Mad Men.....anybody watching?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Quasimodo, Aug 3, 2007.

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  1. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    Oooh, that too. Great moment there.

    dan c
     
  2. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    That is what got me thinking about this. The scene is cut to convey that he looks down the hall, sees his secretary, then decides to take the long way around instead. However, the drama may have been in the way the scene is edited. Don C does point out that Don makes an expression after the secretary leaves. I will have to watch the scene again.

    See the "Kuleshov Effect", about the power of editing in movie storytelling, and how the audience reads an edit. Kuleshov was an early Russian filmmaker who edited an actor's expressionless face with a bowl of soup -- the audience would rave about how well the actor conveyed hunger. Then he would edit the same shot of the actor's face with a dead baby -- the audience would rave about how well the actor conveyed grief.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Effect
     
  3. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Great point. At the very least we are watching how these two men are handling their individual sitiuations differently. Could we see Don being fired like Feddie was? Wasn't it Don that told freddie he was done?

    There were always hints of his dance with alcohol in earlier shows but this is very upfront now. You could always see when Don was drunk. Good to see this more realistic perspective of Don's personal life. The writers are dragging the character through broken glass so I'm interested to see how far they go and what the recovery will look like.

    I have a new respect for the complexity of character in this show.
     
  4. Cheepnik

    Cheepnik Overfed long-haired leaping gnome

    Even better was Alexa Alemanni as Allison. Her slow deflation as she realizes the meaninglessness of the night before is heartbreaking.
     
  5. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    That was a great moment. Also the scene of the secretary putting her bonus pay in her desk and then typing and looking off nailed her side of the whole exchange. For a moment I thought she was submitting her resignation.
     
  6. ChadHahn

    ChadHahn Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ, USA
    Speaking for my father, he always wrote things long hand or dictated them into a dictograph and had them typed up.

    On the morning after. Don has been a dick before, but he seems to be reaching new lows. The way they edited the promo for next week, they make it look like he might try and woo the secretary again. I to am thinking that Freddy might have to do an intervention on Don.

    Chad
     
  7. Hard Panner

    Hard Panner Baroque Popsike & Fuzz

    This last episode was all about alcohol. Even little things thrown in like Joan getting offered a drink from Roger and turning it down. These moments were there to make us think about the characters' drinking habits. And what a tailspin Don is in. Don is no longer perceived as being cool and collected - he is now "pathetic."
     
  8. That's what I thought too--and maybe 10 years later, she would have. 1964 is pre-women's lib, though, and social mores had not changed enough for Draper's actions to be considered so far outside the pale as to be unacceptable. At least, that's probably what she was telling herself--that she would just have to suck it up and live with it, because it's a man's world.
     
  9. 8tracks

    8tracks Forum Addict

    Location:
    San Diego, CA USA
    I agree except for one detail: I'm not sure Don realized then and there that giving her the bonus that morning would be interpreted as "payment for services rendered". I think he wanted to go through regular morning motions and pretend the previous night never happened. One motion that had been planned before their previous night's encounter was to give Allison the bonus the morning after the Christmas party.
     
  10. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
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    This thread has previously discussed how AMC edits its promos for next week's episode to suggest things that turn out to be ruses.

    For example, after an episode where Roger faces a stressful situation, the promo might show him yelling "I'm done! I can't take anymore!" In the episode, the quote turns up in a scene of him at a party, having the time of his life eating a giant birthday cake.
     
  11. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    Welcome to the promo business, folks! :sigh:
     
  12. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    That's what I read in that scene but I can see how other interpretations come in. I also thought, after she walked out and the camera lingers on Don, he was relieved there was no "scene' about what happened the night before. He didn't have to confront his shame or explain himself in front of her.

    I'm not an acting coach but Turnaround may be right about the Kuleshov effect in this scene. Don's expression is so subtle as to have many equal interpretations.
     
  13. Marty Milton

    Marty Milton Senior Member

    Location:
    Urbana, Illinois
    Don told Allison before the party that he was giving her a bonus, so I don't think it would be interpreted at "payment....". She probably was expecting more, though.
     
  14. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    Don and his secretary walked into his office together when Don came in for the day. He had the card and bonus money already in his desk drawer. So whatever the card said, and whatever money he put in, he had already prepared it before they made out at his apartment the night before.
     
  15. 8tracks

    8tracks Forum Addict

    Location:
    San Diego, CA USA
    Logically I believe you are correct, but I think highly sensitive emotions can lead to deceptive reasoning.

    The US Median Household Income in 1965 was around $7,000 (which is more that I'd guess a secretary would make, even working in Manhattan). A 1.5% tax free bonus when a company is financially strained doesn't sound very disappointing to me.
     
  16. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    The discussion about the bonus was a key scene in the episode, I'm sure for a good reason.

    Obviously Don had the card and money ready to go the day before, and this just adds to the tragedy of the whole event.

    I think Don was really trying to be a decent guy by showing his appreciation with such a generous bonus (hinted that it might be right out of his own pocket!), but he ended up making the whole thing seem cheap and dirty. Hence the shame, he really knew he blew it.

    dan c
     
  17. Chad, I'm 46 and can't type.
     
  18. ChadHahn

    ChadHahn Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ, USA
    Luckily I took typing in H.S. so I'm pretty good at it. (I'm 45). I'm a lot better than my wife who makes me type her papers for her Master's Degree. :(

    About promo ruses. Weeds is particularly bad about this. They'll make you think that something completely different is going to happen. That's why I generally don't watch them, although the wife likes to.

    Chad
     
  19. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I'm of that age when men (boys?) didn't learn to type, the assumption being you'd have a secretary. I ended up taking a class when I was 40. I can't imagine having a secretary go online for me.
     
  20. Apparently they did not pop up until '67, and then the label did not look lake the later Eric label seen on the show.

    I've seen worse oversights on other shows: Big played some Mancini for Carrie Bradshaw
    on a later episode of Sex And The City. He cued up the lp "Best Of Mancini" on
    RCA and what came out of the speakers was the Columbia recording of Andy Williams
    singing "Moon River" . . . .

    Hey, I just found this on the Both Sides Now board:

     
  21. ChadHahn

    ChadHahn Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ, USA
    I don't know what he did at work, probably relied on bookmarks. He had me send him emails so he could get my address rather than have to type it.

    I'm glad that I took typing although home computers were pretty much in their infancy when I was in high school.

    I'm talking a lot about my dad, it's a good thing I'm not Don Draper.

    Chad
     
  22. Oh, back to the show. Freddie calling his AA buddy after the client had lunch
    with Roger (who was clearly blitzed) was a classic, funny Mad Men moment.

    That and staff being forced to sit on "Santa" Roger for Polaroids . . .
    hilariously, completely embarrassing!!!!
     
  23. alanb

    alanb Senior Member

    Location:
    Bonnie Scotland
    Well there always seems to be a lot of alcohol in most of the shows...Don always hit the bottle as soon as he walked in the door at home.

    But yep it's getting outta hand now...

    If you've ever been thru a divorce or know anyone who has though i think you'll find that they 'lean' on the sauce a little more....

    Interesting comment by the character who's study Don would not fill in - "you'll be married again in a year"

    This show is incredibly well acted and the characters are just brilliant - best thing on TV by miles.
     
  24. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    Update: I watched the last scene of the episode again, when Don talks to his secretary the morning after they made out.

    He definitely knew what he was doing to her.
     
  25. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    Did they just make out? It looked to me like they had sex.
     
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