Mad World on Kritik: Mad Men Season 5.10
"One, Two, Three"
Guest Writer: Caroline Levine
Monday, May 21, 2012
posted under
acting
,
interchangeability
,
Mad Men
,
Mad World
,
marriage
,
repetition
by Unit for Criticism
"One, Two, Three"
Written by Caroline Levine (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
This season, Mad Men has been insisting on the importance of theatrical performance. We started with a flourish, with Megan’s captivating rendition of “Zou bisou bisou.” Since then we have seen Don and Megan rehearse a loving scene intended for Cool Whip, and give a winning performance as a wholesome married couple for Heinz Beans. We have seen Roger beg Jane to act the part of the wife for Manischewitz, and Joan pretend to be married to Don to take a spin in a Jaguar. We have also watched a few dismal performances. When Peggy takes Megan’s place in the Cool Whip lab, the scene turns into an embarrassing failure. In Howard Johnson’s, Megan acts the loving wife so sarcastically, so bitterly, that Don leaves her stranded, hundreds of miles from home. But whether they go well or badly, all of these moments show men and women struggling to present convincing scenes of happily married life to others. Advertising, Mad Men suggests, depends on the successful theater of marriage.
But just as the advertising business needs actors to carry off the illusion of husbands and wives, a real marriage is faltering over the decision to split acting from advertising. With Megan, performance suddenly goes its own way — and gets a divorce from the firm. Brilliantly, “Christmas Waltz” shows how theater and advertising are each capable of swallowing up the other to their own ends. Megan and Don watch an experimental theater scene in which a consumer describes being in thrall to advertising: “I like to have a can of beer in my hand as I watch the beer ads,” he explains. But one night, nausea overtakes him, and moving from channel to channel offers no relief. The scene provokes Don’s anger, and he lashes out at Megan: “Let me tell you, people buy things because it makes them feel better” (a sentiment he’s expressed before). As if to convince himself of his own words, he tries out the most expensive car in the Jaguar showroom, pulling off an excellent matinee performance as husband, opposite the always show-stopping Joan.
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