In a recent episode of AMC’s Mad Men series advertising exec Don Draper has been requested by a client to find a Beatles song for an ad campaign. The episode ends with his wife giving him the Revolver album to listen to and suggests he listen to a particular song. He puts on Tomorrow Never Knows.
What is interesting is seeing the contrast between the forty year old Don in 1966 and the Beatles proto-psychedelic classic based on the writings of Timothy Leary and the Tibetan Book Of The Dead. Don doesn’t make it through the whole track before he turns it off.
The scene vividly illustrates the clash of two worlds within one culture that was happening in the late Sixties and which has largely been forgotten. Don’s world is changing all around him while he, at forty, is well beyond the age of fads and trends and will most likely go to his grave, probably an early one with his health habits, the same man he is at that point.
Next season will have the show set in 1967, presumably, and Sixties hip culture will be the culture. Will Don adapt and start wearing paisley, neckerchiefs and Nehru jackets (the older man’s hip attire), or will he stay the Brooks Brothers symbol of Fifties manhood he so epitomizes? Maybe he’ll at least grow his hair to his collar, stop using his “greasy kid’s stuff” in his hair ( a slogan he’ll probably help sell), and grow some sideburns. Will that be “selling out” for Don Draper or will he go with the flow and adapt to the times?
Old dogs can learn new tricks but sometimes they look pretty silly doing them.
What is interesting is seeing the contrast between the forty year old Don in 1966 and the Beatles proto-psychedelic classic based on the writings of Timothy Leary and the Tibetan Book Of The Dead. Don doesn’t make it through the whole track before he turns it off.
The scene vividly illustrates the clash of two worlds within one culture that was happening in the late Sixties and which has largely been forgotten. Don’s world is changing all around him while he, at forty, is well beyond the age of fads and trends and will most likely go to his grave, probably an early one with his health habits, the same man he is at that point.
Next season will have the show set in 1967, presumably, and Sixties hip culture will be the culture. Will Don adapt and start wearing paisley, neckerchiefs and Nehru jackets (the older man’s hip attire), or will he stay the Brooks Brothers symbol of Fifties manhood he so epitomizes? Maybe he’ll at least grow his hair to his collar, stop using his “greasy kid’s stuff” in his hair ( a slogan he’ll probably help sell), and grow some sideburns. Will that be “selling out” for Don Draper or will he go with the flow and adapt to the times?
Old dogs can learn new tricks but sometimes they look pretty silly doing them.
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