广告狂人 第六季

MM 613 'In Care Of' Recap


The last episode of season 6 of Mad Men encapsulated runaway of all forms besides showing all the serious and casual commitments being made and broken.

‘If you wanna run, I’d do it now.’ - Pete

S6E13 wrapped up the whole season of the mad late 1960s showing the aftermath of being casual at decision-making whilst tagging the whole period as ‘not serious’.

‘Hershey’s isn’t serious’ about advertising. Teenages were not serious about drinking and law; men were not serious about their families and children; people were not serious about making promises. Don, the most notorious among all, breached work taboo and were considered not serious about clients and campaign presentations (Hershey’s, Sheraton, newspaper and tabacco, to name just a few). All they wanted was run.

Ted promised that he would leave his wife and escaped to Hawaii with Peg. Don told Megan they would move to L.A. and be happy again. Sally went to a boarding school to stay away from her always-occupied-and-couldn’t-pick-her-children mother and her ‘immoral’ dad. Even Pete’s mother ran away and got married with Manolo, both of whom ended up disappearing into thin air. Trudy said to Pete, who lost his mother, left his families and moved to the south, ‘You are free from everything.’

The men made decisions easily. To shoot two not one presidents, to start a war, to kill civil rights leader and innocent people on a foreign land. They were the decision-makers. And those who were being made the decisions were voiceless and vacant in the pictures.

‘You probably dictate the memo right to her and had no idea she’d be affected.’ - Stan

Stan’s remark was not just about Dawn, whose appearance and subplots in the whole season were disappointly scarce and had no punchline whatsoever, it also rang true for Peg and Ted.

Though I was for a moment believing that Ted would leave his wife and be with Peg and got really excited for the next season of this couple-to-be, I felt punched in the face when the guilty-look Ted showed up in Don’s office asking Don to put three hundred miles between him and Peg. But you must admit, what Ted did was right. Nevertheless, whatever he decided to do, the memo of divorce or breaking up would still hurt the other woman in his bed, badly.

The words were broken. The women were left to be disappointed. Yet as Roger pointed out, ‘you learn more from disappointment than you do from success’, will the women whose husband, lover, dad failed them, stood up and learned something? Looking at the silouette of Peg in Don’s office, I knew she would (and Peg&Elizabeth Moss was never an disappointment on the screen). Sally was looking at her father in the eye before the deserted two-story house that had once been a brothel and home to her father. I hoped she would pull her young self together and saw something big from the experience that her father went through, from a ragged boy to a man in clean suits and tie and hat. As Meg darted out of the flat, I was fingercrossing and wished she would not be written off the show(as what was done to her part in her show). The scenario of Don taking away Stan’s opportunity bore a resemblance to what Megan did to her European friend in the last episode of season five, yet we failed to see more dark and manipulative side of Megan this season. I hoped to see the independent-minded Megan of power return next year.

SC&P decided that they could survive with a casual vacancy. And indeed, it would not be too much to ask that this casual vacancy could remind Don of his responsibility since he would sure see the firm run normally, if not perfectly, without him.

Take a break.

‘Don’t you always go home, though? ’ - Peggy

他自己盗用别人身份，逃离战场，却不能容忍合伙人盗用他的签名。


他因盗用身份让公司损失几百万的生意，却不能容忍合伙人提前擅自领取7500元分红。逼死了合伙人。

他对自己所冒充身份的妻子充满温情，却对自己弟弟极其冷默，间接导致弟弟自杀。

他在很多人困难时帮助他们，却在平时给他们很多的冷漠和苛刻。

他在办公室像打了鸡血，回到家总是一滩泥。

他对婚姻从不忠诚，却质疑别人的诚信。

他搞了几个秘书，却强调公私分明。

他对有能力的下属总是要求秩序规则，他在上司合伙人面前总是不讲规则。

他自己乱搞的女人数不清，却让两任老婆严防死守。

他总是用一幅君子面貌看待风流的罗杰，却不知罗杰是真正的有情有义的人。

他把每次约会都搞得像交配，罗杰把每次约会都变成恋爱。

他总是放任自己的冷漠傲慢自大，却不能容忍下属和别人的骄傲。

他总是将一切归罪于自己的童年，却不肯给孩子温馨的童年。

他总是贬斥皮特，却不知皮特是个动力强劲，判断准确，很讲原则，极为上进的人，一个忠实的达尔文主义者，一个道德标准比唐高的人，一个追求公平的人，一个很像乔布斯的人。

他总是打压皮特，却又在其最需要帮助时候默默帮了他。

她可能以为joan轻浮，实际joan毫不轻浮，而他自己极其轻浮。

他身为广告创意人，却对文学艺术不感冒。

2013.5.27

感情的流逝是如此迅速。你听到背后有人喊你，转身想要抓住，却发现斯人已远；你沉浸在私欲和虚荣之中，恣意索取、挥霍着感情，偶然一次打开心灵，却发现那里面已经空空如也。曾几何时一瞬间的心有灵犀，再也无法找回。本集Mad Men，献给那些回不去的曾经~

Don与Betty仍有旧情，两人与儿子一起唱歌，感觉还像是一家人一样温馨；Betty稍加引导两人便如干柴烈火一般重拾旧情，两人的爱就像那双不知不觉便已紧握不放的手一般，从来没有消失过。Betty仍爱着Don，但选择了“身在曹营心在汉”，不离开Henry；她知道Don的天性无法维持一段专一的婚姻。她能否发觉自己一直对Don还有情意，她能够一直对自己的心情如此操纵自如吗？Henry察觉到自己无法遮挡Betty在人群中散发的魅力，也察觉到可能忙于工作冷落了Betty，但他是公众人物，有选举重任在身，在发泄恼怒之余，没有任何办法。

Peggy与男友的生活理念本身就不合，在被Ted强吻后她越发对男友不满，可她应该知道对Ted这样已婚多年、事业有成的男人，顾忌太多，下决心开始一段新感情并不是容易的事情。她最终离开了男友却发现Ted对她只有暧昧没有行动，为支持Ted还失去了Don的信任。留给她的只有懊悔。

Peter和Roger同时认识到家庭的重要，却再也无法挽回各自的爱人。Peter得到Duck的建议重视家庭，却发现自己已经得罪了每一个家人。Roger上了年纪，越发的渴望一个后代。但他多年来生活方式过于随意、以及极度缺乏责任感，不能让女儿和Joan放心，没人愿意让孩子和他相处。男人要承担自己行为的后果，无奈的Peter和Roger肯定对这点深有感触。

Megan独自在家时，编剧的夫人来访，索取Megan的身体。现状很明显，如果她得到Megan的身体，就会向编剧求情，Megan的角色就不会被拿下，如果得不到，Megan的前途就危险了。Megan本想不依靠Don，闯出自己的天地，但外面的世界很险恶，任何人只要对你好，就必定想从你身上得到什么，对Megan无限付出不求回报的只有Don。但她现在发现，过去的任性已经深深伤害了Don，自己和Don之间的感情早已不复存在。她想挽回Don的心，这会像她第一次得到Don的心一样顺利吗？

Mad Men 609 'The Better Half' Recap


So. This was the episode that Mad Men went totally MAD.

‘You obviously had a traumatizing experience.’ Peg said.

‘Don’t patronize me.’ Abe answered.

S6E9 revisited the traumatizing experience, casting the shadow of confusion, chaos and violence on those who were not on the spot and claimed that a few lunatics would not ruin their gorgeous nights.

As if answering to Don’s epiphany in the last episode - It is nothing but history that holds people together, people of the past did appear or was mentioned in this episode. Here was Duck. And they mentioned the late Pryce and Gleason and Robert Kennedy.

Due to its role that drew people together, the past was obliged to be something precious and wonderous. Or, as the popular ‘Planet of the Apes’ indicated, the past was ‘the paradise’. Soon after Duck disclosed that the wellspring of his confidence was his family, we saw a family-reunion - in a camp site or a countryside b&b. Lost in the amazement of the oozing sweetness of Bobby and his handsome father and beautiful mother, we found ourselves cannot but agree with Duck- Family could be paradise-y.

Or could it?

Because it was an episode about the collapsing of family and of loving couples. Its theme wasn’t Duck’s motto, it’s Betty’s - ‘Loving you is the worst way to get closer to you’.

The couples, if not families, broke up. It sent a thrill down the spine of mine to see Abe accused Peg ‘you are always the enemy’. Maybe he was confused, or maybe it was true and it was because he said nothing and we couldn’t tell that he had long been frustrated about his girlfriend being a conservative high-brow bread-maker. But the accusement still was horrible, as horrible as the stabbing (why people keep stabbing??), considering of the high possibility that he might not survive and the accusement would hurt and haunt Peg, for, like, ever. To quote Arlene, you could not disagree, but you didn’t have to embarrass or in this context destroy, her. This scene resembled the previous quarrel between Pete and Trudy. Pete could not tell Trudy the unspeakable deeds of her father, yet he did. Anyhow, thanks God Abe made it.

Then it was the issue between Peg and Ted. It did not work out. It was like a blow in the face to see two men closing the door with unconscious indifference in front of Peg, in the acme of her vulnerablity. But in the end, there was nothing wrong with Ted being the guy who went to bed before 2 p.m., otherwise it would be too confusing.

To stop the confusion, Joan asked Roger to stop dropping by without notice. ‘I know you want to. But I can’t count on that’, Joan shrugged when Roger claimed that he only wanted to be around.

‘The forbidden zone is once a paradise.’ This depressed episode was a manifesto of the invalidity of love of all sorts, showing that love was a mere intermezzo, a midway thing. It was in the constant threat of violence - the robbery, the neighbourhood chaos, the stabbing spines, the words of wrath. Midway it was cut short. And you went astray, finding yourself alone in the darkness of the forbidden zone.

Maybe Matthew Weiner was confused or maybe it did happen. Alert when you are in love, but the other part just says ‘I missed you.’

Don’t count on that. Take a note.

我知道Don可以在他每次有需要时，就可以把镜头切换到的女人拉上床。但是也有例外，比如Peggy和Joan。或许是出于一份尊重，又或者我觉得更好的解释原因是他无法驾驭骨子里有自信的女人。

没错，骨子里有自信的女人不会察觉到Don暧昧的眼神，他的眼神因为他而显得廉价和主流。我可以接受因为工作而衍生到生活的性关系，甚至可以不惊讶于你想挑战乏味枯燥和楼上的女人偷情，但是别把每段关系都说成是relationship。Don把每段恋爱都搞成性关系，而Roger把每段性关系都搞得像恋爱般纯粹。这就是明显两个不同处事风格的男人的标志：暧昧孤独 VS 大众无畏。

麦迪逊大道上的每个人都伤痕累累，这部剧集让我充分感受到了，人，只是高级动物而已，甚至，有时和动物没啥两样。一份广告不是说你头脑里有多少idea，虽然看到Don卷起衬衫袖口拿出钢笔在白纸上寥寥几个字就把一个文案结果呼之欲出时很艳羡，但本质上来说，你贩卖你头脑里的灵感和贩卖你的生产技术没啥两样，只在于你所处什么行业对该行的理解罢了。电视上那句千家万户都已经烂熟于心的广告词，和你身处那个生产线上所奋斗挣扎的做的那个工作点，请告诉我，有何区别？

因为你们是狂人，所以庆幸的是，也是编剧不想再延伸的，也是Mad Men不想触及到的，你们都热爱广告。那个直到今天这个时代仍然是品牌翘楚的：好时，柯达，雪佛兰，新奇士等你们那是也会想要争夺他们而奋力，得到他们而雀跃，服务他们而虔诚，保住他们而关注，直至最终丢失他们而无奈。

自己身处工作之城，妻孩家庭都在坐火车才能返回的城市做你的后退港湾。最后一集Ted向Peggy坦白家庭是在外拼搏的男人的最后守擂地，如同左手无名指上有指环在职场上会给人安稳之感。Joan在职场上有分寸有智慧懂得如何进退，她会因为丈夫的坚定赴战场而依然抽身，也会因为和Roger销魂的一晚而依然生下孩子，而后开始要向文案界进军。Peggy更是了不得，不仅是此剧女人在职场上进步的代表，更是依然生下孩子后没有半分留恋依然在享受或等待爱情生活。Bets了解自己的美貌，庆幸的是也知道如何运用这种美貌来逃离不想要的生活。在那晚她主动让Don进他房间而后早晨又若无其事时，我就知道，她是真的不在乎了，甚至刻薄的想，她只是想验证下Don是否还是那个前夫，而且她用的手段也是当初家庭破碎所遭受的手段。

男人无奈，女人辛苦。我相信他们在夜深人静想广告词是寂寞而美好的，在和不同男人或女人温存时是得到短暂解脱的，面对陌生人时是尊敬和善良的，拿到标书时是幸福的，面对家庭和私生活的变故是脆弱敏感的。承受的了一支大梁，却难以抵抗生活周而复始而又无奈的玩笑。




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这篇笔记写的不好，最近工作上又遇到了瓶颈。放在自身上是大事，拿到社会上看不过尔尔。可是，我为什么要管社会上为什么要管其他人，我只是我自己，我太自我了，芝麻蒜皮的小事如果我自己过不去那对我来说就是大事。受够了那些愚蠢的说教行径。这部剧集如果我刚毕业时看或许就会选择广告行业。幸好你现在问我，我不会因为准备离开这家公司而脱离这个行业，庆幸的是，我依然还是热爱，因为她对我而言就是梦想。梦想，和前方遇到的人无关。

生活从来都不会太好，别做梦，有的只是安稳或挫折，幸福只是当下一刹那的感觉，你可以说是满足感，所以知足常乐和心态好是做人做事的必要条件。有趣的是，你会发现这两个形容词都是克制守己的邻居。但我希望你不要在某些时候守纪了变得迂腐。

别哭，也别笑，生活如同美剧，还有下一季，该怎么样，拭目以待。

       享受着夏威夷碧蓝的天空、大海，金色的沙滩，还有年轻的Megan穿着比基尼陪伴在身边，Don的所读所想和周围的一切格格不入。是什么让Don始终无法和Megan一样尽情享受这个由资本打造出来的梦幻天堂？或许是因为醒了的人再也回不到梦中，Don在Mad men里一直扮演的就是清醒、无畏的战士，正是作为一个从不自欺的人，他才有能力制造出令人沉醉的商品广告，就像魔术师通晓表演的背后的玄机。在酒吧里，Don遇到了一个将赴越战的士兵，他似乎说出了Don欲说的台词：“他们送我到这里来度假，难道没发现这里和那儿（战场）是一样的吗？”地点、风景、身边的人在不断变化，生活却始终是生活。区别仅仅在于，在战场上死亡和生活的无常显得如此真切，而在这个梦幻之岛上生活的阴暗面被一张帷幕遮盖了起来，只剩下舞台前的狂欢和欲望。
　　　　回到纽约，这张帷幕也一直悬挂在每个人的生活中。Don公寓的保安突然倒了，Roger举行了告别仪式，擦鞋匠的工具被送到了Roger的办公室，人们一边经历着这些无常的变化，另一方面则竭尽全力为去满足自己的野心和理想。Roger的女儿想投资创业，Megan的表演事业有了突破，Don公司里的小职员看准时机想升职，Peggy为一个广告放弃了假日，来Betty家过节的小女孩离家闯荡。这帷幕的两边似乎永远对立、不能并存，因为一旦生老病死的真实被人窥见，这些野心和欲望即成为了虚无；只有忘记了生活的真实面貌，夏威夷的昂贵之旅和纽约的名利场才有了光辉的意义。
　　　　但是，若没有这舞台前的光鲜亮丽，谁能忍受帷幕后的真实呢？Betty在拉小提琴的女孩身上看到了曾经的自己，女孩却对Betty说，她不想重复那种上大学、结婚生子的生活套路。后来，Betty到纽约去找离家的女孩，看到了一个破乱公寓里年轻人们混乱的生活。这种生活不是比那种老套的人生更艰苦吗？但是小女孩却宁愿选择离开家庭的保护，去迎接社会的冷漠和残酷。因为这种残酷是由一个理想的外衣所装饰的，自我实现的可能性吸引着一无所有的年轻人，意味着新的经历、意味着自身的改变，而按步就班的生活就仅仅是生活本身罢了。
　　　　人们希望通过理想超越生活，编剧通过Roger在心理医生那儿的独白为这种行为泼了一盆冷水。Roger说那些经历什么都没有改变，门开了又关上，自己却还是自己。以Roger和Don的年龄和阅历，似乎该有的经历都已经体验了，却依然很难面对帷幕后那真实的一面。Don从夏威夷回来，有种感觉一直伴随着他，于是他把这种感觉做成文案给客户看。但是，客户想要的却不是所谓的真实，他们想要的是那面帷幕。Peggy的创意也暗含着这一层面的信息，广告是为了把耳机卖给那些将赴越战的士兵等男性用户，画面上一个男人带着耳机，沉醉在自己的世界中，观众却听不到音乐。这是一个可以不用窥视真实的人，越战士兵戴上了即可以无视那帷幕后的生活。而观众看到的永远是外在的表现，比如一些人在夏威夷和纽约尽情享乐、成就自我，至于帷幕前的人们心中在想什么，是不可能被观众听到的。
　　　　Betty去寻找那个女孩，就像是去寻找一个曾经的自己，想把那个迷路的自己带回家。从纽约回来，Betty躺在丈夫的怀里，感受着家庭的温暖。她也曾经一个人在纽约做模特，历尽艰辛，作为一个体验过帷幕前光鲜亮丽一面的人，如何能劝告一个未曾体验的女孩不要去经历这些呢？回到Don在片头读的那段台词：“在人生的旅途中，我偏离了大路，醒来后发现自己在黑暗的森林里孤身一人。”在那帷幕稍稍拉开，舞台上的幻景慢慢稀释的时刻，人们才开始怀念生活的真实，想要回到家里。问题是，家在哪里，又如何回去？Roger在感叹自己和家人在一起的时间太少了，对他感到失望的人又太多，Don则选择去扮演陌生人的家人。这两集里面唯一回到家里的人是Betty，一个内心从未长大的女孩，或许只有孩子才更容易回家吧。