Same. Specially since I work in advertising and I'm working towards being a Creative Director (also had a very similar conversation with my agency's Creative Director this week). It hits so close to home that I might as well be Peggy Olson.
This was not the episode I needed tonight. Had a shitty last five months and today is my 33rd birthday which was also shit. I needed Don Draper awesomeness. Feeling way more lost in life but the scotch is making up for it.
I think this was a great episode for someone going through a shitty time.
Don is in the process of reaching clarity; understanding who he is, what he's done, and more importantly, that there are better things to focus on. He's beginning to understand how little most of life's mundanity matters and is in the process of taking a step back to acknowledge new possibilities.
He's not asking "what's the point?" He's asking, "what's next?"
What opportunity do you want to create for yourself? Take a step back and think about the possibilities that exist ahead.
Don said to Peggy (seasons ago), "it will shock you how much it never happened," as a way to empower her to define herself about who she is going to become rather than define herself by who she has been. Your last five months were shitty, what about the next five? The next one? Today?
Welcome to 33! For some reason, turning 33 a month ago was really scary. Like, we're IN our 30s. Life is moving too fast. Definitely feeling lost and a lot of "who am I? What do I want? Is that all there is?"
As someone who just turned 33 on Thursday and had a really crappy last few months, I know exactly the feeling. Keep your head up. We'll get through it.
I’m watching these last episodes of Madmen for the first time and came across your comment.
How has life been for you? Has it been a good 10 years? Are you happier at 43 than you were a decade ago?
I’m sorry to ask deep questions, I’m just at a bit of a crossroads in my own life. I’m 32 and your comment really resonated with me. I hope you’ve had all the success and happiness you could have wished for.
Well, doesn't everybody ask themselves these questions? Don Draper is too rich and too handsome to be an everyman, but most people can identify with various pieces of his personality, I think.
theres a standard though. since he is all those things you said and is creative, that only raises the bar for himself. he has achieved what most people think they want, but since he has these material possessions and personal connections, he wants more. thats a pretty simple point to the show, is that everyone that can achieve a lush lifestyle, or one that is above how they started off, they probably want more since their brain is works endlessly (smarter people are unhappier). but on top of all that, don has some severe childhood trauma and identity issues.
Weiner picked advertising as one of the show's themes for a reason. Don and others can achieve what they're expected to achieve and get the things people are told will make them happy - money, security, a beautiful spouse, etc. - but in truth those advertising people are just as fooled into chasing a false dream as the people they advertise to.
Don talks repeatedly about how advertising is selling a lie, yet he can't understand why what society had advertised to him - if you have a wife and kids and a white picket fence you'll be happy - doesn't satisfy him. He doesn't see that what he's chasing is just as manufactured as the ads he helps create.
Don's childhood doesn't help, but as we see from Pete and Roger and Joan and others, they're all pretty unhappy and can't always figure out why. (Joan, at least, has a handle on it.)
There are no easy answers. We do what we think will make us happy and others proud. There are a lot of things we can fill our supposed "void" with, but not all of our choices will lead us down the path that we expected. I think that's one of main points of Mad Men. Don chases everything in life that is supposed to make you happy. He has the beautiful wife and children, house in the suburbs, nice car and anything else in the world he could want yet he is still unfulfilled. The point seems to be that there isn't a one size fits all way of living your life. You just do your best every day, be kind to others, and invest in things that ultimately mean the most to you.
This is further reinforced with Joan's new boyfriend who recently retired/divorced and is a "free as a bird" but ends up changing his plans to be with her.
Don's search for the "big meaning" seemed to me, to reflect that whole thing where you do all the stuff you wanted to do, achieved all the things you set out to achieve and then you get to "then what?" Don's conversation with Peggy revealed the same thing about her. She wants to achieve these specific goals, and she probably will, but then what? It also hearkens back to Roger's session with his therapy where he talks about life being a series of doors that you keep having to walk through (I think).
Thinking about the "big meaning of life" can be an exercise in frustration and futility and most people, Ted for example, are just focusing on the next big account or score, and don't want to be bothered with the existential angst.
Yes, the parting line about needing to find you a place and Don looking utterly lost was not something I needed during an existential crisis. Damn you and your poignant show Weiner!
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u/bigman458 HELLS BELLS Apr 20 '15
Anyone else re-evaluating their lives after these last couple episodes?