away from the daily grind of life - striving for money, power, sex, status, admiration and all the other things advertising promises is ours (if only we buy this or that)? Or has he, all along, been working on the Coca Cola account and has finally cracked it?<br /><br />A couple of episodes back, Don walks out of a creative meeting while someone is giving a description of the average beer drinker. Joe Beer, it seems, is basically content with his life.<br /><br />Did Don realise there was something fundamentally wrong with that picture? That to sell Coca Cola (or indeed, anything) advertisers need to tap into a deep discontent? What was it? What was the discontent that we feel that can be exploited?<br /><br />Besides, he can't work like this — a dozen or so creatives working together; part of a committee. He needs to work alone and he will only be allowed to do that if he can bring home to McCann-Erickson something really special all by himself. The great white whale goes hunting.<br /><br />He finds his answer in Leonard - the disconnected, lonely, invisible man.<br /><br />Don hugs him: he has found the answer to his problem. We can sell connectedness; togetherness, optimism. Love. Acknowledgement. Thank you Leonard.<br /><br />Cynical? Perhaps.<br /><br />Maybe Don really has awoken from his selfish, manipulative sleep to enlightenment.<br /><br />Is Schrodinger's cat alive or dead? Neither and both, until we open the box.<br /><br />And now it is the end of the show. the box won't ever be opened. It comes down to our perception; whether we are an optimist or a pessimist.<br /><br />Will things work out for Sterling, Robert and Peggy? They are in the box too.<br /><br />One last point: Don can't say the words to Betty, "I love you", but "I know" she says.<br /><br />A truth well told? The consumate ad man starts telling lies the moment he speaks; but tells the truth when words fail him. Now we know. We should forgive Betty her coldness; it was all there inside all along.philipjcowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17199790003777366126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8490006990580611900.post-54677754509395110922015-05-18T11:40:53.215-07:002015-05-18T11:40:53.215-07:00Great reflection on the last episode. I, too, real...Great reflection on the last episode. I, too, really appreciate the room Weiner left for us to decide what the connection was between Don and the Coke commercial. I've been thinking about this episode a lot today.Doc Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11135298309901871573noreply@blogger.com