Mad Men: Ending Explained

“New day, new ideas, a new you” Mad Men ends with Don Draper having an a-ha moment. We hear a bell -- [bell chime] the sound of inspiration striking, and then the shot essentially “goes to commercial": Coca-Cola’s 1971 “Hilltop” ad [Singing] “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company." So, the finale heavily implies that Don is the creator of one of the most iconic commercials of all time. But if so, what’s the deeper meaning of choosing to end on this ad? Pre-Mad Men, show creator Matthew Weiner worked as a writer and producer on The Sopranos, one of TV’s most subliminal shows. “One of the great things about being on The Sopranos is that you kind of were like, and I got there late in the game, but I heard David Chase say out loud, ‘Do you understand it?’ and I’m like, ‘yeah,’ and he goes, ‘That’s good enough for me.'" So, it’s no surprise that Weiner was comfortable leaving some questions unanswered in the conclusion of his own series. “I have always been able to live with ambiguities." But while the last episode of The Sopranos left us with the big question of what just happened, the meaning of this finale is more about what feeling we should come away with. Essentially, do we read this as a cynical ending or an optimistic one? Are we seeing the soulless commodification of hippie culture to sell more sugar-water? In which case, Don’s seeming enlightenment is just another passing moment he can mine for material. "They were like ‘hippies are the thing, cool, let’s all get together and love each other. We gotta sell this stuff. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.’” Or has our tortured protagonist finally found inner peace, and is his creative output channeling a deeper inspiration and connection that he’s been wanting all along? "The idea that some enlightened state and not just co-option might have created something that is very pure, and yeah, there’s soda in there with the good feeling, but that ad- to me, it’s the best ad ever made.” So, here’s our take on the show’s ending and what it all meant. Before we go on, we want to tell you a little bit about this video's sponsor- Mubi is a curated film streaming service with a twist. You get 30 films per month. A new film everyday. It's a hand-picked selection of movie-gems from around the world. So, click the link in our description below to get a full month of Mubi for free. The main question the finale leaves us with is did Don create the “Hilltop” ad? All signs point to yes. The real ad came out in July 1971, less than a year after this episode is set. And it was created by the agency McCann-Erickson, which is where Don started working before bailing to go on his cross-country odyssey. “McCann will take you back in a second. Apparently, it's happened before. Don't you want to work on Coke?” Throughout the finale, we see Don’s likely sources of inspiration for the commercial- like the girl working reception at the retreat, “People are free to come and go as they please” and the group gathering on a hilltop. At the end of the episode, the way the opening of the song starts over Don’s smiling face [Singing] “I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love…” suggests he’s already hearing the ad in his head. There’s also a precedent for Mad Men attributing real, historical campaigns to Don. “Everybody else's tobacco is poisonous. Lucky Strikes is toasted” And this scene perfectly fits Don’s explanation of how great ideas come to us. In season one he gives this advice: “Peggy, just think about it deeply. Then forget it, and an idea will jump up in your face” In the finale it seems like advertising is the last thing on his mind. But he’s been processing a lot of emotions essentially, a build-up of everything he’s gone through over the course of the show, and Coke is on his radar. "Bill, why don't you tell us a little bit about this exciting new beverage." "To me, this is an opportunity to stimulate some of our industries finest imaginations." In the penultimate episode, the man at the motel even asks him to fix the Coke machine “Don't they fix it?” “They want to give me a new one, I like this one." So inspiration strikes because he’s not actively trying to come up with a new campaign. Finally, it’s fitting for a show that featured so many of the highs and lows of the creative process to end with a lightbulb moment “Solving the problem, the a-ha moment, I’ve tried to capture it as much as possible for the audience. We all get to have it in life, and if we’re lucky, it is the highlight of the creative experience." More symbolically, the Coke ad gets at Mad Men’s complicated relationship to advertising. “That ad is also in the show to express the complexity of our relationship with advertising. Which is that we love it and we hate it and oh it’s selling sugar water and oh my god it makes me feel so good." At certain points throughout the show Don seems to have a cynicism or contempt towards his business “Create something of lasting value.” (Laughs) “In advertising?” -as if he knows he’s selling people lies “The reason you haven't felt it is because it doesn't exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons." As a culture we’re encouraged to look down on advertising as underhanded, “You hucksters in your tower created the religion of mass consumption," beneath us. “Advertising doesn't work on me. It's just a lot of people screaming at you from the walls and the TV.” “If advertising is good, people never think it works," But Mad Men shows that advertising is also a creative enterprise that speaks deeply to people. “You are the product. You feeling something." It’s simplistic to dismiss advertising as just selling us falsehoods, “You make the lie. You invent want” because the truth is, it doesn’t trick us into craving something we don’t want- it taps into what we already want and lack. “They can't do what we do. And they hate us for it." "The show is based on the premise that advertising does not make you want to do anything. It reflects. It reminds you to do what you already want to do. It is a mirror You would like to be thinner, we reminded you that you’re fat." Campaigns on the show move us because they’re grounded in real emotions like nostalgia for the past, “This device isn't a spaceship. It's a time machine. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again." or a need for connection "And we can have the connection that we're hungry for." At times, Don may seem like a hypocrite, but really he is his own customer. He’s searching for happiness and fulfillment just like everyone else. "Does someone love me?” “What?” “That's what your question was.” “Why would you say that?” “That's everyone's question." And this is what makes him so good at what he does. He understands that advertising isn’t about selling a product so much as a feeling “Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car." The “Hilltop” ad’s power is not that it’s selling a drink; it’s offering a vision of communion, harmony, and world peace. [Singing] "I'd like to buy the world a coke and keep it company." In real life, the “Hilltop” ad did come out of a McCann advertising exec being genuinely moved. Bill Backer, who was the creative director on the Coca-Cola account at the time, was on a flight that was forced to land in Ireland due to fog. His fellow passengers were angry and frustrated but the next day he noticed them connecting over bottles of Coke. He wrote, quote, "[I] began to see the familiar words, 'Let's have a Coke,' as more than an invitation to pause for refreshment. They were actually a subtle way of saying, 'Let's keep each other company for a little while...' So that was the basic idea: to see Coke... as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples." "and sometimes communications get better if you’re just sitting over a bottle of Coke and looking people in the eye." Ultimately Mad Men’s ending is paying tribute to the creative potential of advertising at its best -- it’s recognizing that a great commercial is a powerful cultural contribution “The people who find that ad corny are kind of— they’re probably experiencing a lot of life that way and they’re missing out on something. Because it is— I mean, five years before that black people and white people couldn’t even be in an ad together, okay?" So in the end, for Mad Men, advertising isn’t just a hollow, exploitative lie, or a profound creative truth- it’s both of these things at once. "oh it’s a co-option of our morals and of our aspirations, on the other hand it is our aspiration.” The other big question of the finale is, does Don’s lotus position and serene smile suggest that he’s about to turn his life around? Not according to Weiner. In the show creator’s words, quote, “He’ll probably find a fourth or fifth wife and then die in like 1981 from hard living” “I don’t think that Zen moment of understanding of anything really stuck. That leopard is not changing its spots." If these predictions are true, it wouldn’t be the first time Don has gotten himself on a healthier path and then slipped downhill again. As Don himself once said: “But what is happiness? It's a moment before you need more happiness” Still, when Vanity Fair asked Weiner if Don would find happiness, he said, quote, “I think that anybody who becomes more comfortable with who they are finds happiness” This is exactly what Don does in the final episode- he comes to terms with himself. “I broke all my vows. I scandalized my child." After he finds out Betty is dying, he declares their kids will move in with him “They're going to come live with me." But just as quickly, he’s forced to face that he’s always been an absentee father, and it’s too late to change that. “I want to keep things as normal as possible. And you not being here is part of that." So, part of Don’s journey is recognizing that his many past mistakes can’t be corrected, and he needs to accept who he is. Star Jon Hamm interpreted the ending this way, quote, “My take is that, the next day, he wakes up in this beautiful place, and has this serene moment of understanding, and realizes who he is. And who he is, is an advertising man. And so, this thing comes to him." The “Hilltop” ad ends with the words [Singing] “What the world wants today is the real thing”. This gets at Coke’s reputation as something classic and timeless “Yours is just some tepid, off-brand, generic cola. What I'm making is classic Coke." But it’s also interesting to think of this idea of authenticity in relation to Don himself. Of course, Don is not the real Don Draper, but he’s accepting the real version of himself- embracing his identity as an ad man. For most of Mad Men Don’s survivalist philosophy is to always be moving forward. “I have a life, and it only goes in one direction: forward." “Get out of here and move forward." “You can put this behind you. It'll get easier as you move forward.” “Oh Dick, I don’t think you’re right about that." This is familiar advice even today- we’re constantly told to get over it, to move on and never look back, as if forward motion is all that matters. But Mad Men reveals the flaws in that worldview "You have to let yourself feel it." Don’s determination to just keep going means that he never heals from his traumatic past. “How long are you going to go on like this?” In the final episodes of the show we see his “keep moving forward” philosophy for what it really is- running away. But there comes a point where he can’t run anymore. “coming to the end of the country, the end of the world, a cliff, literally a cliff. There’s nowhere else to run, coming to some place of peace and realizing that- as far as you want to run, this is still who you are. Wherever you go there you are." So the last shot of Don is symbolic because he’s sitting still. No longer trying to outrun the past, and this means, in some small, modest way- he’s finally at peace, at least enough to live with himself. The ultimate meaning of the finale can be found in the episode title, “Person to Person” “I have a person to person call for Betty Francis from Donald Draper." “I have a person to person call for Peggy Olson from Donald Draper." This title comes from the phone calls Don makes to the three most important women in his life, echoing something Ted says earlier in the season “There are three women in every man's life." Don has deprived himself of human connection throughout the series by closing himself off and refusing to let people know him “Somebody very important to me died.” “Who?” “The only person in the world who really knew me." But in this last episode, he reaches out to others for comfort, "I just wanted to hear your voice." and this on its own is a huge step forward Don fails at most of the relationships in his life- his two marriages have ended in divorce, "I don't know who you are." "Stop pushing me away with both hands." He's a stranger to his children. "Then I realized I didn't know anything about you." and he’s abandoned his coworkers. "Where the HELL are you?!" Yet, with the Hilltop ad, he’ll reach countless viewers he doesn’t know. And this is the continuation of a theme we’ve seen throughout the series- a person can be incredibly insightful about the human experience in their work, but falter when it comes to real relationships. “Don likes strangers. Don likes winning strangers over. He likes seducing strangers, and that is what advertising is." Strangers also have a huge influence on Don- just think of Dennis Hobart at the hospital when Betty gives birth, "I'm gonna be a better man." PFC Dinkins in Hawaii, "One day, I'll be the man who can't sleep and talks to strangers." or Neve Campbell’s character on the plane back from California. "I bet I could make you feel better." Meanwhile Don’s nearest and dearest can’t get through to him “That poor girl. She doesn’t know that loving you is the worst way to get to you." So it’s fitting that the Esalen-like retreat Don goes to is all about connecting with strangers “Look at the person nearest you. What does that person make you feel? Now find a way, without words, to communicate that feeling to the other person." Leonard, the guy who speaks up in the group meeting, is the last stranger on the show to truly change Don, “It’s probably the most important role in the series." elevating Coke to something extremely special and important in the “Hilltop” ad may even be a nod to Leonard’s dream about being on the shelf of a refrigerator “Someone closes the door and the light goes off, and I know everybody's out there eating. And then they open the door and you see them smiling. On the surface Leonard couldn’t be more different from Don- he’s an invisible everyman “I've never been interesting to anybody." while Don appears to be the extremely handsome, charismatic creative genius who intimidates everyone around him. “Of course, someone like you, you don't need to see yourself in a Cadillac. You're walking about in one every day." But what these two men have in common is that neither of them feels seen. “People walk right by me. I know they don't see me. And I go home and I watch my wife and my kids. They don't look up when I sit down." Weiner has actually said that Leonard is the character he identifies with most on the show. Maybe this is because Leonard vocalizes the fundamental need for love inside us all “They should love me." And the way that we unknowingly create boundaries to guard against that love "You spend your whole life thinking you're not getting it, people aren't giving it to you. Then you realize they're trying and you don't even know what it is." Ultimately the finale's title reminds us that- whether it's being open to strangers, reaching out to loved ones, or creating something that will touch the masses- that person to person connection is what saves us. When Mad Men was on the air many viewers theorized that Don was going to die in the final season. “Is he dead?” “Don? No. I don't think so... I think we would have heard about it." Both because of the opening credits that show him falling, and the darkness in his character that made viewers think he’d eventually kill himself “Well, I hope he's in a better place.” “He's not dead. Stop saying that." But in the end the show concludes not with Don’s death, but with a symbolic rebirth "The lives we've led, the lives we've yet to lead." And this is what Don Draper himself is all about- a fresh start, another chance. No matter how many times you’ve messed up. "Tell them, the next thing will be better, because it always is." Don’s journey has always mirrored the larger trajectory of the 60s. So his marriage to Betty ends alongside JFK’s assassination, marking the end of the idyllic “Camelot” period, and his downward spiral into self-destruction happens in 1968 when the country is in a state of chaos. The same is true of Mad Men’s ending. Weiner has said, quote, “This whole decade, for anybody of any age, is going to be the realization of the opportunity for change, social change, the rejection of that change, Richard Nixon– and then a turning inward." Some might criticize the utopian Coke ad for leaving out the real darkness and disillusionment of the 60s- but the commercial isn’t showing how things are, it’s saying this is how we’d like them to be [Singing] “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.” At the end of this tumultuous decade, there was still the 60s’ dream of a better world. Just as Don has the potential to heal, even though for the most part he’s still the same guy. The second half of season seven opens with the Peggy Lee song “Is That All There Is?” [Singing] "Is that all there is?" This is the existential question that Don is asking himself as the series wraps up “What else is there?” “That's what I'm asking. And in the end, the question receives a bittersweet answer. Maybe the painful reality in front of us is all there is today, but there’s always the hope of a brighter tomorrow. And that’s something to smile about. “If I leave this place one day, it will not be for more advertising.” “What else is there?” “I don't know. Life being lived. I'd like to stop talking about it and get back to it." Hi guys, this is Alani and today, I want to talk to you about one of our favorite places to watch movies, Mubi. Mubi is a treasure trove of films from around the globe. Everyday a new film is added, and the oldest is taken away. So, in this world where it's very easy to spend hours debating what you should watch, Mubi is like having a really cool friend with amazing taste in movies making it so much easier for you. They feature hard to come by masterpieces, indie festival darlings, influential arthouse and foreign films, lesser known films by your favorite famous directors, and more. Plus, you can even download the films to watch offline, and there are no ads, ever. Right now, Mubi is kicking off it's Sundance take over series in honor of the Sundance Film Festival happening this month the selection features Sundance favorites like Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi, The cult Rom-Com But I'm a Cheerleader, and Jennifer Lawrence's breakout movie Winter's Bone. Point is, we can't recommend Mubi highly enough. You can try it out for free for a whole month. Just click the link in the description below.

Channel: The Take

Views: 977,518

Rating: 4.9133406 out of 5

Keywords: mad men, mad men ending, matthew weiner, jon hamm, mad men ending explained, mad men final scene, mad men finale, mad men finale explained, don draper, coca cola hilltop, i'd like to buy the world a coke, Elisabeth Moss, Peggy Olson, January Jones, Betty Draper, Kiernan Shipka, Sally Draper

Id: mDHxXY6FL_8

Length: 21min 58sec (1318 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Zappelbaum2509]

The take also does such great video analysis's of different characters in the show. Would highly recommend

[u/DiabolicalDreamsicle]

This is the first of these types of videos I've seen and I'm just even more impressed with the show. Probably watched the series 5-6 times through and it highlighted so many things I never noticed. Incredible

[u/My_Work_Account_91]

I like what this channel has done so far, but I feel like Mad Men kinda missed the birth of the high quality deep dive video essays we see nowadays with NerdWriter1 and Wisecrack. If I had more knowledge and time I'd love to do some of my own, but it'd be so great if some of these other reputable infotainment folks would take a look back on this show.

[u/tarttfartt]

If you're into Mad Men analysis, I highly recommend Tom and Lorenzo's Mad Style series - really detailed, episode-by-episode (after the first couple seasons) guide to what the costumes reveal about the characters and story and time period.

[u/saladbar_13]

The video about Joan was AMAZING

[u/TYGGAFWIAYTTGAF]

My favorites are their Pete, Betty, and Don analyses.

[u/LiquidAlb]

To echo what several others have said, that Youtube channel has great analysis on many of the characters of the show.

I also enjoy their analysis of other TV shows I love like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and more.

[u/[deleted]]

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