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

I wonder if Betty smoked Lucky Strikes just to make Don happy. I guess it would be 'cynical' to draw a connection between her lung cancer and those cigs. They are, after all, 'toasted'.

 

I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed with Weiner deciding to tie up all loose ends, particularly within 3 days of the original airing of the episode. Not to say that the ending of the episode didn't tip his hand, but it's sometimes nice to not have someone answer all the questions, many of which don't require answering.

 

He did say this would be the only interview he would give answering any questions. I'm glad that he at least went this far, particularly to correct people who were way off in their interpretation of what happened over the last few episodes.

I disagree. You forgot the breakthrough Don had in embracing the man who had come to the conclusion that he was like a forgotten product sitting on a shelf, ignored by everybody and never getting chosen while inside the refrigerator. Don embraced him because he realized he had also been discarded by all of his various families: by his ex-wife Betty, by his daughter Sally, and by Peggy. And I think Don had decided that his detached, cynical approach to life would have to change.

No, it's much more than that. This commercial is considered to be among the greatest commercials ever made, and I think its intentions were good. You have to remember that in 1971, things were still very heavily skewed towards the Vietnam war, there were riots in the streets, liberal young people were clashing with their older conservative parents... there was a lot of stress and strife. The commercial was basically saying, "hey! Everybody can live together in peace if we can find some common things to believe in." And it ended with this statement:

"On a hilltop in Italy,
we assembled young people
from all over the world
to bring you the message
from Coca-Cola bottlers
all over the world.
It's the real thing. Coke."

I inferred it to say, maybe the young people of the world can come together and find a way not to wage war on each other and appreciate each other, "in perfect harmony," and live "hand in hand." It was the same idealistic, perhaps simplistic thinking of the hippy movement of the 1960s, but I think its motives and intentions were sincere. I was 16 when the spot came out in 1971, and I can tell you it had an electrifying effect on everybody I knew in high school. We absolutely did not see it as a cynical, mercenary way to hoodwink people into drinking sugar water -- we saw it as a statement of peace and understanding, ending with a (very brief) commercial message.

Don't forget: Lennon's "Imagine" came out three months after the Coke commercial, which I don't think is coincidental. While John's song was completely sincere and didn't have a shred of commercial intentions (beyond John's desire to have a hit), this was the kind of thinking that people under 30 were desperately looking for in late 1971. The Coke ad appeared to me to be an appeal for peace first, and selling Coca-Cola second.

If you believe it to be something else, you ain't listening to the lyrics.

 

I don't agree that its the function of talented people to correct the missteps of critics or casual fans. Feels to me that in a sense he cheapened the thing by doing what he did.

 

Let's agree to disagree.

 

Really? I thought it was transparently false and manipulative at the time. Which is advertising in a nutshell.

 

The man who conceived the commercial, Bill Backer, says that was not the case. He has said in previous interviews that they were very aware of the Kent State shootings in May 1970, and how many young people felt they were completely disenfranchised from their governments, particularly in the United States. His intent was to create a sincere sense of hope and positive idealism, and it was definitely not created out of cynicism:

http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/05/18...e-illusion-of-don-drapers-romantic-escapades/

 

I have no doubt that Mr. Backer intended to sell cans of poison to the public as sincerely as possible

 

"I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company" - yikes. I can't tell you how silly that felt growing up in San Francisco at that time.

 

I stated it earlier, but more and more I'm less intersted in Don't meditation and the Coke commercial. They should have ended the episode after he hugged Leonard. That's all that needed to be said, IMHO.

 

WSJ: Did you like the “Hilltop” commercial?

Mr. Backer: Yes, I thought it was very honest. Coke is a very good social catalyst and it’s one of the world wide invitations that brings people together.

44 years later and he still believes his own BS.

 

We were into rolling joints on the later period Jefferson Airplane album covers.

 

I agree, I hate the modern tendency for an artist to show up and 'splain it all; it's condescending to pronounce after the fact, like a god, the one, true interpretation. Further, in this case, it exposes a failure of execution, if the ambiguity wasn't in fact intended. That the ending was widely predicted in advance is another indication of its failure.

Suppose the series ended with Don driving west after picking up the hitchhiker. Suppose the series ended with Don sitting on the bus stop bench with his shopping bag. What compelling, essential insight did the final episode add? To me, it was ultimately superfluous. We've already seen Don bottom out & rise again. I was underwhelmed and unmoved by the clumsy hug of redemption scene. I find nauseating that many speak of the final episode as providing "fan servicing". After a fantastic start, this half season, and the series, went on three episodes too long. That's where I'm at - at the moment anyway.

 

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad Matthew Weiner spoke about this. The last thing I wanted to hear about the ending was " it's all there."

 

Wow. Excellent post, Vidiot.

 

I think he should have waited a bit to come out and explain this. Give me people time to absorb it, maybe drop this kind of info in a DVD commentary track.

 

The DVD or Blu-ray commentary may still happen. I still think it's great to have the ending explained. I was in the camp that Don did not write the ad or return to McCann Erickson, just that he found himself.

 

That's what I'm here for.

It made more sense if you were on a hilltop in Italy.

 

Exactly. Those last scenes are 30-second(?) ads that show a bit of happiness before the characters start to search for more happiness.

 

Great post, Vid.

I was just thinking about "Imagine" in light of all this yesterday.

Mad Men has caused me to think carefully about art and advertising, intentions, sincerity, and "what we want we and what we need" (R.E.M.). Why is that John Lennon gets a pass for "Imagine" yet the creator of a thoughtful, compelling ad may not?

 

I don't think I would have liked it if Michael Curtiz did an interview right after the release of "Angels With Dirty Faces" and explained whether Rocky really "died yella" or was faking it for the sake of the boys. I don't think I would have liked for Akira Kurosawa to tell us what "really happened" in "Rashomon". I think I would have preferred that Weiner said nothing, but hey, I could have not clicked the link, too, right?

 

Lennon said at the time of "Give Peace a Chance" that what the peace movement needed was something like an ad campaign that sold the concept of peace, love, and understanding, just in a way to unite people and end war. I know the idea was simplistic, but I honestly believe this was his intention over time, and it was the hope for hippies and free thinkers after the end of the '60s. I happened to be in NY in 1971 and can vividly remember seeing John & Yoko's billboard in Times Square:



So it's interesting to reflect that "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Imagine," and "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" all came out within a six-month period in 1971. All songs with a similar sentiment, but one trying to sell you sugar water.

 

I don't think that really matters. All just writers and performers trying to make a living. And everyone got swimming pool, right?

Lennon's solo career was mostly a series of ads selling himself.

 

I'm merely saying that once Don Draper began paying attention to the world around him, he saw the amount of pain and suffering in the world and found a way to make an ad that wasn't cynical or condescending to the audience, one that actually preached something positive and optimistic without being phony. I think the sentiment of the ad was absolutely sincere. To me, the famous 1971 Coke ad (which Mad Men creator Matt Weiner cites as "arguably the best TV commercial ever made") is selling peace, harmony, and communication as much as it is Coke. And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

OK I get it. The man of imagination is harnessed by the machine and in serving it finds, at last, happiness. The primary creative minds in the show - Don, Peggy and Ken - are finally at peace in the caring arms of Dow and McCann, just as, from a certain point of view, Winston Smith finally finds peace in loving Big Brother. And, as an ending, there's nothing wrong with that.