I recently re-watched Mad Men from start to finish, having skipped it when it broadcasted and binge-watching it about 4 year ago. Both times I absolutely LOVED the ending – original "dark character" Don Draper has an advertising epiphany while at some almost-hippie place near Big Sur. The series ends with the iconic "Hilltop" commercial for Coke by McCann-Erickson (the second-best commercial of the 70s).
Seeing the episode again, then re-watching "Hilltop" a couple of times, ended with me feeling pretty crappy and bummed. I remember that ad, and the "de-Coke'd" version of the song that got radio play in the early 70s. At the same time we had a vestigial environmentalist movement (complete with an "ecology flag") and a blaze of colors (led by Peter Max) and natural fiber clothing. I can remember giving up on of my precious Saturdays during the school year to attend a class at my elementary school to learn to tie-dye clothing, which had to be in '70 or '71. At this point in time, the future looked BRIGHT.
Then the 60s-era ended and the 70s took over in earnest (it never happens when the decade rolls over, it's always a year or 2 later). Watergate. Oil embargo. Rust Belt failure. Stagflation. Soaring unemployment. Polyester. All of which begot disco, and the disgusting attitude that went with it (the music was the best part of the disco era, ponder that for a moment). In '75 my brother-in-law bought a Pinto and financed it for 5 years, which made us all laugh – no way would a Pinto last that long, nobody expected any to last more than 3 years. All notions of "perfect harmony" were trampled by the new, jaded outlook on the future. I was still a kid, powerless to affect any of it, even for myself. At least I managed to stay off drugs and keep the polyester/rayon to a minimum. Some of my siblings weren't so lucky.
Graduated high school in the 80s, started at FSU in the 80s, there for the weird 80s fashions and cool 80s music (which, in the end, turned out to be pop music anyway). I fell in with a great group of friends (NoleGrad83 was on the fringe of my "set") and competed like a mofo with the rest of the world, which is what the 80s taught us. Fortunately (and unfortunately, in the long run) I was raised to compete like that, and it showed – my circle of friends shrunk through martial attrition, my focus on "the prize" built walls between me and those that should have been my peers, and I became that self-loathing d-bag that was never good enough to satisfy myself. I also buried my parents during the 80s, though I was still in my mid 20s. I survived a bout with cancer after my first semester of grad school, which made my disposition that much worse – I was given a 60/40 chance to survive the cancer IF I remained cancer-free for the next 10 years. Tough to have that clock running in your head in at age 23 – my fall-back was pride that I didn't miss a single class...I just wrapped up my oozing wound, flew back to TLH, and reported for classes on the first days of the spring semester.
Spin the clock forward and I had higher highs and lower lows than all that childhood and college stuff – and I completely forgot about the world that was "promised to me" when I was a kid. Seeing the Mad Men/Hilltop stuff brought back ALL the old feelings of how the world was expected to be, at least for one generation. But we couldn't even make it 2 years without running that promise over with a big truck.
I can still tie-dye, but nobody really wears it anymore.
Seeing the episode again, then re-watching "Hilltop" a couple of times, ended with me feeling pretty crappy and bummed. I remember that ad, and the "de-Coke'd" version of the song that got radio play in the early 70s. At the same time we had a vestigial environmentalist movement (complete with an "ecology flag") and a blaze of colors (led by Peter Max) and natural fiber clothing. I can remember giving up on of my precious Saturdays during the school year to attend a class at my elementary school to learn to tie-dye clothing, which had to be in '70 or '71. At this point in time, the future looked BRIGHT.
Then the 60s-era ended and the 70s took over in earnest (it never happens when the decade rolls over, it's always a year or 2 later). Watergate. Oil embargo. Rust Belt failure. Stagflation. Soaring unemployment. Polyester. All of which begot disco, and the disgusting attitude that went with it (the music was the best part of the disco era, ponder that for a moment). In '75 my brother-in-law bought a Pinto and financed it for 5 years, which made us all laugh – no way would a Pinto last that long, nobody expected any to last more than 3 years. All notions of "perfect harmony" were trampled by the new, jaded outlook on the future. I was still a kid, powerless to affect any of it, even for myself. At least I managed to stay off drugs and keep the polyester/rayon to a minimum. Some of my siblings weren't so lucky.
Graduated high school in the 80s, started at FSU in the 80s, there for the weird 80s fashions and cool 80s music (which, in the end, turned out to be pop music anyway). I fell in with a great group of friends (NoleGrad83 was on the fringe of my "set") and competed like a mofo with the rest of the world, which is what the 80s taught us. Fortunately (and unfortunately, in the long run) I was raised to compete like that, and it showed – my circle of friends shrunk through martial attrition, my focus on "the prize" built walls between me and those that should have been my peers, and I became that self-loathing d-bag that was never good enough to satisfy myself. I also buried my parents during the 80s, though I was still in my mid 20s. I survived a bout with cancer after my first semester of grad school, which made my disposition that much worse – I was given a 60/40 chance to survive the cancer IF I remained cancer-free for the next 10 years. Tough to have that clock running in your head in at age 23 – my fall-back was pride that I didn't miss a single class...I just wrapped up my oozing wound, flew back to TLH, and reported for classes on the first days of the spring semester.
Spin the clock forward and I had higher highs and lower lows than all that childhood and college stuff – and I completely forgot about the world that was "promised to me" when I was a kid. Seeing the Mad Men/Hilltop stuff brought back ALL the old feelings of how the world was expected to be, at least for one generation. But we couldn't even make it 2 years without running that promise over with a big truck.
I can still tie-dye, but nobody really wears it anymore.
