some of my favorite scenes of Michael Ginsberg (but really all scenes with him are my favorite) last scene added because of peggy's scornful look at the computer
Ginsberg had so much potential. His unique backstory, his odd camaraderie with Peggy and his rivalry with Don. I wish they did more with his character - way more interesting than Harry or Ken!
Dee Shan well I loved Ken's character and his writing backstory... Michael's character was amazing though. Remember when he thought of the Jaguar line about truly owning something of beauty? God that scene gave me goosebumps!!
"There's no plot to take over Earth. We're just displaced." Every line of that little speech, so carefully chosen, all perfectly hidden by the initial goofiness of the pretext. Incredible stuff.
@@estebanrosa8635 It's very hard to say whether he himself was consciously talking about the Jewish people, if it was his subconscious, or if it was just the writers. He seemed very serious about the Mars thing.
I mean the creator of the show and many of the writers were Jewish. It seems logical that they would be very mindful about the words they used to reveal they had a main character who was born in a concentration camp@@keithklassen5320
@@keithklassen5320 He have all the details of the "fictional" story while talking about mars, also all the details fit on both stories. A shameful past covered by an obvious lie, best description of trauma I've ever heard.
I love the dichotomy of draper and Ginsberg at the Cinderella pitch. When don pitches, he makes us feel the emotions and Ginsberg creates an image in our head. He paints a clear picture of what is going on. Really shows how Ginsberg was ahead of Don, advertising has moved to be mostly visual with little phrases. Even Don's most visual ad, the kid in the basket, was not wholly his. This is what makes Ginsberg such a tragic character. He was probably the best ad man, who was going to lead the new generation of advertising, but succumbs to mental illness
Naw, Ginsberg's just spewing turns of phrase strait outta the shtetl. Only sounds fresh and clever to outsiders. That shtick gets stale fast. He's one level above Jackie Mason. Dons the real deal cause he talks the talk AND walks the walk. He put Ginsberg in his place but good in that elevator scene.
I like his character because it’s so much unlike most of the other men on the show. Whereas the male characters (sans the creatives) act like New England WASP socialites, which was the dominant cultural group up until the 1960’s, Ginsburg is an animated, anxious Brooklyn-bred Jew who is less afraid to show the full range of his emotions. For this reason, he seems more human, and is probably why viewers say they can relate to him.
Yeah, that one is great. So many of his lines I think are meant really to hammer home the point that he experiences the world in a very different way. The way they built on that by having it lead to a mental breakdown worked out very well.
@@ceterisparibus8966 Your previous question, "wtf is this character even supposed to mean?" Has a lot to do with the fact that this is a character who believed cutting his own nipple off and giving it to a co worker would be a direct pressure relief valve...
While rest people Art Department making jokes about girls being kidnapped. Ginsberg has probably lost family and friends that were hiding from NAZI. And got discovered taken to Concentration Camp😔😢
One of Mad Men's more frustrating diversions. They had the potential to write a great character and they couldn't figure out what the hell to even do with him.
I watched Ben Feldman in this first and knew him by this character... until I binge watched Superstore and now I am watching this because I can't believe Michael Ginsberg and Jonah are played by the same actor! He portrays his characters really well!
Ginsberg's story is so sad. Someone driven mad by the Holocaust. He tried to fit in and be normal but the scars of what happened to him were too deep to ever fade.
@@MA-on9xl Very true, and his story might even be false. We know he's an unreliable narrator. The characteristics the Mad Men writers included in his pathology are definately consistent with paranoid schizophrenia. Thinking all these guys were secret homos, thinking everyones against him, complaining of thought transmission, disorganized thoughts, disheveled appearance, bizarre delusions. Next stop Creedmore (by way of Bellevue)
Love the way Peggy glares accusingly at the computer after Ginzo is wheeled out. Maybe his paranoia got to her, too, or maybe she resented its intrusion into their office for her own reasons, but that glare just says: “It was you! You did this to him!” 😂
Or maybe she resented it for being the final straw for Micheal. Of course, that's not logical to think as Michael had a huge problem but it's a realistic scenario when you're traumatized by a thing like that.
@@ConsumeristScroffa Naw, Ginsberg was jus plain nuts! If there wasn't a computer, he'd of gotten paranoid about the Telex terminal, or the thermofax machine or the intercom system. Also, we don't know whether his bio is even true or not. We know he's an unreliable narrator. He might be another totally self invented fraud, like Don.
@@ConsumeristScroffaThis makes sense to me. She resents it for inducing the mental break, and it mirrors his paranoia because her hate is an analogue of his.
@@ceterisparibus8966 I think he realized that computers are the future and will replace human beings which is funny because thats very close to happening
Something I never noticed about how they shot the scene at 11:05... When Ginsberg is talking, and we see his face as a reflection in the window - it almost looks like a ghost. The story he's telling Peggy is essentially the ghosts of his past, things he doesn't want people to see or know. And when it zooms out, his back is still turned away, isolated from Peggy and alone. Ginsberg was really such an isolated character and never truly fit in but the direction of this scene perfectly shows why.
@@JohnDoe-hs9hy It 1000% is. Art, Literature, music, screenwriting, theatre, graphic design, cinematography, photography... it's all there to be analysed.
@@beth.darvell weird..there were times I told people of my past and I felt positioned like that sometimes. Like I'm dissociated or disconnected from the persona I put on in public.
@@johnmurdoch8534you are greatly missing the point. He needed help and he didn’t get it. He would’ve been much more likely to get it today. And you need new friends if you think there are no personalities out there.
Michael Ginsberg reminds me of my mother so much. She's a Jew, Was considered as a creative genius in her work field, Almost 0 social skills with good heart. She only got excited when people applauded her for her unique idea. Very good looking but doesn't care so only wears same thing over and over again. Some people really didn't work with her so wanted to get rid of her but couldn't because her ideas were irreplaceable. And ultimately she was slowly descending into madness however...Only the ending is different. She had me finally she found a purpose in her life so she didn't go nuts. That's what she tells me.
Our history is rich and absurd.. Its like every generation has to adapt to a new culture (I.e. we left the Soviet Union for NYC when I was 8 and the various degrees and expressions of our adjustment disorders were pretty obvious.) Where is your mother from?
@@frankdodd3355 exactly, and also suggestive of Michael's instability - he's hearing something no one else is hearing (he says in the first scene we meet him he's 'the kind of person who argues with the radio' - this is what that looks like, not cute and self-aware but unhinged and a little alarming, even to Don)
Ohh it's such a slow build from the beginning Ginsberg trying to keep a lid on his paranoia. I think he suspects for a long time his schizophrenic tendencies, but also he has a clairvoyance / ability to read people in that he can see everybody else's delusions around him as well. So many amazing character moments. Being disgusted by how excited people get by the thought of the girls under the bed but then realising he can use that energy to sell shoes (a great ad man); or his backstory shared with Peggy, ghostly, two lonely New York souls, he a child who doesn't know for certain who or where his family are, and she somebody who doesn't really know where her child is; or with Bob, both talking about strategies for living with a lie, Bob wanting to power through and fake it to you make it, and Ginsberg confessing that the faking is breaking him. Then with the computer, the threat of displacement, for somebody already displaced and traumatised by a genocide he can barely remember, it's an attack on his humanity as an artistic, creative being. He feels so disordered that it becomes unmanageable. It's so heartbreaking. One of the best characters ever.
Man he really grounded the cynicism of the other creatives with a morality that became understandable once you hear about his past. Where he came from.
@p_roduct9211 "Cassandra" was referring to the ancient Greek mythology of a young Trojan priestess who became an Oracle by the God Apollo. But then Apollo wanted to get with her and she said no, resulting in every thing this woman said in particular her future predictions, to be considered false by everyone around her. She predicted the fall of Troy and not a single person believed her. Sad.
Ginsberg was one of the best and underrated characters. His wit and lines were just great. I like how Ted described him as "genius in a bottle". His ad-writing talents rivaled and maybe surpassed Don's (at least as far as humor was concerned). The story about coming from a concentration camp was sad to say the least. I hated how the writers took him off of the show, going out on a stretcher screaming. I wonder if he asked to be written off or that's just what they had in mind. Would have rather watched him leave with the rest in Season 7...
I think it’s what they had in mind the whole time. It’s foreshadowed quite a bit. There’s the scene where he says he was born on Mars instead of a concentration camp. In “The Crash” when everyone is on drugs Ginsburg is sober and says “I’m the only one in the time/life building who hasn’t lost his mind”. One time when drugs came up he said “I don’t do that stuff, it makes you crazy”. And also that scene where he is having a breakdown and Bob calms him down. I think they needed a character like Ginsberg to show how mental health was treated back then, and how some of the most genius people were also crazy. Those things can often go hand in hand.
Ginsberg was by far my favorite character of the show, with Stan Rizzo a close second. I was upset that the show ended leaving the audience wondering what ever happened to him.
Sadly, given the era, he was probably drugged with Thorazine and the like heavily for some years until his mind was mush, to be eventually released during the peak of the deinstitutionalization movement to flounder around tragically as a drifter in the mid-to-late 70s and 80s. In my head canon, I like to think he did eventually pull his life somewhat back together and achieve some minor impact as an anti-psychiatry advocate and writer in the late 80s and early 90s.
I'm currently working my way through Superstore and I can't believe Ginsberg and Jonah are played by the same actor. Ginsberg was my favourite character in the 2nd half of this show alongside Stan, they were such a great dynamic
"The man who claims to be my father says i was born in a concentration camp and says my mother died there..how convenient" That made me laugh-cry for a second.
My all time favorite character from any show. Full of quirk, unique fun with tons of creative talent. The foreshadowing from that first scene really hurts me because I know his fate (talk of imaginary people, talking to radios, having no control). Truly a tragic, memorable character.
Maybe I'm biased because he was my favorite character, but I really think he could have used just one extra scene after getting taken away. I like the idea of showing the mistreatment of mentally ill people during this time, but it really was left as just that - an idea. There's really no elaboration and it leaves the sentiment feeling hollow and incomplete. It would have been nice to have a scene of Peggy visiting him or something, just to give proper closure to his character and their relationship.
What’s ironic is that Michael was always a little “off” and he was gradually becoming very ill. Unfortunately, in that business, you could not really tell until it was too late - it was inevitable that he’d do harm to himself or someone else. Luckily it was only a nipple. He should’ve been in therapy for a long time before this
One of the funniest musical moments ever on the show. Stan's face at 11:46 when he can no longer hold in his scornful smirk, followed by Michael's declaration "it's stabbing me in the fuckin' heart," haha
@@jasonk7208 Hahaha I never noticed Stans's knowing smirk and head shake as Cosgrove dances to sell it, as Don is ever cynical. This song ain't The Beatles. But Jason K, why're you cursing?
Preston Hong Yes and funny enough, he said he was from Montclair NJ, Montclair is probably the most liberal town in NJ. It’s painful to go to, but they do have very good food
I watched the episode at 22:06 while stoned once, and that specific scene made me realize every single line of dialogue in this show has subtext. Even the farts line lol.
I seriously doubt Don was gonna fire Ginsberg especially given his insane potential for ideas and Ginsberg knew it by saying " I dont think youre right about that ". But Don did have to put the brakes and scare on him to know not to pull stunts like that. " He's such a decent guy" ,Im dead lol.
I always thought that Butler shoes ad was terrible, I'm surprised it got past Don. The client was absolutely right, saying "cheap" does put cheap on your mind even though the word "never" is in front of it.
I didn't like him in the beginning but his reaction of his colleagues fascination and almost admiration of the Speck killings made me mellow and I started to like him :)
I was wondering why they had a scene discussing that of all things (apart from historical value) and I realised later this sympathy for female victims was written some time ahead of the scene where he harasses Peggy in her own house. It's to show the change in his mental state, as well as speaking to his distaste for torture given where he said he was born.
@@minipinkrosa Cassandra was an ancient Trojan princess, who was blessed by the God Apollo with the gift of prophecy, before later being cursed to never have those prophecies believed. What Michael is referencing is that he apparently foresees the harm the computer will cause, but like Cassandra, will never have his warnings understood or believed
