Mad Men returns in it's third episode of the second half of the final season with a lot of allusions to a lot works of fiction and continuing to call back to things of Mad Men's Past...
The title of this post is in reference to Don telling Mathis jokingly to go back into negotiations and to bring a bar soap to wash his mouth out four saying a four letter F-word. The Christmas Story is an iconic film based on a series of stories first written by Jean Shepard (In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash), in which the film version, comically explores the life of a family during the depression-era while also more specifically is a moral coming of age story about a boy who wants a Red Riffle BB Gun for Christmas. Ultimately, besides learning responsibility for owning a fire arm, and a mother trying to not let her sons grow up too fast, the story also emphasizes that family and/or human connection is more important than success.
This again could support my time travel theory, as this again could go hand in hand with the likes of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, where Christmas stories are often about spiritual awakenings in the name of changing our ways for the better. The Christmas Story may alsor elate to Mad Men in parallel to Don's own upbringing, being a child of the Depression Era and interestingly, Lucky Strike was also referenced in this episode, which adds featured: The Great American Cowboy. Young Ralphie of the The Christmas Story fantasized himself a cowboy-like hero using his BB Gun to save his family from bandits...
Although MacLeod (sounds like Mac-CLOUD) could easily play to a fantasy reference such as Peter Pan (which I will get to after this), it immediately reminded me of television, film, novels, and cartoon series Highlander, in which in all three versions it's Irish MacLeod characters time travel!
Note: Actor Bruce Greenwood is an iconic science fiction actor with works such as Deja Vu, I Robot, and more recently, the new alternate timeline of Star Trek films.
Peter Pan & Neverland:
One of Mad Men's biggest occurring themes is also Mothers and their children and this almost Freudian-esque look at how one's mother or mother figure can play a significant role in one's life and what it means to grow up. In a lot ways, one can argue that Mad Men has been about the anti-adult, the struggle to not grow up, but I think if that's true, then it's not necessarily an add for not growing up, but more over the consequences for not doing so. For me the definition of adulthood is being responsible and so much of the time, the characters constantly cave into irresponsibility. However at the same time, adulthood shouldn't hinder us from childlike sense of wonder, because not only is that where creative thought is often thought to be, but also dreams and ideas is where happiness lies and perhaps the point in being an adult is to find the balance between happiness and responsibility, --and to learn what is really worth fighting for and what isn't!
------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment