I don't get Mad Men

[NFS4]

Eh, just don't agree with ya. If what you say is true, to me they did a real shitty job of making Pete like Don. I just don't see the parallel.

I don't see it either. Pete is in no way Don, or even close to it... there really is NO comparison whatsoever. Pete is a sniveling little bitch.

 

[zinfamous]

Breaking Bad > Mad Men

Shut your whore mouth!

 

[zinfamous]

Pete Campbell?! LOL. Fuck that little bitch. That's one motherfucker I wish I could choke through the screen.

And that's why he's so awesome.

 

[clamum]

And that's why he's so awesome.

Haha, yeah the actor is great actually but goddamn do I hate that fuckin character.

 

[purbeast0]

And that's why he's so awesome.

yeah the guy that plays pete plays him very well in making you get annoyed as shit with him.

 

[NFS4]

yeah the guy that plays pete plays him very well in making you get annoyed as shit with him.

I hate him even more because he's engaged to Rory Gilmore

 

[crashtestdummy]

I don't see it either. Pete is in no way Don, or even close to it... there really is NO comparison whatsoever. Pete is a sniveling little bitch.

I feel like most of the differences are superficial. Don is every bit as petty, insecure, shallow, and boorish. The difference is that he's better looking and a smooth talker. Those two things have managed to cover up a lot, but the facade is breaking apart.

 

[NFS4]

I feel like most of the differences are superficial. Don is every bit as petty, insecure, shallow, and boorish. The difference is that he's better looking and a smooth talker. Those two things have managed to cover up a lot, but the facade is breaking apart.

Don is closer in concept to Bob than he ever would be to Pete. They're both frauds.

Don came from a poor background, womanizes and pretty much treats women like shit due to his own mommy issues, his whole life is based on fraud, and he gets what he wants because he doesn't give a shit what people think (he doesn't care if anyone likes him).

Pete came from money, he womanizes because he just likes to get his rocks off, he is a shit but he is actually quite principaled in business (granted he did try to throw Don under the bus in season 1, but he learned his lesson this season with Bob), and he definitely cares what people think of him. He's a people pleaser.

 

[crashtestdummy]

Don is closer in concept to Bob than he ever would be to Pete. They're both frauds.

Bob may also be a fraud, but the way in which he goes about perpetrating that fraud is entirely different, and much more in tune with the times. (i.e. He got into people's good graces by being nice and empathic rather than brilliant and domineering.)

Don came from a poor background, womanizes and pretty much treats women like shit due to his own mommy issues, his whole life is based on fraud, and he gets what he wants because he doesn't give a shit what people think (he doesn't care if anyone likes him).

I strongly disagree here. In fact, the mommy issues are the root of he desire for recognition and affection. If this season tells you anything, it's that he doesn't handle being rejected well. He thinks he doesn't care, right up until things don't go the way he wants. Also, if he really didn't care what anyone thought, he wouldn't have freaked out so much when

Spoiler

Sally caught him cheating

.

 

[Vic Vega]

People who can't relate to the culture of the time period in Mad Men probably won't like it...

 

[NFS4]

I strongly disagree here. In fact, the mommy issues are the root of he desire for recognition and affection. If this season tells you anything, it's that he doesn't handle being rejected well. He thinks he doesn't care, right up until things don't go the way he wants. Also, if he really didn't care what anyone thought, he wouldn't have freaked out so much when

Spoiler

Sally caught him cheating

.

Maybe I should clarify. I'm talking purely in a business sense. Draper has been rejected numerous times on a personal level (Betty, Rachel, Sally, and even Peggy).

Spoiler

I feel that Peggy's most recent rejection of Don over Ted was personal whereas her rejection of him last season was business.

When it comes to business, Don has a devil may care attitude. He does what he wants when he wants it no matter the consequences,

Spoiler

remember the newspaper ad he took out when they lost Lucky Strike. Hell, Joan even called him out on on his selfishness a few episodes ago.

Pete doesn't have the power to steamroll people like Don does. And Pete is always looking to impress others on a professional level.

Spoiler

Just look at how much he kissed ass when the partners "allowed" him to work on the Chevy contract with Bob.

.

 

[DigDog]

well i can see may different opinions here.

1. the people who love MM, but can't explain why.

2. the people who think one season is not enough, that two seasons is too much, that liking House is bad (but ignore that i watched Film Bleu, Rashomon, La Nave Va, because TO NAME THE MOST DIVERSE); i can watch Harry's Law becuz Kathy Bathes, and i like fine acting (and frankly House of Cards, be it BBC or US, its still awesome). I also like to have a laugh every now and then and a good show is a good show, regardless of wheter its a light comedy or a dense drama.
Dont assume that i have ADD because you didn't bother to read the OP or even understand whats written in it.

3. People who love MM and can explain exactly why - because of profound characters, accurate pacing, and the history of marketing;



Now, it's not that i have ADD and deep characters are "not amazing z00mg plox gibe zombies 'splosion Michael Bay Transformers".. its because they are NOT amazing.

You want broken hearts, tragic loss, sacrifice, watch european films. Hell, even Japanese films. Even House has more sentiment.

Just to name a few (SPOILER BECAUSE ITS IRRELEVANT)

Spoiler

Shichinin no Samurai: The scene where the abducted(and raped)wife of the villager turns back in the burning house to avoid facing his husband in shame.
Film Bleu: Juliette Binoche scraping her hand against the grain of the wall to feel pain, so she can block her instinct to grieve for her dead family, knowing that the grief would destroy her chance of starting a new life.. even though she knows its an unlikely chance she has of finding happiness again, and that's why she has those no-time-to-think, self-destroying sexual adventures later in the film.
Charlie Wilson's War: "you answer to me, you answer to Jim Baker" (Tom Hanks), "my loyalty"(PS Hoffman). Any scene from Roberts.
House (Games, s.4): "you played the game better than everyone else, but for the wrong reasons", then he fires thirteen because she is so good, he feels she can succeed without him; Cuddy's "hire all 3" wasn't planned, but he makes her believe it was.

and thats not all

Salieri's exstasy turning into torment when he realizes that killing Mozart, he kills his love for music(Amadeus). "i don't want to be an emperor" (Great Dictator). The "i won't kill you .. but i wanted to beat you; i can beat you anytime, you stupid human, because i am a cyborg.. but i can't beat the fact that, because i am a cyborg, i will die. all i wanted to do was live, all i wanted to do was be as weak as you .. as human as you are, as human.. as i feel i am" scene, also known as "tears in the rain" (Blade Runner). Fritz Lang's Metropolis, any edit, with or without music. Anything from any decent Japanese, Italian director, French new cinema, Almodovar, Bunel, Bergman, Felllini, Visconti, hyperrealism ..

Look at how Page Eight's plot-central prop (the secret file) becomes worn out and bent .. as he's been holding it in his pocket, and yet the transformation isn't witnessed, but only implied *if* the observer will notice it; the prop isn't even ever focused on visually. No Mission-Impossible film would ever do that... its just above their filmmaking talent.

It's just that for someone like me, MM doesn't have anything i haven't personally experienced before. Drinking, womanizing, and marketing are so blatantly obvious to me that they don't constitute a plotline.

Characters in MM sure have depth but so do my parents and friends. That doesn't mean i feel the need to tell their story because .. it's not interesting.

I grew up with profound characters; in fact i might even be somewhat jaded, since after you've watched one King Lear, you've watched pretty much all of them. So i dispute that i don't get it because i'm "Generation ADD".


So that is Mad Men in a nutshell.

It's the generation ADD who gets it, because it's the first time in their life that they *haven't* seen a show with whizz, bzrrr laz0rs! boom! as the central plotline, and any character depth more profound than "DaVinci's Demons" guy is astounding to them. The essence of it is .. "Mad Men DOESN'T SUCK".

 

[RossMAN]

I hate him even more because he's engaged to Rory Gilmore

Something we agree on.

 

[Printer Bandit]

fuck

 

[foghorn67]

fuck

What is she staring at? It's almost as if she looked in the briefcase.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

She looks like a porcelain doll, and not in a good way.

 

[NFS4]

What is she staring at?

 

[foghorn67]

I'm in love.

 

[NFS4]

I'm in love.

What I wouldn't give to see Alexis Bledel go down on Alison Brie :sneaky:

 

[foghorn67]

What I wouldn't give to see Alexis Bledel go down on Alison Brie :sneaky:

Hell, I'll take just watching them play bad tennis.

 

[BudAshes]

well i can see may different opinions here.

1. the people who love MM, but can't explain why.

2. the people who think one season is not enough, that two seasons is too much, that liking House is bad (but ignore that i watched Film Bleu, Rashomon, La Nave Va, because TO NAME THE MOST DIVERSE); i can watch Harry's Law becuz Kathy Bathes, and i like fine acting (and frankly House of Cards, be it BBC or US, its still awesome). I also like to have a laugh every now and then and a good show is a good show, regardless of wheter its a light comedy or a dense drama.
Dont assume that i have ADD because you didn't bother to read the OP or even understand whats written in it.

3. People who love MM and can explain exactly why - because of profound characters, accurate pacing, and the history of marketing;



Now, it's not that i have ADD and deep characters are "not amazing z00mg plox gibe zombies 'splosion Michael Bay Transformers".. its because they are NOT amazing.

You want broken hearts, tragic loss, sacrifice, watch european films. Hell, even Japanese films. Even House has more sentiment.

Just to name a few (SPOILER BECAUSE ITS IRRELEVANT)

Spoiler

Shichinin no Samurai: The scene where the abducted(and raped)wife of the villager turns back in the burning house to avoid facing his husband in shame.
Film Bleu: Juliette Binoche scraping her hand against the grain of the wall to feel pain, so she can block her instinct to grieve for her dead family, knowing that the grief would destroy her chance of starting a new life.. even though she knows its an unlikely chance she has of finding happiness again, and that's why she has those no-time-to-think, self-destroying sexual adventures later in the film.
Charlie Wilson's War: "you answer to me, you answer to Jim Baker" (Tom Hanks), "my loyalty"(PS Hoffman). Any scene from Roberts.
House (Games, s.4): "you played the game better than everyone else, but for the wrong reasons", then he fires thirteen because she is so good, he feels she can succeed without him; Cuddy's "hire all 3" wasn't planned, but he makes her believe it was.

and thats not all

Salieri's exstasy turning into torment when he realizes that killing Mozart, he kills his love for music(Amadeus). "i don't want to be an emperor" (Great Dictator). The "i won't kill you .. but i wanted to beat you; i can beat you anytime, you stupid human, because i am a cyborg.. but i can't beat the fact that, because i am a cyborg, i will die. all i wanted to do was live, all i wanted to do was be as weak as you .. as human as you are, as human.. as i feel i am" scene, also known as "tears in the rain" (Blade Runner). Fritz Lang's Metropolis, any edit, with or without music. Anything from any decent Japanese, Italian director, French new cinema, Almodovar, Bunel, Bergman, Felllini, Visconti, hyperrealism ..

Look at how Page Eight's plot-central prop (the secret file) becomes worn out and bent .. as he's been holding it in his pocket, and yet the transformation isn't witnessed, but only implied *if* the observer will notice it; the prop isn't even ever focused on visually. No Mission-Impossible film would ever do that... its just above their filmmaking talent.

It's just that for someone like me, MM doesn't have anything i haven't personally experienced before. Drinking, womanizing, and marketing are so blatantly obvious to me that they don't constitute a plotline.

Characters in MM sure have depth but so do my parents and friends. That doesn't mean i feel the need to tell their story because .. it's not interesting.

I grew up with profound characters; in fact i might even be somewhat jaded, since after you've watched one King Lear, you've watched pretty much all of them. So i dispute that i don't get it because i'm "Generation ADD".


So that is Mad Men in a nutshell.

It's the generation ADD who gets it, because it's the first time in their life that they *haven't* seen a show with whizz, bzrrr laz0rs! boom! as the central plotline, and any character depth more profound than "DaVinci's Demons" guy is astounding to them. The essence of it is .. "Mad Men DOESN'T SUCK".

So you are comparing a TV show against the greatest films you have ever seen. I would say that the fact that it even deserves a comparison means it's a pretty damn good show. Also you obviously aren't an American and Mad Men is a fundamentally American show. It's about a time in American life that has become almost mythical. Republicans want to turn back the clock and send us back to this time period and their policies express this clearly.

Too me it sounds like your European elitism has jaded you against this show. Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt it from this last post.

 

[Zeze]

MM is overrated for sure. The first two seasons were entertaining because of Don's mysterious past. Now that's been done with, it's just luke-warm work drama with mildly interesting happenings. I finally stopped watching 3-4 weeks ago.

Why Mad Men sucks:

1. After Draper's mysterious past was wholly revealed, there is no more backbone of the story. Similar to House, you gotta keep a main element that keeps you going. If not at least the current events need to be entertaining. It's not. Just same old crap about fighting over and with clients.

2. Why the fvck is everyone all cheating little whores? We accept Draper's cheating ways because he's a handsome protagonist? He cheats on Betty for no reason, cheats on his new wife, then on and on. Then you got this little bitch Peter who also cheats even before the marriage started. Cheat cheat cheat.

3. I do appreciate the authenticity of the show's era- social issues, drinking, smoking, discriminating, brand cameo appearances, etc. But it's all just superficial. Strip that and the cheating, the show is an empty shell.

The show is really suffering from aimless direction. You get these tidbit useless past about Don's coughing and losing virginity. How the fvck is that interesting or relevant?

 

[W.C. Nimoy]

Now, it's not that i have ADD and deep characters are "not amazing z00mg plox gibe zombies 'splosion Michael Bay Transformers".. its because they are NOT amazing.

Yeah that's weird, on both sides- why we have to accuse others of having a deficiency if they don't get what we like, or are too dumb if we don't understand why it shouldn't be liked. Having to definitively rank everything.

Guess that's part of the fun for some.

OT is that girl above, with pete campbell, is that "new girl" (the show on fox)?

 

[W.C. Nimoy]

Now, it's not that i have ADD and deep characters are "not amazing z00mg plox gibe zombies 'splosion Michael Bay Transformers".. its because they are NOT amazing.

Yeah that's weird, on both sides- why we have to accuse others of having a deficiency if they don't get what we like, or are too dumb if we don't understand why it shouldn't be liked. Having to definitively rank everything.

Guess that's part of the fun for some.

OT is that girl above, with pete campbell, is that "new girl" (the show on fox)?

 

[NFS4]

OT is that girl above, with pete campbell, is that "new girl" (the show on fox)?

No, you're thinking of Zooey Deschanel