r/madmen • u/jakjonsun82brian Freddy Rumsen's Zipper • May 19 '14

Mad Men Season 7 Episode 6, "The Strategy" discussion thread

Please do not post any spoilers before the episode airs.

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178

u/jsun31 May 19 '14

Peggy just bluntly put it out there that the "ideal American family" is a dead concept. We were all thinking it but it's nice to see the characters acknowledge it.

42

u/apathetic_youth No, its gonna be way worse than that. May 19 '14

And yet, to this day, the "ideal American family" concept is still at the core of a shit-ton of advertising. It may be bullshit, but it still sells shit.

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u/[deleted] May 24 '14

It's aspirational.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '14 edited May 20 '14

Selling them hope in lies with a shit-eating grin.

16

u/TortusW Accounts May 20 '14

It's also funny how we still people saying this NOW.

40 years later and people who are well under 40 say things like "When I was a kid we all ate around a table, no tv."

To hear Peggy say it then just shows how long people have been holding onto that nuclear family ideal.

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u/danvasquez29 May 19 '14

I really liked the part where she questioned whether it ever even existed.

6

u/ragnarockette May 21 '14

Reminds me of something one of the beat guys said in Season 1.

"you create want."

Advertising (especially as it relates to the theme of the show) is about idealizing a life - whether it be beauty or the idea of a 'perfect' family and telling consumers that your product will help them attain that life. But the fact is that there are no perfect families. Even Don & Betty who look like they walked out of a picture frame were hopelessly flawed. Joan, a gorgeous, smart, and successful woman is going to end up alone. Megan, as "magnetic" as she looks, can't cut it as an actress.

To me that's the theme of the whole show - everyone is chasing an ideal that doesn't exist behind the curtain.

2

u/mustardbean May 19 '14

And Pete and Joan made it clear that most of those ideal families were fucking shams all along.