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Mad Men and the problem with shallow readings
It’s been a while since I’ve written here. I’ll be trying to rectify that. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s not a TV show but a piece of piss-poor criticism that’s inspired me to write. I finally got around to reading Daniel Mendelsohn’s piece on Mad Men in The New York Review of Books and…well…wow. What a piece…
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Mad Men: “Out of Town”
If season two of Mad Men was about long-term bonds and understandings coming to an end, this season looks to be the chaotic aftermath of that. Under conditions of extreme pressure and energy, novel forms blink into and out of existence, quantum states superimpose, and out of the soup new structures crystallize. This is true…
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Mad Men: “Meditations on an Emergency”
Like a nautilus shell, we’ve spiraled out over 13 episodes, but finally circled back on ourselves, bigger, stronger, and more beautiful than before. No, let’s try this instead. Matthew Weiner is composing and conducting a symphony, each of the players his instruments. As it is a modern symphony, he is unrestrained in choosing his instrumentation.…
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Mad Men: “The Mountain King”
Don has nearly come through the other side of the hero’s quest. Last week’s sojourn to the desert saw him tempted by worldly pleasures which he tasted but did not succumb to. In the end, his fever broke and he sought out the one person who could guide him back onto the right path. Turns…
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Mad Men: “The Jet Set”
What started 10 episodes ago, with a copy of “Meditations in an Emergency”, appears to be coming to a head in one more week as Dick Whitman pays a call on his past. Director Phil Abraham framed the penultimate shot of Don on the couch in Palm Springs as a mirror-image of the reverse angle…
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Mad Men recap: “The Inheritance”
The only thing anyone can be sure of inheriting from their parents is their genes. We can also be sure of keeping scars as reminders of the ways in which they failed us – ways in which their parents failed them – growing up. Those of us who are lucky have only a few, faded…
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Mad Men recap: “Six Month Leave”
If you ever wondered what happened to Happy Loman, he ended up pissing his pants before a big Samsonite meeting and getting kicked to the curb. Joel Murray’s always worked in his older brothers’ shadows, but tonight he showed he has all of their skills at mixing comedy with pathos. Freddy Rumsen’s always been a…
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Mad Men review: “A Night to Remember”
Well early in the morning, about the break of day, I ask the Lord, “Help me find the way!” Help me find the way to the promised land This lonely body needs a helping hand I ask the Lord to help me please find the way. – “Early in the Morning”
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Mad Men review: “Maidenform”
Reflections and appearances. How we see ourselves is rarely how others see us. Sometimes the differences are small but sometimes they are cutting: a despicable woman seeing herself reflected in us; undeserved worship from a child; the judgment-free gaze of a dog. These cut deep, showing us the darkness beneath our public facades.
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Mad Men review: “The New Girl”
You’re never going to get that corner office until you start treating Don as an equal. And no one will tell you this, but you can’t be a man. Don’t even try. Be a woman. It’s powerful business when done correctly. – Bobbie Barrett. The boys in the office might think the new piece of…