{"id":3110,"date":"2015-05-18T10:50:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T17:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/?p=3110"},"modified":"2015-05-18T16:53:04","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T23:53:04","slug":"don-draper-dick-whitman-peggy-sally-joan-coke-mad-men-and-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/18\/don-draper-dick-whitman-peggy-sally-joan-coke-mad-men-and-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Draper, Dick Whitman, Peggy, Sally, Joan, Coke, Mad Men and Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Don<\/a>The farewell to\u00a0Mad Men<\/em>, at least on Monday’s morning news programs, was all about “the Coke commercial” (indeed a brilliant, brilliant presence in the episode) the 60’s, advertising, capitalism and a Don Draper not at all like the man\u00a0he described to\u00a0Peggy in this phone call:<\/p>\n

\u201cI messed everything up. I\u2019m not the man you think I am…. I broke all my vows. I scandalized my child. I took another man\u2019s name. and made nothing of it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

or\u00a0his physical transformation – messy hair, plaid shirt and jeans – that returned him, at least briefly, to the “Dick Whitman” he once was. \u00a0Even his expressions were those of a country boy with a squint.<\/p>\n

\"Joan<\/a>
Joan, Peggy and Faye in the elevator in especially poignant episode about the women of Mad Men<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Preoccupation \u00a0with “the commercial” overrode discussion of how important Mad Men<\/em>\u00a0has been to women:\u00a0not only those who were teenagers as Don ascended\u00a0and\u00a0for whom\u00a0so many scenes brought back memories of the scandalous neighborhood “divorcee,” of the Women’s Clubs and Garden Clubs and all the other “activities” suburban mothers\u00a0created — \u00a0but also\u00a0for those who came after, for whom some of what they saw of women’s lives was just a relic but way too much was way too familiar.<\/p>\n

Don Draper’s journey, from brothel to executive suite to Esalen<\/a>, is very much that of America through the 60’s and beyond. \u00a0 It was a traumatic, scary, strange and exhilarating time, and whether you were there or you arrived\u00a0later, it’s clear\u00a0that Don’s misery and confusion mirrored what many of us, and, even more so, our parents felt every day.<\/p>\n

Oh, and that Coke commercial? It was so perfect I laughed out loud as it appeared: all that we had hoped for and dreamed of, laid out in an air-brushed, multicultural, Benetton panorama. \u00a0I don’t think we knew then how far we would be today – maybe forever – from that dream, but watching it now, it seems quaint how sentimental we were, even in our days of rage. \u00a0Just like Don.<\/p>\n