Fever Dream - Mad Men Dream Theory Pg 1.

Hello! And welcome to a blog about Mad Men! (The TV Series)

First, let me get this out of the way and warn people about what I plan present in the next (who knows how many words) essay in a series of blogs! I'm going to purpose a theory that about a third of Mad Men is a dream. It's true I have said this about other shows before, and so far, (some of those are still in progress however) I have been wrong. If by chance you're someone who is completely against the possibility of such an idea, then please let me not waste your time and tell you probably won't want to read this. (and in return I hope to not get negative/off hand comments about how you don't believe so, and/or assume I'm someone who will be disappointed if I'm wrong. There's a 50/50 chance! And there's first time for everything!)

Before I get started with that crazy idea, let me explain why I think Mad Men is so genius. There is surely an audience out there that watches Mad Men and it's blatant 1960's culture and thinks, Yes. I want to to be these people and I want to live their lifestyle, but really Mad Men is a rather lengthy add about why we shouldn't want to live this lifestyle.

It's not really just confided to the 1960's either. It's smart in that has a large cast of characters of all different ages which come from different backgrounds, and thus allows the bias to go beyond sexism, but all kinds of double standard situations, as generation, class, upbringing, sex, ethnicity, physique, and occupation all play role, which is only furthered by a time of great movement and change in American culture.

In addition it looks at the double edge sword of art and how it can be used and defined. The idea of how selling our ideas, or expressions, our hopes and dreams might be like selling our souls, especially when one might consider art a medium for expressing desire and/or fantasy and not always an honest reality, but more over, what happens when your willing to sell your principals, or when your not willing to play fair? Where do find value and meaning?

"Is This What You Want, or Is this What Others Expect of You?"

It's this idea presented by Anna that I think mostly defines the series, as it is this line of thinking that purposes the struggle to be human, as being apart of the society/family/culture/work place requires a compromise, but in an ever changing world, and complex characters like Don Draper, this becomes much more of a challenge if you keep denying who you are (and others around you.)

The series is heavily infused with 1960's culture (and beyond) as well, although most notably off the hinges of the 1950s'. Alfred Hitchcock, Ayn Rand, The Twilight Zone, & Walt Disney are some of the most heavily referenced/alluded to (Outside of the companies campaigning for adds), again playing mostly on science fiction and fantasy aspects. In fact by the time we get to the end of season 4 and into 5 the atmosphere of the show becomes more and more surreal and this is where I begin my basis for a dream-like sanario that is presenting the viewers with an alternate reality.

As briefly mentioned above, Don Draper is a character who is lost and trying to find himself, but the truth is, he's not alone, or rather perhaps he doesn't have to be alone if he would just face the truth.

Don's story is really about stolen identity and stolen childhood dreams. A boy born from a prostitute and an already married farmer, Dick Whitman experiences the hardships of continuously loosing parental figures, strict double standard philosophy, while watching his alcoholic father struggle through the depression era until he dies.

Dick runs away to the army during the Korean War in which he briefly meets the original Don Draper and in ill twist fate, not from combat, but from lighting a cigarette around flammable substances, Don and Dick are thrown back, as Don is unidentifiable and the army assumes Dick is Don and Dick accepts and steals his new identity as Donald Draper.

Don builds a future for himself starting out as a car salesman, but not before long when the former Don's widow finds Dick and tracks him down, but Anna Draper couldn't be more interesting, as an intuitive spiritual  life force. Don makes sure Anna is well taken care of, gets a divorce from her, they become good friends even though they live on opposite coasts and Don continues on building a life, eventually getting married having kids and joining an advertising agency.


Don's life becomes one full of contradictions and hypocritical irony, as he hides his secret from his wife, helps promote one of the biggest cigarette campaigns for the brand Lucky Strike, has an affairs with a [con]artist, and Jewish women who manages her father's department store--who challenges and spiritually awakens Don.

This all leads to surprise run with his half brother Adam, whom Don had left behind in search of new life. Don fears loosing everything he thinks he has worked for to try and escape that life, and it includes pushing his brother away. But Adam is persistent for at least one meeting, but Don, doing what he is good at, tries to buy Adam off, but Adam didn't want Don's wealth, he wanted to be apart of his brothers life, as he explains he has no where to go and nothing to do. This results in Adam committing suicide by hanging himself.

Don initially deals with the fall out with his brother through Pete, who finds family photos Adam sent to Don's office, as Pete tries expose Don to owners of the company Roger and Cooper, who don't actually care about the fact that Don once had a different name. Don relieved having a change of heart calls his brother at the hotel he was staying, only to learn second hand that Adam was dead. However, Don's fears about exposing himself eventually are justified, as when his wife Betty finds out, uses it as an excuse to get a divorce and pursue a love interest on the backlash of learning about Don's infidelity.

This all leads to two other important plots or stories told in Mad Men. One deals with Don's relationship with secretary turned copy-writer Peggy Olsen, who often is written to parallel Don, as she is a type of protege'. Don even at one point explains that sometimes (and he admits wrongly) he sees Peggy as an extension of himself which comes with both it's good and bad points. One bad being the need to take out his hardships on her, representing a type of emotional self mutilation. But the thing about their relationship is that it has never become romantic and both characters often speak their minds and become brutally honest with each other. It's a real friendship. Additionally Peggy, like Don bares a secret that originally only Don knew about, but both characters never tell each other the whole truth about their situations, and for Don, more than Peggy, it becomes crux of Don's over all fear and continuous unlucky strike outs from making bad choices.

The second plot, although more of subplot that gives the show and Don it's back bone is Don's relationship with Anna. Like Peggy, it never became romantic, but Don being in moment of existential crisis visits her in Pasadena, California and through brief time spent with Anna's niece, he learns the truth that Anna has cancer and doesn't have long to live. At first Don feels compelled to do something, as Stephanie and Stephanie's  mother have expressed him not to say anything and that they believe Anna doesn't know. The thing about Anna is that she is a genuine spiritual person, who seems to have gifts of insight, and even though we may never know for sure if she knew that Don was actually responsible for her husband's death would change her perception of Don, it seems unlikely as she plays the big sister, aunt, and/or mother figure he never had and accepts Don and gives him words of wisdom. She believes he is a good person, despite all of his mistakes or misgivings. In fact some of the advise or inspirational messages she gives are almost like that of a brave person who knows they're going die, their conversation related a lot to look to young people and future-it's what gives you 'life back'. Don decides he can't really deal with the idea of Anna's death as he fixes up the house a bit to make it like she wants, but not before long that he says he has to leave.

Don continues to ignore it, as he has to deal with major company changes that happened in his absence, but it comes rushing back on Peggy's birthday with a phone call he refuses to return from California. During the whole episode Don is exceptionally controlling of Peggy, not letting her leave work to meet her boyfriend who's throwing a surprise party with Peggy's family waiting at the restaurant. Ultimately Don's destroy's Peggy's relationship, but honestly I think it's one Peggy didn't really want. It results in an almost all-nighter where Peggy and Don candidly open up to each other about their lives/upbringing, but because Don is so drunk, Peggy is somewhat forced to look after him. Eventually they end up back in office, a confrontation with Duck, in which Don really fights on behalf of Peggy and results in Don falling asleep in Peggy's lap. Don however wakes up at one point and sees (allegedly) the ghost of Anna who is smiling upon this pairing.

The next morning Don calls Stephanie back and learns that Anna had in fact just died, and as Don looks for compassion, Stephanie, also not being able to deal with it, doesn't really give him any as she tells him not to come to California and doesn't really want to talk to him long.

It's at this point the show more clearly is about loss and/or death in the wake of facing existentialism (not just for Don, but so many of the characters) and IMO is the turning point of the series that starts to really use it's science fiction and fantasy references/allusions in more direct way, as the show becomes increasingly strange as we move through the fifth season.

The fifth season more heavily plays to Disney Princesses (sexism both ways), Delusional states of alternate reality (Fever Dream, LSD, Anesthesia, Pills Sally takes) and/or time displacement (episodes started dancing around in event order), Don and his identity juxtaposed through Lane forging his signature and his new secretary Don, all ironically again going back to the lives Don has stolen, as being a car sells man is ironic considering this season marked getting the Jaguar (car) account, all leading to a non sympathetic, hypocritical, and paranoid Don dismissing Lane, leading him to hang himself in his office during the Holiday season, which mirrors Adams death, as no doubt Don sees 'the ghost of Adam' while having a "tooth ache" in season 5 finale, which not only features the profound question we all ask ourselves, "are you alone?", but now his second marriage and second company-rehash, and being responsible for for two hanged deaths is all furthered by James Bond theme song, "You Live Only Twice".

Really when you think about it, spiritual themes have been here all along. Between Don's strict Theological up bringing of  being a farm boy and eventually having a brother named "Adam", To Don getting tarot card readings from Anna and attempting to cleanse himself in the ocean (Anna's house - the beach signifies the idea of "paradise"/Baptism), to this crazy add for Snow Ball, which Don plays up to his devil's advocate persona by leaving Gingsberg's idea in the cab, while he presents his sardonic "Snow Ball's Chance in Hell" add, one might be able to see where this is going.

To be continued....