Mad Men @ the Movies: "You Maniacs! God Damn You All to Hell"
Monday, June 3, 2013 at 10:19PM You may have noticed that Mad Men at the Movies has been absent for over a month. I'm kind of like that date Ginsberg had with the hot teacher or Betty's brunette dye job - I am dropped plot threads! Rather than giving up entirely I thought we'd discuss the season thus far with The Planet of the Apes (1968) as our rough focus / entry point.
New York ad man Don Draper reads the promotional in-theater newsletter created for "The Planet of the Apes" movies by an actual NY ad agency
For those of you with short memories, in the fifth episode of the season "The Flood" (episode 6.5) Don Draper plays hooky with his son Bobby who is feigning illness and they go to see The Planet of the Apes (1968)... twice! (This scene made me smile from ear to ear since I remember doing this as a kid in the late 70s / early 80s. Yes, they did use to let you stay and watch the movie again for free.) Roger Sterling, following Don's lead, takes his grandson to see the same movie in "The Better Half" (episode 6.9) though the results are not the same. [more...]
Though we often think of franchises as a modern experience, they've been around forever and the 60s birthed at least two major ones that refuse to die: James Bond and those damn dirty apes. Both have now been referenced multiple times on Mad Men. The original film version of The Planet of the Apes arrived without a ton of fanfare in early 1968 and quickly turned into a sensation.
Unlike most Mad Men movie reference this one came with mutliple clips and -- spoiler alert -- most of the famous twist ending was shown including its music free cut-to credits which is then paired beautifully with a reaction shot of Don Draper raising his eyebrows in 'whoa' fashion. Little Bobby is just as stunned. In some ways the choice of this scene with Charlton Heston righteously screaming to the heavens at the inhumanity of his fellow men "you maniacs. god damn you all to hell!" might seem a too on the nose. Most of the episode deals with the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination (April 4th, 1968) and the way it puts all of our characters and the city they live in on edge worrying about rights and people blowing everything up.
But then again, Apes is not exactly subtle and not everything needs to be.
Bobby: So… the humans blew up new york
Don: all of america
Bobby: SoOOO he can back to here
Don: in the future
Bobby: [letting it sink in] Jesus.[Don is clearly pleased that his son liked it]
Don: Wanna see it again
Bobby: Can we?[When we cut back to the scene Bobby notices the black usher cleaning]
Bobby: Did you see this movie?
Usher: not yet
Bobby: Don't you get to see it for free?
Usher: I do
Bobby: Its really good we're seeing it again. Everybody likes to go to the movies when they're sad
What I love most about the scene is that it gives us a rare tender moment between this very absent father and his oldest son. It's tough to say why Don Draper is so obviously pleased with his son. Is it the pride that comes with the intangible gene of "movie lover" being passed down? Is it relief that his son thinks about the world? Is it his sublimated empathy for the usher? Bobby probably isn't self-aware enough to think about why he immediately identifies the usher as sad but his reaching out here is about 1000 times less awkward and more genuine than Joan's hug to Dawn the firm's only black secretary earlier in the episode.
A few episodes later Roger Sterling's grandson visits the office with Roger's perpetually disappointed daughter Margaret. They stop to talk with Joan at the foot of the stairs where every scene seems to take place these days.
Joan: Hello Margaret. Oh he's precious. How old is he?
Roger: He's four. he's having a special day with pop-pop. We're going to the zoo and maybe the movies.
Joan: So it's just a regular work day?
Margaret: [to Roger] Don't fill him full of junk!
What Sterling fills his grandson with is the same movie about a post-apocalyptic earth where the few surviving humans are slaves and apes rule. Margaret calls her dad furiously later in the episode.
Margaret: You took a four year-old to see Planet of the Apes ?!? He's been having nightmares all night.
Roger: Hold on, hold on. He wanted to see that.
Margaret: He doesn't decide that.
Roger [searching for excuses] Don took his kid.
Margaret: [sarcastic] Don Draper, 'Father of the Year'
Roger: Margaret, honey, he loved it. Put him on, I'll do Doctor Zaius for him again he'll laugh like an idiot... "The Forbidden Zone was..."
Margaret: [not listening] We'll probably have to get rid of the dog. He's that afraid of fur!
Roger: Listen i saw The Golem when I was his age. You don't even know what scary is.
Roger is referencing either the 1915 German silent or the more widely seen 1920 prequel -- franchises were around even then! -- about a Jewish rabbi who creates a monster from clay to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.
Roger ends the conversation joking that "he turned out fine" despite the childhood terror but we know that Roger... and by extension Don since they each took their offspring to the same scary 'The World is Not All Right!' kind of metaphor movie ... are not. The Planet of the Apes is perfect because the men of Sterling, Cooper, Draper & Pryce & Partners are self-destructive... or at least Don, Roger and Pete are. They're always blowing themselves up. God damn them. God damn them all to hell.
Much of the brilliant and unusual trajectory of Mad Men has been about the slow death of its leading men, formerly charming or at least vibrant characters. Not a literal death so much as a passing of their way of life, their moment, as well as the abrupt metamorphosis of the world around them in the tumultous 1960s. A lot of people don't seem to be enjoying this sixth season and it's easy to see why. It's depressing and heavy with death imagery from that James Mason A Star is Born suicide suggestion to the possibly crazy but interesting theories of Megan Draper as Sharon Tate (i.e. doomed to some horrific negation), to this most recent episode in which Don nearly did a Sunset Blvd in a Californian pool. But I still find the show challenging, fascinating and more cinematic than many movies even think of being.
Do you miss thinky/campy sci-fi like The Planet of the Apes? What's your take on Mad Men Season Six?
Reader Comments (13)
thanks for the post! I loved that episode where Don takes Bobby to the movies. And, later, when he explains to Megan his relationship with his children, you can see how Jon Hamm is totally connected to it. Not to say that he's talking about himself or, you know, "not really acting", but I immediately thought of all those interviews where he talks about his own father being an inspiration to his developing of the Don Draper character.
And, regarding theories and movie franchises, I don't remember in which episode (maybe 6.06), Megan says something to Don that really really stuck with me. She compares him with Superman, saying how he could just fly out the balcony on his way to work. It's crazy but, at that moment, I got this picture in my head of Don casually jumping off that balcony, dropping hard on the floor. He's obviously sad, suicidal, and he is always looking out from that balcony... maybe that's how it ends for him.
So there you go, this is my theory.
I get why people haven't loved this season as much and I'll admit I wasn't crazy about The Doorway since it was just a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes. In fact the only episode of the first six episodes of the season that I out and out loved was 'To Have and To Hold' so much good Joan stuff and I loved the Megan and Don confrontation in her dressing room. But from 'For Immediate Release' till now it's been on a pretty remarkable streak with 'The Better Half' being the peak episode of the season thus far. January Jones was easily the MVP for that. People don't realize how much she's doing with that character! She perfectly summed up everything about Don by saying "That poor girl, she doesn't realize the worst way to get to you is to love you."
Last night's was pretty incredible too with all the Joan and Peggy focus. I love that Joan is trying to actually stake a claim for herself but may just not be as equipped as Peggy. She was fairly awkward at the dinner but she never has gotten the chance to ever really reel in a client before so you can't blame her, though I wasn't entirely unsympathetic for Pete either. I'm glad Peggy saved her, despite their earlier dispute over their respective positions in the company and how they got there. It's interesting how I'm sure many of the characters still think Peggy slept with Don to get where she is, while Joan actually did sleep with someone to get her partnership. Both of those seem to hang over them but in incredibly different ways. Their relationship is very complicated but I love that they can be there for each other even though they hardly ever see eye to eye.
Oh, I've missed these write-ups!
Going to the movies with me as a kid was a dangerous experience. If I liked the movie there was no way I could leave the theatre without watching it twice. My poor parents! Thank God, they loved movies.
"A lot of people don't seem to be enjoying this 6th season and it's easy to see why" -- Who are they? Did they ever loved it? I could watch it forever. Every single character and plot line fascinates me.
I was souring on the season until the episode before last when Don & Betty had their reunion...that was the perfect shot in the arm the show needed.
I do find that Sharon Tate theory interesting...something is definitely off to Megan's scenes this season. She always feels like she's being drowned out by the danger in the city or by Don or her bosses.
I'm a little behind on this season but I think "mad men" should forget don for a while. I'm tired of his *revealing* flashbacks, repetitive storylines and everyone (women, men) being in love with him on the show.
So Don's whole flashback revealing that how he lost his virginity was through getting molested (which seems to be lost on some viewers) made me get re-invested in his life story and also made me look differently at some of his other existential crises on the show like the fever dream (which basically was him reliving the event).
There is something definitely up with Don and Megan. Both seem like they have good reasons to leave each other but the question looms who could they possibly go to if they left each other. Also, was that trip he had about what he wants from Megan (pregnant, counter-culture, all to himself as an ex-actress) or what he imagined happening to her if she did not have a miscarriage and he drowned in that pool? Either way both she and the dead soldier in his vision what also could have easily been his final moments on Earth has me wondering. That said, I don't think she will die. Two character deaths in two seasons seems like too much.
I really like this season and I think the chaotic, loud nature of the season is completely intentional. It is not as good as Seasons 4, 5, and 1 thus far but I would easily put it over Seasons 2 & 3.
Peggy stabbing Abe was the greatest thing to ever happen ever. As someone who hated that character, I love that in the end he revealed his true colors and pretty much proved to be a bad match for Peggy.
I also believe is completely intentional. The fact that show has like ten different ways to evolve in the future makes me drool with delight.
Your post made me suddenly recall something that seeing the episode did not: I first saw Planet of the Apes when my father took me (and my siblings) during a visitation weekend. Just like Bobby, although I'm a bit younger than Bobby.
I f*cking love this season. It's getting very very difficult, and people think that is to jump the shark. It's not. It's getting deeper and deeper, no concessions.
A lot of people don't seem to be enjoying this 6th season and it's easy to see why" -- Who are they? Did they ever loved it?
Change enjoying for loving and I'm one of them. I find the flashbacks explaining Don Draper's past relationships with women, a really cheap trick for such a clever show., or at least for a show characterised by not explaining things but showing them. Precisely because I usually love it, I'm more demanding, my expectations are higher. If you're going to dumb it down that way, do the same with Betty so that people stop hating her for being a character as flawed as Don Draper.
I agree with the above poster who said that maybe it's Don Draper the man falling from the building in the opening credits.
I think Planet of the Apes is the first movie I remember seeing in the movies, only I was really young (younger than Roger's grandchild) and freaked out at the opening scene and started crying and we had to leave the theater immediately. So I guess it wasn't my first movie, technically. And it had to have been a revival as I wasn't around for the '68 opening.
I've been thoroughly enjoying this season of Mad Men. Other than Hannibal, there's nothing I've been watching this year that I look forward to as much.
Just like every season before it, I am loving season six of Mad Men. It's darker, yes, but it's darker times.
I'm just as absorbed and enthralled by the show as ever - maybe more than ever. I don't agree with Marcelo that they should shift the focus away from Don - any more than I think they already have done, as it definitely feels like a more rounded show with divergent focuses. Peggy has been fascinating this season and I'm glad they've figured out what to do with Betty after they seemed to lose her character for most of S5. Joan too, to a certain extent - Hendricks has been killing it this year when given the chance.