"Mad Men" -- *Final* Season Official Thread (possible spoilers) (part 2)

Given the different outfits you see him in in the last few episodes I wonder how they all fit in that little JC Penney bag! I was starting to think he's got a magic bag, kind of like Hermione's in the Harry Potter books.

Actually, I'm probably over-thinking it, but I would guess he borrowed it from someone at the retreat. But costuming in the show was never haphazard, so there's something more to it than just a shirt.

John K.

 

Personally, I doubt it means much. If so, I said above it made me think of "guru wear." Even in the final episode I don't remember Don wearing a button down shirt in the office, nor oxford cloth.

 

Ah, Matt Weiner has finally commented publicly (in what he says is his only interview on the finale), and he does reveal that yes, in the Mad Men universe, Don Draper did create the "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" Coke commercial. And he also says it was done without any cynicism and is meant to be taken literally. There's some interesting points there, including why Draper calls three different female characters in the last episode:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-men-series-finale-matthew-797302

 

Yep! And in the link I posted earlier, you can watch the discussion - the video is at the bottom of the page.

 

Nice interview with Matt.

Thanks for sharing vidiot.

 

He should have made it clearer.

 

Maybe there are legal reasons?

 

Maybe. I guess for me if he had opened his eyes or something as he smiled maybe I would have guessed that. But honestly I thought 'hey he's finding some inner peace here' rather than 'hey I've got a great idea for a new commercial!' I know there were other indications that he might be doing that... Peggy saying he could always come back... the yoga guys saying 'new ideas' and so forth. But... the way it ended seemed vague enough that you could interpret it at least a couple different ways.

Weiner saying that he thinks the commercial was beautiful and anybody who thought it was cynical has a screw loose or whatever is kind of funny. I mean... Mad Men has never been particularly kind to their characters up until the last feel good episode which ends on what I would consider a cynical note if in fact it was supposed to be the inspiration for a commercial. That's not character growth or hope... that's plain and simple cynicism to me.

 

I agree with your post most wholeheartedly. I was absolutely wrong in my interpretation of what Weiner apparently intended, and he and I have diametrically opposed views about that "beautiful" commercial. My screw is indeed loose.

 

The ad business is cynical. And it will turn again for all of the characters as they approach the 80's.

 

All businesses and society in general became more cynical as time went by, especially post-Vietnam and Watergate.

 

I found this comment by Weiner to be a bit puzzling:

"I didn't know Peggy and Stan would end up together — that had to be proved to me," he admitted. But he did consult with David Chase about whether Peggy should ever confess to Pete about the baby, and if it'd be difficult for her to then look at kids. "She will have a psychological scar," Chase told Weiner.

Am I mis-remembering, or didn't Peggy confess to Pete about their baby way back at the end of season two??

Or maybe he meant he consulted with Chase way back then?

 

But it was a very different and beautiful spot from a 1971 point of view. It's only cynical viewing from 2015.

I work in a relatively creative field related to advertising and ideas do hit you at unexpected times when you think you've gotten away from it.

I thought it was perfect.

 

I agree. Watergate didn't hit yet. In a way that was the last straw of avoiding major cynicism in the U.S. After Watergate the flood gates opened and trust evaporated.

 

It's just too bad we won't get to see that unfold onscreen............unless of course, Matthew Weiner changes his mind, and creates a spin-off.

 

That's how I remember it.

 

The cynical part is that Don was thinking of advertising instead of thinking of getting his life together. That's the cynicism. The enlightment was about selling coca-cola... not saving his life. So rather than it being 'ok I need to face the truth instead of creating my own truth while running away from reality' it becomes 'I can go back to my own ways selling love to sell products' like he had mentioned in an old episode. That's cynical anyway you slice it.

The ad itself is a catchy little jingle with a bunch of young people of different races together singing about a cola. It may be a beautiful tune and a beautiful looking commercial... but it's nothing but using emotions to sell a product even in 1971. It worked because that's the way people idealized youth and hope. But it isn't really about that. It's about Coke and branding.

 

No it's not. The creative side of advertising is Don's major strength. In a way, he had been trying to run away from what he's good at, but now he's coming to peace with who he is and what is abilities are.
He can be getting his life together, and getting flashes of creativity at the same time.

 

Maybe. But I don't think so. Chances are returning to that life now is returning to the same problems. And he has major major problems. They aren't solved with one yoga session next to the ocean you know?

His abilities are more about sales and knowing what people want. He gets attention from everybody just because he's a tall good looking executive. He's a package that he created to sell himself. But it's all lies. He is the embodiment of lies and not facing reality. As Weiner said he only likes strangers. Why is that? Because strangers don't know him and can't call him on his BS. And what does he do for a living? He sells BS to sell a product. Returning to that isn't redemption it's damnation. imo anyway

 

The best branding advertising does play to your emotions, your lifestyle. Whatever it sells.

 

Yes. And thanks to the dishonest appeal to people's emotions that we've all been sold for decades depression rates keep soaring... people keep buying things they can't afford because they need to consume to find happiness... they will never be good enough because there is another product out there that they don't have... etc., etc.

 

Exactly... the best part of the ending is all we know is that maybe Don became just a little bit happier, a bit more comfortable, a bit less damaged... That's it. No extremes.

Why do so many assume that "Well, because Don used a bit of what he experienced at the retreat in California for a Coke ad, he must have flown back to NYC the next day and started boozin' and carousin' non-stop just like the old days"? How do we know this? Maybe he lives a better, healthier, balanced life for a year, and then fell with old ghosts in 1972?

Man, the last scene with Roger shows him and Megan's mother sharing a laugh in a restaurant. Is it now happy-ever-after for those two? No, maybe Roger has learned just a little about himself, became a bit happier... and then dropped dead of a heart attack in 1972.

Stan and Peggy are happy and realizing their love when we last see them. Is that the end of the story? No. Do they end up in a 25-year marriage? Perhaps. Does Peggy outgrow Stan and separate from him when she's heading her own business in 1975? Perhaps.

My point is: these characters are floating out of our view and we're seeing them right where they are for a few minutes during October 1970... and none of it is "complete." That's was the great aspect of this show -- sometimes folks changed, sometimes they didn't budge... all we know is that they're going in new directions, and those directions may last for years for some and a few months for others.

 

What happens to the characters after that last scene is all speculation. All I'm saying is that Don's moment on the hill is, by itself, not a cynical one. Returning to his creative strengths is probably a better choice than continuing to drift across the country living out of shopping bags.

Eh, I think that's more of a problem of the human psyche in general, not something you can lay solely at the feet of advertising.

Mad Men did show plenty of the dark side and "evils" of advertising, but Weiner chose to end things on a positive note, with an ad that he believes is truly uplifting (according to his own words in the interview posted upthread.)

I should add that I think the "cynical" interpretations of the ending that I've read here are valid and well reasoned, I just don't think it's the only way to look at it. Personally, I like the ambiguity of the ending, because like a good piece of music it leaves room for individual interpretation.

 

Boon and Katy

Married: 1964

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Divorced: 1969

 

Me too.