Mad Men Opening Titles Re-Design from Paul Rogers on Vimeo.
Kathryn brought this video to my attention. Here’s some info about it:
Going an entire summer without Mad Men is frustrating. Thanks to illustrator Paul Rogers, you can get your fix of the stylish era right now. Rogers created a version of the opening credits taking a cue from “classic film and television titles from the early 1960s.” The clip might not be enough to hold you over until January (when the new season of Mad Men begins), but it will make you crave an ice cold martini.
I like it; I think it’s cool. It makes me eager to see the next season.
But I prefer the real credits, with the silhouette guy falling down the side of the building. It suggests the strange darkness of Don Draper’s journey, his alienation, his insecurity. It’s way existential.
These alternative credits just reflect the fun.
Related Posts
Yeah… the original has the sex — which is key, and which is missing from the alternative version.
But the sex is unfulfilling, empty, a series of distractions in the long fall. Here’s all the sex you want, Don, but does it save you? No.
That reminds me of something that happened to me the other day, something kind of fun and goofy…
I was at a local restaurant at lunch one day, ordering the special, wearing seersucker and a bow tie, and the waitress admired the bow tie. And admired it… and admired it some more.
Bow ties are not usually regarded as sexy, per se — in case you haven’t noticed. But this woman really dug my bow tie. It was the one with lily pads and carp, or koi, or some kind of fish like that, on it. (It may be the last tie I bought at Lourie’s, or close to it.) First, she noticed the lily pads, and then when she noticed the fish, she started going on about how we she was a kid her neighbors had koi, and used to let her feed them…
Anyway, through the whole conversation and ordering-lunch process, she keeps reaching out to touch me. She touches me on the shoulder; she strokes my arm. Not once, not twice, but about four times.
It was noticeable. My associate who was with me remarked upon it.
And I was reminded of that scene when Don Draper is on a plane, and the stewardess keeps hitting on him, and the guy traveling with Don says something like, “I’ve never seen a woman come on to a guy like that.” And Don says, “Really?” With what seemed like genuine surprise. Because this sort of thing happens to him all the time.
Oh, wait, I forgot — this sort of thing happens to me all the time, too. Don’t know why I bothered to remark upon this one incident, because, you know, it was so normal…
That long, long fall, into endless oblivion, as architecture morphs into womens’ legs …. brilliant and unsettling.
“Koi or more specifically nishikigoi are ornamental varieties of domesticated common carp (Cyprinus carpio) that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor…”
from Wikipedia. Koi are carp.
Nah, they’re big goldfish.