Absolutely. Hence, the smile on his face as he was saying "Om." Meaning, they put the smile in to signal that he came up with the idea right then. Genius.
Mad Men countdown
- Thread starter Kor
- Start date
Absolutely. Hence, the smile on his face as he was saying "Om." Meaning, they put the smile in to signal that he came up with the idea right then. Genius.
This theory is gaining some traction: Don thought up the Coke commercial during his last scene, that's why he had the big smile on his face.
http://instagram.com/p/2zypGSpXOH/
Matt Weiner is going to be hearing that question for the rest of his life.
My interpretation was that Don was experiencing the real thing while the commercial was fake and presented to us outside of the show's narrative. I've since seen that literally no one else online has taken it that way.
The beauty of the finale and that last scene is that it is completely open to interpretation. Which is probably exactly what Weiner wanted. Kudos to you for being the only one to read it that way (so far), but being left open to interpretation makes it as timeless as the finales of other seminal shows like LOST or The Sopranos.
Now that works. The notion that Don went back to McCann is just too conventional and not in keeping with the series.
My thought wasn't that he went back to McCann... But that he gave Peggy the concept... Or sold it to her... Either way, I think his phone call to her was the set up for that connection.
Not sure what to think. I work 3rd shift and watched the beginning last night before I had to leave for work. Watch the rest when I got home this morning.
The thing that blew my mind is that a week or two ago a read a blogger predicting the use of that very same Coke commercial!!!!!!! Though they specifically thought it would be known who created.
Anyone else recognize Supergirl actress Helen SLater at the commune?
I going to have to watch this again and again....
The thing that blew my mind is that a week or two ago a read a blogger predicting the use of that very same Coke commercial!!!!!!! Though they specifically thought it would be known who created.
Anyone else recognize Supergirl actress Helen SLater at the commune?
I going to have to watch this again and again....
I never thought Don/Dick would commit suicide.... But.... as someone who suffers depression some of what he said sounded familiar and had me worried.... for a bit....
I think Don creating it is telegraphed by Stan saying Don always comes back and he's always fine and then later Peggy talks about Stan always being right.
There is so much symbolism in Mad Men that allows for a variety of interpretation. The finale has left me really thinking a lot about it and the series as a whole.
Don Draper was in the business of perpetuating the post WW2 ideal of American society eptomized in the 1950s. But so much of the series showed us that as a facade for the reality and change actually happening. Don exceled at it, but it conflicted not only with the reality, but what was true within him as well. Don was conflicted as a person even as he was a metaphor for the way society wanted to see itself. He knew it was a lie and the more he fought to perpetuate the more it ate away at him. He was also a metaphor for a cycle society was going through. His apparent inner peace at the end represents him finally letting go of the fake reality and false sentiments--the "should of's"--of that era.
There were moments I felt for Don in the finale as he was really disconnested to everything he had known.
Did he phone in the Coke idea or return to NY to make it himself? Maybe. Or maybe it really is Dick Whitman letting it all go and the Coke ad represents the beginning of a new cycle where the next generation of mad men (and women) are packaging new era sentiments and aspirations for a new generation of consumers.
Betty's ending is sad, but it also represents a closure. Betty was the real June Cleaver of that time who strived to maintain the purported values of that era. Unlike other characters Betty couldn't adapt as well with the changing times and (represented by her illness) it destroyed her. But she finally recognized that Sally would be better able to deal with a new world than her mother could be.
Characters like Pete, Ken and Harry were variations of the old order adapting to the new one. Some did better than others and/or found more fulfillment than others.
Joan and Peggy were ones who were marginalized in the old order, but were in the right place at the right time to help cultivate the new way society would work. Joan got what she long wanted, minus the man, but then Joan knows she likely doesn't have much of a hard time attracting male companionship. That's not a real challenge for her.
Peggy is obviously on track to get whatever she wants work wise. She looked to be resigned to living without the other thing she wanted until Stan finally revealed it had been right there in front of her all along.
Don Draper was in the business of perpetuating the post WW2 ideal of American society eptomized in the 1950s. But so much of the series showed us that as a facade for the reality and change actually happening. Don exceled at it, but it conflicted not only with the reality, but what was true within him as well. Don was conflicted as a person even as he was a metaphor for the way society wanted to see itself. He knew it was a lie and the more he fought to perpetuate the more it ate away at him. He was also a metaphor for a cycle society was going through. His apparent inner peace at the end represents him finally letting go of the fake reality and false sentiments--the "should of's"--of that era.
There were moments I felt for Don in the finale as he was really disconnested to everything he had known.
Did he phone in the Coke idea or return to NY to make it himself? Maybe. Or maybe it really is Dick Whitman letting it all go and the Coke ad represents the beginning of a new cycle where the next generation of mad men (and women) are packaging new era sentiments and aspirations for a new generation of consumers.
Betty's ending is sad, but it also represents a closure. Betty was the real June Cleaver of that time who strived to maintain the purported values of that era. Unlike other characters Betty couldn't adapt as well with the changing times and (represented by her illness) it destroyed her. But she finally recognized that Sally would be better able to deal with a new world than her mother could be.
Characters like Pete, Ken and Harry were variations of the old order adapting to the new one. Some did better than others and/or found more fulfillment than others.
Joan and Peggy were ones who were marginalized in the old order, but were in the right place at the right time to help cultivate the new way society would work. Joan got what she long wanted, minus the man, but then Joan knows she likely doesn't have much of a hard time attracting male companionship. That's not a real challenge for her.
Peggy is obviously on track to get whatever she wants work wise. She looked to be resigned to living without the other thing she wanted until Stan finally revealed it had been right there in front of her all along.
If Don didn't write the Coke ad, then who did? Someone in the room full of conventional chart-fixated technicians that Don walked out on? I don't think so. The ad had too much soul for that, it was too inspired and too resonant, and none of those clowns were shown having the spark of creativity for that. Whatever happened in real life aside, we'd have to believe that the ad somehow formed as an emergent property out of that groupthink, which is pretty contrary to what's come before on the show.
Last edited:
I think people are putting too much emphasis on the Coke ad. It's representational.
Don excelled at packaging false sentiment that spoke to the previous post WW2 generation. In his heart he knew it all to be fake and that's part of why he was torn inside. He kept trying to live a lie that didn't really exist. He finds the beginning of peace when he lets it all go. But the world and society doesn't stop for Don Draper as he certainly isn't the only one of his kind out there. The Coke ad represents the new form of packaging new sentiments (that are just as fake as the previous ones) for a new generation. It's the beginning of a new cycle as the old one fades and this is continuing today. Television and film today (as well as other media) are still awash in trying to convince people they can attain certain things they think they should have if the follow "the rules" that someone else has written.
One of the examples of Mad Men's smarts is in showing us that while the world of the past can seem so dissimilar to today it also resonates with many similarities we can immediately recognize. One of those similarities is that people of today are just as caught up in consumerism and false sentiment as generations past. In many ways we haven't learned a damned thing.
Don excelled at packaging false sentiment that spoke to the previous post WW2 generation. In his heart he knew it all to be fake and that's part of why he was torn inside. He kept trying to live a lie that didn't really exist. He finds the beginning of peace when he lets it all go. But the world and society doesn't stop for Don Draper as he certainly isn't the only one of his kind out there. The Coke ad represents the new form of packaging new sentiments (that are just as fake as the previous ones) for a new generation. It's the beginning of a new cycle as the old one fades and this is continuing today. Television and film today (as well as other media) are still awash in trying to convince people they can attain certain things they think they should have if the follow "the rules" that someone else has written.
One of the examples of Mad Men's smarts is in showing us that while the world of the past can seem so dissimilar to today it also resonates with many similarities we can immediately recognize. One of those similarities is that people of today are just as caught up in consumerism and false sentiment as generations past. In many ways we haven't learned a damned thing.
I agree. If you want to believe that Don stayed "retired" and remained in California, there is enough evidence to point to in support of that theory. He loved Cali and it seemed to be a part of the change in his finally accepting and forgiving himself. There is also enough to support the theory that he returned to New York. Peggy told Don during theier phone call that h could return to McCann with no problem and she mentioned Coca Cola, so we know that was one of Don's accounts.
All of the characters got happy endings except Betty. So heart wrenching when Don just said "Birdie" when they spoke. Roger finally met his match in Marie. Joan very realistically, let her boyfriend go for her career. A choice many women would begin to have to make in the 70's. Peggy and Stan, who I believe could have written the Coke commercial, they both had counter culture as well as corporate experience, were a surprise to me, but apparently not to just about anyone else.
Very satisfying ending. Surprised there are no posters complaining about not getting the suicide plunge they were "promised".
No, it was getting emphasized simply because we were discussing it.
To me, the fact that the commune receptionist's braids and ribbons were replicated in the commercial indicates that Don (who is now at peace with himself) did return to the job. Within the context of the show, only he could include that detail in the commercial.
Not true. That was a common hairstyle of the day for counter culture types. Anyone familiar with hippie culture might be familiar with that hairstyle. The fact that it made it into a national (probably international) Coke ad is an indication of just how common the style was.
Not saying Don couldn't have written the commercial, just that the young ladies' hairstyle is not concrete proof that he did.
Coke, Coke, and more Coke, it's all about the Coke. In Lost Horizon, everyone is drinking Coke during the Miller Lite presentation that Don walks out of. In The Milk and Honey Route, the motel owner wants Don to fix the old Coke machine. In Person to Person, Joan and Captain Pike are snorting Coke (cocaine).
I'm looking forward to rewatching the final season to find the other clues that Weiner and company may have left for us.
I still think Peggy (and maybe Stan) created the Coke commercial, with help from the last dying gasp of Don Draper, just before Dick Whitman was reborn.
I'm looking forward to rewatching the final season to find the other clues that Weiner and company may have left for us.
I still think Peggy (and maybe Stan) created the Coke commercial, with help from the last dying gasp of Don Draper, just before Dick Whitman was reborn.
