“When a man walks into a room, he brings his whole life with him. He has a million reasons for being anywhere, just ask him. If you listen, he'll tell you how he got there. How he forgot where he was going, and that he woke up. If you listen, he'll tell you about the time he thought he was an angel or dreamt of being perfect. And then he'll smile with wisdom, content that he realized the world isn't perfect. We're flawed, because we want so much more. We're ruined, because we get these things, and wish for what we had."

This is by far the most over-quoted monologue from Mad Men or perhaps in the world of television as a whole. But take it from the guy who's watched this series more times than he can count on one hand, there's a reason this is so popular.

I'm an Aquarius, like Don; born in the middle of winter. My zodiac tells me I connect more to abstractions of reality than to reality itself. But this trait isn't exclusive to people born between MLK and Valentine's day.  It's the reason we all love fiction and mythology. 

As I mentioned in my one of my first blog posts, the term "myth" isn't synonymous with false. In fact, mythology is one of the only elements of humanity that has transcended all time periods. Humans need to tell stories.  Mythology is a microcosm of our values, people and culture, told through fiction.  

This monologue from season 4 episode 8 "The Summer Man" is the synopsis of our protagonist character Don Draper. He's a perfect character because he's not the archetypal hero that we normally see in fiction.  Although he  has heroic qualities, like his exceptional talent for creative copy writing, he's flawed. 

"He'll smile with wisdom, content that he realized the world isn't perfect." Therefore Don isn't perfect, and doesn't always succeed in the end. He's an introspective man, forced by the world to have a hard exterior.  Most of all he's imperfect, because ultimately he's human like the rest of us.  

Why I'm quitting Tobacco: Part II Podcast

Don Draper's 'Why I'm quitting Tobacco.' A Rhetorical Analysis

Please enjoy my rhetorical analysis of Don Draper's New York Times rant titled "Why I'm quitting Tobacco." Excuse background details about who Draper is and what the show is about, as this was written for a general audience. I assume if you're willing to read a blog about Mad Men, you know a little bit about the show already.  

Why I’m Quitting Tobacco: A Rhetorical Analysis

            Fictional advertising executive Don Draper (2010) is a symbolic representation of a Madison Avenue businessman in the 1960’s, in AMC’s Mad Men.  Draper is a suave creative writer who constructs advertising campaigns for major businesses such as Mohawk Airlines, Utz potato chips, and Chevrolet.  However Draper is most famous for his work with tobacco power-house, Lucky Strike cigarettes.  Draper created the catch-phrase, “It’s Toasted” for Lucky Strike in order to distract the general public from health concerns in tobacco.  Lucky Strike became the central focus for Drapers ad firm consisting of about 35 percent of the total income.  When Lucky Strike decided to move their business elsewhere, it left Draper and his firm at risk of bankruptcy.  Draper responded with a full-page New York Times rant called “Why I’m Quitting Tobacco”, slamming his competitors and past client.  “For over 25 years we devoted ourselves to peddling a product for which good work is irrelevant, because people can’t stop themselves from buying it.”(2010)  Draper explains that for most of his professional career, he enjoyed the plentiful money gained from tobacco.  This strategy helps advance his credibility because it shows his moral accountability and a change of heart.  Draper recognizes the ethically questionable nature of tobacco, and takes a stand against it in the NY Times.  Draper effectively authenticates his advertising practice by publicly criticizing Lucky Strike cigarettes and connecting the toxicity of their business to the toxicity of their product.

            The main reason Draper’s piece is so effective is because advertising is notorious for its low code of ethics yet Draper establishes an ethos based argument for his business reasoning.  “…when Lucky Strike moved their business elsewhere, I realized, here was my chance to be someone who could sleep at night, because I know what I’m selling doesn’t kill my customers.” (2010)  It’s refreshing to hear an advertising executive talk about applied ethics in the workplace, because his business is commonly known as indecent.    This shows that while he may not have chosen to lose their business, he’s seizing the opportunity by informing others of the corrupt nature of the tobacco industry.  Draper later lists his competitors that still do work for major tobacco clients, setting his agency apart from others by implying that his agency cares about its customers.  For a guy who has certainly danced in ethical gray areas before, Draper publicly commits to “no longer take tobacco accounts,” (2010) giving his business an ethical stamp of legitimacy.   

Draper says that tobacco is “A product that never improves, that causes illness, and makes people unhappy.  But there was money in it. A lot of money. In fact, our entire business depended on it. We knew it wasn’t good for us, but we couldn’t stop.”  (2010) Draper clearly alludes to the idea that Lucky Strike’s business was just like their product; addictive.  With Lucky Strike comprising an unhealthy majority of the firm’s business, it made the firm’s stability very weak, and completely dependent on cigarettes.  Much like cigarette addiction, they knew it wasn’t good for them, but they couldn’t stop themselves.  This appeal is effective because it illustrates the same abusive behavior tobacco takes on its business victims as well as its consumers.  This allusion seems obvious, but one that isn’t stated often from a firsthand account.  By comparing a corrupt business to a corrupt product, Draper realizes his NY Times audience will much more easily jump on his side.  He suggests that his ad firm is better than his competitors because it has a higher standard than the competitors.

When writing the column, Draper was frustrated and desperate for public exposure in order to gain new ad accounts for his business.  But instead of seeming desperate by asking for clients, he threw away new potential clients by telling the world he would no longer work with tobacco companies.  While this seems counterintuitive, Draper assumed that his ethically driven firm would make the biggest splash for new business, and he was correct.  In the following episode of the show, Draper had a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to construct a campaign to help stop children from smoking.  This desperation move proved to be a shining moment in Draper’s career. 

Although it was technically a paid advertisement placed in the paper, this column is a prime example of effective public relations.  Advertising and public relations (PR) often go hand-in-hand however there are some important distinctions that separate the two.  In general, advertising is promotion for a product while PR is promotion for a business.  Advertising is paid media while PR is earned media.  Advertising’s main goal is selling products while PR’s main goal is proving legitimacy to the public. Public Relations not only connects with the public, but strives to form relationships with new potential business connections.  While Draper paid to have this column placed in the Times and he would call himself an ad-man, this column is all about public relations.  He is attempting to relate to the common-man who reads the New York Times.  Draper is hoping to make a big enough splash to form new relationships with ethically conscience businesses.   He sets his firm apart from others by spinning their recent loss of Lucky Strike into a gain by becoming the heroes of ethics in advertising. 

            Draper’s refreshingly ethical advertisement effectively and creatively illustrates his business legitimacy.  His passionate attack on the tobacco industry is an indisputable argument that purposely pissed off his ex-client, Lucky Strike.  Not only did Draper separate himself from the grueling business of tobacco, but he created an anti-tobacco bandwagon which he hopes other businesses and organizations will jump on with his firm.  This strategic communication piece is Don Draper’s exemplary work in engaging public interest toward a cause. 

Work Cited:

Weiner, M., Hamm, J. (2010).  Season 4, Episode 12, “Blowing Smoke”.  Weiner, M., Mad Men. New York, NY. Retrieved from: http://madmen.wikia.com/wiki/%22Why_I'm_Quitting_Tobacco%22 

Faye, You Were The One...

Oh Faye... Let me use the beginning of this article to say that we are all dearly sorry for what transpired between you and Don Draper. He knew not what he did. Don's useless arrogance overshadowed the importance of his relationship with a driven and career-oriented woman who genuinely cared for him despite his endless pursuit of the bottom of the bottle.

This is starting to feel like an obituary.

The 10 episodes of Mad Men you graced us with gave us hope that Don might finally situate himself with someone who could heal the wounds of Anna's death. Not to mention, you're the only woman in the entire Mad Men series given the respect and credibility of a professional. With your gentle, considerate demeanor complimented by the powerful and intimidating doctorate degree in psychology...

No, perhaps this is a love letter.

Faye, you're a classy chick. You didn't whore your way into Don's good graces either; you made him work for it. After he hit rock bottom the night of the Sonny Liston v. Mohammed Ali fight, he realized if he ever wanted to be worthy of someone like Dr. Faye he was gonna have to clean up his act. And they couldn't have picked a better actor to play her part.

Cara Buono, I might actually be falling for you.

A New York City girl born and raised, you graduated from Columbia in 1995 to go full time with your acting career which was already well underway.  Buono even wrote and directed the short film "Baggage", which I must say is up there with Wes Anderson's "Hotel Chevalier" as one f my favorite short films I've seen. But most of all, your character Dr. Faye was so natural because it seems she wasn't far off from the person you are in real life.

Faye was the one.

Faye's character makes men ache for the women they've hurt in the past, and I imagine women feel that same pain much more directly.  The story of Faye seems to comfort and massage all of our hearts before violently ripping them out of our chests.

We the fans still love you Faye.

We appreciate how you got our protagonist back on his feet. You don't cook and you're not good with kids, but Don would have much rather gone to dinner and pass his kids along to ex-wife anyway. You thought you two were going all the way, and we were strapped in for the same happily ever after. And then Don drove that bus off a cliff. SURPRISE!!! Don's sleeping with his secretary again.
But this time, Don's naive and vulnerable enough to think he's experienced the "struck-with-lightning" love he told Rachel Menken doesn't actually exist. Turns out he was right. Don proposes to Megan in Disney World (real original Don) and Faye's world gets shattered with a soulless break-up phone call from Don.

A good man doesn't do that. But Don isn't a good man. Even though it seems you might never love again, we're all cheering for you Faye. And it's good to know that Cara Buono is happily married and leading a continually successful acting career.

If you ever read this Cara Buono, know that I deeply respect your acting work in Mad Men and The Sopranos. AND your poise has struck me similarly to how you struck Don Draper, and I (along with many others, I'm sure) am deeply enchanted by you. Intelligent, intimidating and beautiful in all sorts of ways.

P.S. I'm glad you talk so fondly of your husband in interviews.  It makes us all very happy to know that there's not some miserable alcoholic putting you on the back burner of his agenda in real life.

Scumbucket Charisma

The Lovable Anti-Hero

Is it merely coincidence that three of Netflix' most popular shows are 'protaganized' by three of the world's most self-interested deviants?  I'm referring of course to the three above; Walter White from Breaking Bad, Frank Underwood of House of Cards, and the notorious Don Draper from Mad Men.

Oh and let's not forget:

Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy                                          Nancy Botwin of Weeds

Dexter of Dexter                                                      Tony Soprano of The Sopranos

Do we understand the current climate of our television programs? 

In one of my first blogs, I laid out the Hero's Journey according theologian Joseph Campbell, and how Don Draper fit into that archetypal model.  I stand behind the idea that Don Draper, like most protagonists, follow a similar archetypal journey throughout the plot of a given story.  However, somewhere along the way it seems it became good, to be bad.

We love rebellion. Most cult-groups promise some sort of stray from the norm.  The Grateful Dead became one of the most universally recognized cult-bands of all time because they offered a lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock n roll through their music. People with Jeeps can drive far off the beaten path, because they're adventurous and DIFFERENT.

Joseph Campbell wrote "The Hero with A Thousand Faces" in 1949.  He argued that almost every story ever written, including Moses' journey through the dessert and myths of ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, had a similar main character plot structure.  The profane human becomes a hero, goes on a journey with struggles and abysses, learns a valuable lesson, and returns home, transformed.  I believe that the anti-hero television movement aims to stray from this long-established norm.

Consider the 2001 Steven Soderbergh movie, "Ocean's Eleven." While I realize the movie was originally filmed in 1960 starring Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., Soderbergh brought back a powerful idea, of cheering for the bad-guy. Danny Ocean and his crew of 10 dudes, (10 + 1 = 11; i.e. Ocean's Eleven) plan to heist a Las Vegas casino for millions.  Oh and he made sure to incorporate three generations of hunks in George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon.  When you have bad-ass charismatic lead men like this, it almost authorizes them to do whatever they want and the audience will hop on board with the cause.

So thus, we have Walter White dissolving bodies in acid and Frank Underwood pushing his journalist-with-benefits in front of a train.  Don Draper is one of the most interesting case studies in turning south because, excluding his nuptial infidelity, he's not always a terrible guy.  For the first 2 seasons, Draper doesn't want to cheat on Betty, things are nice at home, and he values his relationship with Bobby and Sally.  But at the beginning of the end of his marriage with Betty, Don turns into the monster that we love to watch.

We can thank Matthew Weiner for this.  Weiner won nine Primetime Emmy Awards for his writing on both Mad Men and The Sopranos. Weiner is head-writer and creator of Mad Men. Weiner finished his work on The Sopranos in 2007, the same year Mad Men debuted on AMC. Weiner used the mobster-murderer, Tony Soprano, as the mold in which to cast his new character, Don Draper. Draper became the stage on which Weiner's evil writing could dance.  He can cheat, drink, and verbally abuse anyone he pleases upon his throne as creative director.  Weiner imagined Don Draper as America, but I see him more as the corrupt King of the states, if we were a monarchy.  

Jon Hamm once told Time magazine "People always tell me 'I want to be just like Don Draper.' I ask 'Why? You want to be a miserable drunk?'" We don't really understand why we obsess over these horrible people, other than the fact that they're entertaining and original.  Not many of us have the capacity to be so vicious and remain so calm on the exterior. We can only remain fascinated at the vile actions of these fictional characters, because they're so much better than we are at keeping it cool.

Take Me to the Pilot

I have recently restarted Mad Men on Netflix, marking the start of my seventh lap through the series. 

The pilot episode of any TV show is usually one of the best episodes in the series.  To illustrate the importance of a pilot episode I'll quote Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules, from Pulp Fiction: 

"Well, the way they pick TV shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that one show to the people who pick shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they want to make more shows. Some get chosen and become television programs. Some don't, become nothing."

So as you might imagine if the producers are excited about a show they'll pump a lot of money into the pilot, hoping it will be picked up.  A successful pilot begs for whatever's next.

So what's so cool about Mad Men's pilot?

Betty and Don Draper (played by January Jones and Jon Hamm)

As any pilot should, it sets the stage for the remainder of the series.  It introduces us to Don Draper, "the greatest ad-man ever."  He wings his way through a meeting with Lucky Strike cigarettes, pulling the phrase "IT'S TOASTED" out of the smoky air.  Through the course of the 50 minute show he sleeps with an artist named Midge, charms his female client Rachel Menken, declines a strong offer from his new secretary Peggy, and in the end goes home to his wife, Betty (played by January Jones, who I might add is a total babe.)

One of the best sequences in the episode is when Don has his first conversation with Pete Campbell, simply because Don so eloquently and offhandedly sums up Pete's entire career in advertising as he walks into a meeting. 

"Advertising is a very small world and when you do something like malign the reputation of a girl in the steno pool on her first day, you make it even smaller. Keep it up, and even if you do get my job, you'll never run this place. You'll die in that corner office, a mid-level executive with a little bit of hair who women go home with out of pity. Want to know why? Cause no one will like you."

As we get this misogynistic, yet heroic portrait of the most creative mind on Madison Avenue, there are still a lot of blank spaces left to be filled.  The pilot only scratches the surface of the most important parts of Don, like his family and background.  And it drops anecdotes about his arrogance, ignorance, and lack of a sense of meaning in life.  



"The reason you haven't felt it is because it doesn't exist. 

What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell
nylons...

 ... I'm living like there's no tomorrow, because there  isn't one. "





So we've established within this first episode that Don Draper is a charismatic asshole who makes love to many, but doesn't truly love anything, except booze.  He has a history in the army, resides in the top 1% tax bracket, and treats his family, fellow employees, and clients like garbage but still gets mad respect from all of them.  

If you love character based stories, you'll probably be jumping around like a kid about to pee himself until you watch the next episode.  And THAT, is precisely why this pilot is so good.  

Seven time through the series, and I've always watched the second episode immediately after the first.  The desire to unravel the enigma that is Don Draper is more addictive than Lucky Strike cigarettes.