• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mad Men - Season 7, Part 2 - The End of an Era - AMC Sundays

M

maharg

idspispopd
To me the interesting thing about Weiner's interpretation is that he made a work that was extremely critical of a kind of crass commercialism that he himself seems to believe is a force for good. That's both kind of disturbing and extremely fascinating to me.
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
Authors aren't always the best people to describe their own work. That ending is a mixed note, not just a happy one-- and Weiner isn't going to get that across well in an interview necessarily. And no author understands every aspect of their creation.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
I'd argue they almost never are. But their reactions to their own work can still be fascinating.

I see the ending as basically all down on a "what this means for society" note, even if it has effectively happy endings for several characters as individuals. But I don't think that coke ad meant anything good then or now, whether it makes people feel happy or not. It's pure co-option. It used a message of global togetherness to make relatively wealthy white Americans feel good about themselves in a time when they had plenty of reason to feel bad about what they and their country were doing to each other and the world.

And I think Mad Men is a great critique of that instinct to pat ourselves on the back while the world crumbles around us, even with the ending that Weiner explained.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
big ander said:
I'm on this team. One of Mad Men's big theses was that in America it's impossible to live untainted by capitalist culture, that divorcing from it entirely is a form of running away. better to try for genuine progression from within. Don making the coke ad is both co-opting and commodifying a purer message and creating a sincerely positive work for a mass audience
Click to expand...
Yeah, think I agree with this.

I think in Don's head, at least initially in that time (1970?) he felt he was creating something genuine and positive.
 
dehydratedbabies

dehydratedbabies

Member
big ander said:
I'm on this team. One of Mad Men's big theses was that in America it's impossible to live untainted by capitalist culture, that divorcing from it entirely is a form of running away. better to try for genuine progression from within. Don making the coke ad is both co-opting and commodifying a purer message and creating a sincerely positive work for a mass audience
Click to expand...

Nice post.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Great win for him. Should have multiple tbh, but at least the closet ain't bare.

Was hoping MM would get some other wins tonight also, but Game of Thrones happened lol
 
Jackben

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
Kraftwerk said:
IM IN TEARS

FINALLY

Jesus christ,.

I literally have tears,

FUCKKKKKK
Click to expand...
really? Tears over a celebrity winning an award? Smh

Glad for Hamm though, he deserved it many times over already and it's good he finally got due recognition.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
it would have been a shame if Hamm didn't get that one, his performance has been fantastic over the years.
 
K

Kraftwerk

Member
http://www.vulture.com/2016/01/ottepel-russian-mad-men.html

Did you know there’s a Russian Mad Men?

It’s called Ottepel (The Thaw), and it’s been running since 2013. I didn’t know about the show until a few weeks ago, when I was asked to create a video essay for the International Film Festival Rotterdam comparing Ottepel (The Thaw), a moviemaking drama set in early 1960s Moscow, to Matthew Weiner’s AMC show about the New York advertising industry during the same decade. Although Ottepel is not a copy, or even a close match, plotwise, it’s so tonally and visually similar that if you’ve watched even a few minutes of Mad Men, you’ll immediately sense an affinity
Click to expand...

EPISODE 1

EPISODE 2

EPISODE 3
 
Nameless

Nameless

Member
Aww man, this is the time of year when stuff would traditionally start trickling out about the new season. :(

rMFI75x.gif


Best show ever by a wide margin.
 
D

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
I'm just waiting for a new Blu-ray collection to be released so that I can rewatch the whole show in glorious HD. The current collection apparently is so badly packaged that the only way to pull the discs out is by grabbing them with finger and thumb and pulling them really hard out of sleeves that are too small, which presents the risk of ruining the discs in the process.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Dance Inferno said:
I'm just waiting for a new Blu-ray collection to be released so that I can rewatch the whole show in glorious HD. The current collection apparently is so badly packaged that the only way to pull the discs out is by grabbing them with finger and thumb and pulling them really hard out of sleeves that are too small, which presents the risk of ruining the discs in the process.
Click to expand...
Was just about to ask if anyone here has heard about the blu-ray packaging.

I'm always wary of special editions like that. These companies so often try shit that looks cool on the shelf, but is just a hassle in reality. Hopefully they eventually put out a smaller, more standard set.
 
P

Pryce

Member
Dance Inferno said:
I'm just waiting for a new Blu-ray collection to be released so that I can rewatch the whole show in glorious HD. The current collection apparently is so badly packaged that the only way to pull the discs out is by grabbing them with finger and thumb and pulling them really hard out of sleeves that are too small, which presents the risk of ruining the discs in the process.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting for the 4K collection down the line.

I'd drop 150$ on that easily.
 
B

berzeli

Banned
The only show that has managed to hit the same beats for me as Mad Men is Rectify. Obviously a contemporary show about a man returning home from prison after getting his conviction overturned is nowhere near thematically the same, but tonally they share quite a bit.

Whereas I'm glad the show ended on its own terms and that we got seven terrific seasons out of it. I can't help but miss it.
 
K

Kraftwerk

Member
Since thread was bumped and folk are here, lets revisit this classic gem;


http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/cultur...hype-–-mad-men-is-the-most-boring-show-on-tv/


Don’t believe the hype – Mad Men is THE most boring show on TV

But there’s a more fundamental flaw to the show, one fans seem puzzlingly blind to: it’s unbelievably boring. I don’t claim to be an expert on TV drama, but I’m fairly sure a basic requirement of the genre is that something needs to, you know, happen. Instead, viewers are forced to battle through endless, drifting wastes of pure tedium.

One of the subplots in Season Four Episode One involves the marketing of a sweet ham. Remarkably, ten whole minutes of dialogue are expended discussing this ham. In another scene, Don Draper and his colleagues sit around discussing how they can best flog a type of swimming costume. Who cares? I’ve had dentist appointments that were more eventful
Click to expand...
 
K

Kraftwerk

Member
GoldenEye 007 said:
This is like complaining Seinfeld is a show about nothing.
Click to expand...


What's the deal with ham??! ×cue Seinfeld theme×

Pryce said:
Is there any word on what Weiner is doing now?

I haven't head a single thing.
Click to expand...

Same. No word.

It might honestly be years, who knows. He has a ton of money, so he can take his time.


Don't think his movie was received well, so he might be more patient about his next project.


On another note, I would love to see Jon star in a comedy series. He is amazing in that.
 
L

lobdale

3 ft, coiled to the sky
Dance Inferno said:
I'm just waiting for a new Blu-ray collection to be released so that I can rewatch the whole show in glorious HD. The current collection apparently is so badly packaged that the only way to pull the discs out is by grabbing them with finger and thumb and pulling them really hard out of sleeves that are too small, which presents the risk of ruining the discs in the process.
Click to expand...

Nah they're super durable no need to worry. The book package is great. Just throw away all the other shit that comes with it if you want.
 
B

big ander

Member
Pryce said:
Is there any word on what Weiner is doing now?

I haven't head a single thing.
Click to expand...

I remember in post-show interviews he said his kids were asking him the same thing heh. He didn't have an answer, probably wants to take a break for a while.

I'd like to see him try a movie again, though that didn't go over so well the first time.
 
P

Pryce

Member
Kraftwerk said:
What's the deal with ham??! ×cue Seinfeld theme×



Same. No word.

It might honestly be years, who knows. He has a ton of money, so he can take his time.


Don't think his movie was received well, so he might be more patient about his next project.


On another note, I would love to see Jon star in a comedy series. He is amazing in that.
Click to expand...

Alpende said:
I can understand if the guy just wants to chill for a while.
Click to expand...

big ander said:
I remember in post-show interviews he said his kids were asking him the same thing heh. He didn't have an answer, probably wants to take a break for a while.

I'd like to see him try a movie again, though that didn't go over so well the first time.
Click to expand...

I wonder if he had any other ideas. For Mad Men he used elements of stuff he had written when he was in college.

For example the entire Dick Whitman back story was from a short story he wrote while he was in college. Then he wrote the pilot back in 1999.

I think he's a great writer but I wouldn't be surprised if he's having trouble coming up with something that would meet his own expectations like Mad Men did (just reading about how he operates).
 
Mossybrew

Mossybrew

Gold Member
I'm LTTP on this one and just about to start Season 7. This is one show where I am going to be so bummed when its over.
 
P

phanphare

Banned
giga said:
Last season is now on Netflix. Time for a rewatch perhaps.
Click to expand...

I've been re-watching the entire series so this is good, although I'm only at the end of season 3 so I'm sure they'd have it up by the time I got there

I miss Mad Men, I don't think another television show created as engrossing a world as Mad Men did
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1 Finale Scores 8.2 Million Viewers, Reaching Series High
News 2 3
141
9K
Zephyrus0 replied
Succession Ending With Season 4
42
3K
ChoosableOne replied
‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Will Have ‘A Lot More Infected,’ Creators Address Complaints About Lack of Action
News 2 3
104
8K
Moochi replied
What actually happened to Warren Ellis?
14
2K
CGNoire replied
Why ‘Mad Men’ is keeping its blackface episode upon its return to streaming
38
2K
desertdroog replied
Top Bottom