except he goes out, and his exit is mirrored by a double in handcuffs. I.e. walking out the door into conformity is it's own kind of constraint, just different to being a broke beatnik
haha, I was an open 1980s stoner guy when I was young, and I finally figured out there was no benefit in all the dopehead window dressing. Conforming in appearance isn't a big deal, especially now that I've seen music culture styles change like the weather.
Its actually not that bad on average. It just seems that way because its all that the mainstream media ever wants to show you. If you look and act respectful, thats how you will be treated. But if you act like these beatniks/hippies: dirty in both body and mind, then you will often get the stink eye, regardless if youve actually done something or not. Black, white, it doesnt matter. Its all about how you present yourself to the world. If you want the world to treat you with respect, then you need to show that you are worthy of that respect. Simply saying you deserve respect will often get you the opposite of what you want.
@@MiladyToxic I'm not saying looks will always change a situation but from what I can tell, most of these African Americans killed were dressing in a way cops treated them as hood gangs. George Floyd for example had a white tank top on him which regular people only wear at home. Imagine the difference if he wore something classy or a simple suit. Like I said this might not change anything but looking respectful usually does affect people's opinions even cops.
3:31 Powerful contrast between the world of the Beatniks and Don. Beatniks lecture Don about his crass commercialism and 'creating a lie' when it turns out that Don is more connected and empathetic with the harsh reality of life-when he steps out into a dark hall in the middle of a domestic abuse arrest-while the 'Beatniks' are laying around, half-awake, insulated in their well-lit apartment and unproven moral superiority. Don's advertising job, however amoral, creates the necessary illusions and colorful distractions that make life bearable for common people like that abused housewife. The Universe is Indifferent.
@@halfishman5028 Most sjw university students are essentially the same: they decry the working man's supposed privilege all the while living comfortably off mummy and daddy's money.
@@halfishman5028 Its important to understand that the first beatniks were actually breaking social/moral/political conventions, and it had a positive contribution to the expansion our culture as a whole--while conversely the SJW's that you speak of aren't really ground breaking, which is why they are lame.
@Richard Gleaves Yes I agree. But these days everyone is trying make monoliths of every "type"... Its like Jimi said: " If all the hippies cut off all their hair...I don't care...dig.."
Can’t stand hippies like that. Granted Ima hippie myself but with hatred and a work mentality that gets me money. I deal with these kinda bums that don’t do shit besides smoke weed and complain about the government all the time out here in Colorado.
They think they are Rorschach from Watchmen. He may have been an authoritarian sociopath, but he was willing to get his hands dirty and fight for what he believed in unlike these wannabe hobos. Also, like Don, Rorschach would’ve frowned upon these people.
@@husaammaawia3057 Don's only cage is built by his personal demons. As far as society is concerned, Don is the freest man out there -- talented, wealthy, and socially connected.
Reminds me of a saying I heard "discipline leads to freedom" and I think it shows it here. Hard working gives you the freedom to do what you want. These guys don't have to option of freedom but Don does.
Don: "The reason you haven't felt [love] is because it doesn't exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons" Also Don: "Of course. You two, you're in love"
@@insanedb So few words, so much said. As we see this man with the comment above (to which you replied) clearly didn't get the point, yet he displays such ignorance and still gets 25 up votes. Says a lot about the society we live in. Ignorant people (by which I mean the people who won't comprehend to see the bigger picture and take time to consider and think) can get a lot of support because of the range social media provides, because their opinion is based on a general observation which is easy to see. It is just becoming sad.
Perfectly reasonable. Many people think they are in love when the object of their affection can be easily replaced and they would still feel it. But some people share true love but it's a rarity.
Even though Modernism was in its peak, Postmodernism was well on its way. This means selling hyper-realism to the masses and then life imitating it. Don always saw the zeitgeist ahead of others because he didn't cling on the sentiment himself.
“Make something of yourself.” “Like you.” Mmm yeah pretty much. Lol. Don literally manufactured his whole life. Literally made something of his borrowed name.
There's an interesting book by Thomas Frank, called The Conquest Of Cool. Talks about the 60s counterculture and the advertising industry. In many ways, the counterculture was a product of Madison Ave - at first anticipated, and then embraced by ad agencies. Admen used social revolution to create sales. The book is packed full of examples. Fascinating read and still very relevant, as not much has changed since then.
Not much has changed at all... One could argue that the Advertising Industry and Pop Culture, Pop Music are one and the same. Everyone else follows the trends and what's "Cool" ...blindly...
@jonathanbirch2022 Musically, the 60s folk revival started in the 1930s. I think jazz was probably an indirect inspiration as well, in that it encouraged people to seek culture outside the mainstream. By the time Bob Dylan showed up, the folk revival was essentially mainstream though. Maybe we agree on that? Culturally, there was an interesting interplay between Madison Ave and the "youth culture" of the hippies. I think this scene captures that well. The average ad exec was plenty alienated. Both the hippies and the ad execs saw through American culture. They just chose different paths. One group decided to "drop out" and the other cashed in. As the 60s counter culture has more and more mainstream there was less difference between dropping out and cashing in. Now you can be a "counter culture" icon and enjoy all manner of lucrative corporate partnerships. Anyway, it's a good book, that's all I was trying to say.
I'd like to call out the important part of this scene. The passing of the friend zone. Don sees evidence that the woman he cares for loves another man. He doesn't scream, yell, or call her out. He speaks and does what's best for him. I love this. There is no such thing as a "friend zone". Say what you want, call it out when it's not, and leave if you've said your piece and nothing changes.
@@bdb5678 there is no great power working against you. There is no god who knows how many hairs are on your head. There is a huge cold universe that doesn’t celebrate you or hate you. There’s a universe and you live in it.
One is right, and one is wrong. The problem with the mindset held by most is that their views, virtues and self righteousness has to be widely held. Those hippies fit this category. You not having the intestinal fortitude to draw this sharp line is very telling.
@@albertpayne5998 intestinal fortitude my ass, the show is nuanced and all the characters are written here to be somewhat correct and somewhat sympathetic. The fact that we can’t draw clear lines is what makes this a great show and not a medieval morality play.
@@czechmeoutbabe1997 what is so ambiguous about the scene? He does his job and does it well. He makes a living by getting others to purchase products and bring money to sellers who in turn rewards him. Whether he sells a lie or not, those who make the purchase have a need for the product he is advertising for. An honest day work. Period. Is better than sitting on your ass, smoking weed and passing judgements on to others which is what they were doing. Don’t kid yourself. There is nothing complicated here.
My favorite Mad Men scene. Don shattering the dude's belief system with the line "the universe is indifferent" is so good. Just basically tells him to shut up because there is no hope out here. There is no change you can make. The universe doesn't care about your revolution or you hopes for a better world. Don accepted that long ago
If that were true, we'd still be the vassals of some feudal lord. Change and a better world are possible, it just takes unimaginable effort and sacrifice. And Don's right, sitting there, drinking cheap tokaij wine and pretending to be a vagrant won't do much either, but his apathy is not virtuous or smart. It's a deflection of a different kind.
@Retro just because good happens or has happened...doesn't mean the universe prefers it over any other possibility. Good and bad will happen and who is to say 1000 years from now we won't be back under the knee of some feudal lord again
@@drewpowers7236 Oh sure, in that sense. The universe is indeed indifferent. If a space rock ends it all in a year there's nothing we can do about it really and no one will cry for us. But if that's your outlook, wouldn't you say that when it comes to human societies that such a bias will naturally tend towards despotism and misery? If no one truly cared, it would count for something I'd say. Human apathy has a very real effect on others in the here and now. Zooming out to the point where the here and now becomes pointless is also a choice you make no?
@@retro2103 I believe in duality. So everything can be interpreted as a positive or a negative to me. That is up to the perceiver, as i believe the universe is indifferent. So for you...perhaps you view it as a negative. And I'm not saying that's wrong. Just your perception or your "take". I choose to view it as a positive. If it's all meaningless or the universe is indifferent... then all my stupid neurotic stresses and anxieties about something social, the traffic on my daily commute or even me making a fool of myself with my youtube comments lol ...just melt away and I actually live a more joyful life.
It’s not a better world living in a bullshit communist or socialist system. Only professors ripping off kids for a Humanities degree believes that. And kids eventually grow up and learn that they should be the beneficiary of their hard work. Not lazy bums getting free rides.
Draper is anachronistic, and proud of it (and should be). He fought harder than any of the beatniks in the room to get where he is. He falls hard, but his pride and poise is understandable.
I think you are missing the point of this scene. Don is rejected and is hurt, so he lashes out. He wants to be included, but feels like an awkward outsider. He knows he is a phony and is trying to belong somewhere. Don feels deep shame for who he was and is trying to create a fiction of who he thinks everyone wants him to be. Don is one of the saddest characters on TV. Do you remember when it is Sally's birthday and he gets drunk, can't put the doll house together, fails to pick up the cake and returns with a dog.
babiesmakinbabies that may be the case but what makes his character so interesting is that he’s right. The phony version of him does have some insights into society and humanity that allow him to get where he is.
@@yourdaddy3942 not exactly. This is a power trip for him. He knows what he's doing and he knows he's on the winning side. Hence "no, YOU cant". Hes very selfaware but he knows the perks his job comes with.
"ad guy has a heart?" *writes a check for the girl that broke his heart* yeah I'd say he does have a heart if he's generous towards someone who hurt him
The irony of Don being juxtaposed against the beatniks is that I think Don would probably actually relate to a lot of beat writing, especially Kerouac.
what I love about Mad Men is that I feel like there's a lot of meanings in it that I don't understand and better than that, there's always a lot of people in the comments that idolize Don which shows that they don't understand the show. Dick has made Don in to a character and he himself is trying hard to be that in control success womanizer that lives life to the fullest and tries to live in the moment instead of trying to wait for a better future but he always feels like a fraud and has identity crisis, he can't let anybody close and let them know who he is to the point that he ignore's his own brother and pretends like he doesn't exist and he feels empty which is why he drinks so much and tries to be as busy as possible so he doesn't have to think about all of his problems.
Kind of wish the hippies were stronger here. If he’s such a success then why is he there? If his life is so fulfilled then why hang with these guys rather than go home to your family? Because he knows his life is shallow.
Dude lost it when he said "love is bourgeois". Dude pretends to be deep and idealistic for something like love, but in reality is as shallow as everyone else.
Don is a narcissist. They are always hungry for more power, attention, money, sex, status, entertainment. It`s all a act. he is unable to enjoy the " little things" in life. And is constant on the hunt for his next " fix" of short term gratification/distraction. Your analysis is correct.
A man who says that lives for nothing. Nothing is bourgeois. That's a concept for people who demand to see bitterness and it isn't a reality except for who fight the concept.
Son beatniks, no hippies. Esta escena está ambientada en 1960, más o menos el tramo final de la cultura beat. Los hippies aparecieron a mediados de los sesenta. Lo "gracioso" de esta situación es que el personaje de Don es expuesto a una minoría que lo ve como alguien "square" (cuadriculado), el peor insulto para un beatnik.
Ppl who watch this like to say that Don put those hippies in their place but he was really defensive bc on some level he knew they were right and his job has no real meaning. His insecurity at that shows up again when he dreams about his dad telling him he makes bullshit. It's one of the reasons he's so unfulfilled and a reason for a lot of his problems throughout the show.
Is better than being a hippie with a self righteous unnecessary cause. One of the sad made up narratives in this life is that people have to love what they do. No, you have to do what helps you live a comfortable life. The goodness in one’s heart, the perceived notion of a good person and the goodness of the world so far as I’m concerned is all irrelevant.
@@albertpayne5998 well, you're the living proof that there actually Is a system out there. Which make you want things over your happiness, and makes u lose empathy, with yourself and your enviroment. The show Is showing Two different Views, opposing those ideas. They dont pretend to say Don Is right, or than those hippies are. Dont forget that Don spent like 6 seasons being miserable
He tells them that the universe doesn't care. That isn't a defense of what he does. He's telling these beatniks that he's just a dude that makes ads, not some representative of a malignant force the beatniks have to rally against.
They are one in the same thing. They are a media creation. There was no movement it was just a group of random people doing different things. Many hippies with long hair just liked the music and worked for a living like everybody else. The swinging 60s was just a fun period of time with lots of hard work.
I think its funny because both the beatniks and Don are such stereotypical versions of each other, its almost cringe to watch them both try to one up each other
"Stop talking and make something of yourself"😂 When the beatnik was droning on Don should have said "We all work for somebody... well (as he's glancing at the beatnik)...most people"😆
None of these people are standards to strive for. All of them are despisable in their own way. The universe is indifferent. And we remain different. Greetings and goodbye.
Nobody here seems self aware, or at all sensitive to what’s going on here. The Betaniks May be powerless and pretentious in their own ways, but Don is just as powerless as them. To be who he is, he had to reject his own upbringing, his own family, and to live how he wants in chair of the capitalist, consumerist lifestyle. He may be able to walk out in a suit and tie, but it doesn’t mean he’s any happier for it. So many of the characters in this tv show have the same problem: they choose to live in their constraints, and they don’t want to step out.
People don't realize Don is not a role model. He's a living walking lie, dealing in lies. His perceived superiority and superficial status may get him out of this particular situation but not out of his ultimately meaningless, destructive life. The universe is indifferent, yes. But that is neither an argument for nor against his personal view on the world.
Yup. They've never had to work for a day in their lives but actively deride others for doing so, all the while checking everyone else's privilege but their own.
Being a vagabond and beach bum only fun when you have power and comfort to return too I've been a bohemian and a vagabond I'll be a grey nomad in the future its good to be yourself but live in those communes with a border line cult forced way you'd end up lying to yourself
