MAD MEN on AMC - Seasons 7(a) & & 7(b)

Some people I know who know people at Coca-Cola say they knew the finale would have something to do with the ad because they had to clear it for use.

Someone should collect all these post-episode analyses into a book. I read the theories, and constantly find myself thinking "Yes, yes," even when they're not entirely compatible with each other.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-original-resonant-existentially-brilliant-mad-men-finale

If the show had been set in the '70s and ended up around '79, it all would have pointed towards Heinz's "Anticipation" commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ

yeah, counterculture, '70s Carly Simon, same resonance.

First thing I've read where someone just flat-out disliked the finale:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/features/coke-and-sympathy-10-thoughts-on-mad-men-series-finale-20150518

I can't embed all these, it would take forever, but here's a nice gif set of first and last appearances on the series by all the major characters.

http://flavorwire.tumblr.com/post/119297646089/mad-men-first-and-last-appearances-oh

xp no conceivable finale of this show would ever satisfy Rob Sheffield, c'mon. He called it the greatest drama ever on television without any sense of how ridiculous that sounded.

Also, in that gif set they got Sally's final appearance wrong, but hey. Still good.

rob sheffield is a garbage critic

man, the '60s hit a lotta ppl with the Ugly Stick.

(xpost) Disagree majorly--I'll leave it at that, except that I do think he's wrong about the finale.

all tv criticism is the worst thing, a clue that the golden age of tv isnt that good

tbf clemenza my major basis for this is music-related, & i dont know him personally or anything

xp some of it's good, just like there's (some) good criticism of every art form, but i'm assuming your issue is with the tone of a lot of it, especially that which is created by or heavily influenced by the av club

The gif page technically got Lane's last appearance wrong too, which I assume was in the interest of decorum.

(cont. xp) the problem imo is the tendency to assume that critical analysis must somehow dovetail into a statement on what tv really MEANS and shit like that, rather than analyzing the episode/show itself

when did film criticism stop doing that?

I thought all the pieces I've linked to from Vox and the rest--honestly, I didn't know these sites existed until I started seeking out Mad Men analyses; I just don't keep up with this stuff--were filled with interesting ideas and mostly stuck to the episodes at hand. There are a couple more really long ones that I still want to read.

mad men could sustain weekly recaps--it benefitted a lot from contextualization and different impressions on what was often an impressionistic show--but i dont get much out of recaps of other shows these days.

xxp the average review of a given film does not, not by default - but you can shake your head once and find 6 tv episode recaps that fit in some grand-state-of-the-medium pronouncement

there's def a lot of good mad men writing, most of the things you could say as pejoratives about "tv recap culture" or whatever havent really fucked with it

yeah, counterculture, '70s Carly Simon, same resonance.

― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Monday, May 18, 2015 3:53 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In the MM universe, "You're So Vain" is about Don Draper.

xp i was granting that film reviews might have stopped; but i asked when they did, since i would not be surprised if belief that people are seeing works in an artform that say something about the medium has something to do with their spending a lot of time in their criticism saying so

Mad Men was catnip to tv-critics. That whole ethos of 'Do the work, even though everyone else think it's worthless, and nobody acknowledges that you're creative, and people laugh at you.'

But recaps of Mad Men was good. On the other hand, all that stuff that has been written on how Game of Thrones is an oh so insightful depiction of what it takes to lead, and what power is. Hate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jrCsa3RzDw

Full disclosure i made this in a couple of hours.

Mad Men was catnip to tv-critics. That whole ethos of 'Do the work, even though everyone else think it's worthless, and nobody acknowledges that you're creative, and people laugh at you.'

― Frederik B, Monday, May 18, 2015 5:34 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

betty being a moron at life and a genius at death was kinda an interesting twist

Jon Hamm seems to lean towards the idea that Don creates the ad--but, ambiguity lovers, he's a little ambiguous.

Q. Do you have an interpretation of it?

A. I do. When we find Don in that place, and this stranger relates this story of not being heard or seen or understood or appreciated, the resonance for Don was total in that moment. There was a void staring at him. We see him in an incredibly vulnerable place, surrounded by strangers, and he reaches out to the only person he can at that moment, and it’s this stranger.

My take is that, the next day, he wakes up in this beautiful place, and has this serene moment of understanding, and realizes who he is. And who he is, is an advertising man. And so, this thing comes to him.

It depends on what he means by "this thing"--the ad, or just this serene moment of understanding?

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/mad-men-finale-jon-hamm-interview/?_r=0

lol @ thinking that ashram was a beautiful place

I checked with Meredith, and she confirms that the ashram was a worse place than McCann.

isn't it big sur, noted beautiful place?

I should check the meanings of words--I thought an ashram was something Don was wearing (why I thought that, I'm not sure).

xp yea it's big sur

Big Sur is gorgeous wtf

all I see are people meditating in bad clothes in front of mountains. That's man's fault, not God's.

If Don had arrived the year before, he could have picked a fight with Stephen Stills: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/csny_and_joni_mitchell_play

There was an ocean too, lets be clear

Xxp

there were no mountains!

gotta be the eslan institute btw or at least modeled after it, the grandaddy of nu age spitritual retreat centers

Yeah def esalen

looked like Beatles in India

didnt see any cows eating trash tho

huge kudos on that subgenius video btw

Of course it would end with Esalen and Coke.

Good finale.

Harry is so much less a shitbag than most of the SCDP dudes, he just has no charm

booze-sweat makeup artist deserves an award for the series, a+ work

knowing Hamm went into booze rehab after this season made watching so many sweaty-faced scenes a little uncomfortably 'did they have to use makeup...'? for this viewer

People realize that Don writing the jingle probably doesn't mean that he would be in charge of costumes, though, right?

― Frederik B, Monday, May 18, 2015 4:06 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

DD is the/a CD and lead man on the pitch he can get whatever the fuck he wants tbh /advertisingwankery

http://i61.tinypic.com/2cr233o.jpg

big sur is maybe the most beautiful place I've ever been.

(in california I meant to say)