Don at the Train: The Answer that isn't an Answer
So, last week I was speculating about Don at the train station in Marriage of Figaro. Was he suicidal? Was he thinking about running away again”was the train “escape” to him?
So on Saturday, there’s Matt Weiner, and of all the zillion questions I want to ask, well, that seems like the best one. After Roberta finished her question, I took the mike and that’s what I asked.
She has the digital recorder, so I’m paraphrasing, but here’s what he said:
Trains are profoundly important for Don. He got on a train as Dick Whitman, got off as Don Draper, leaving “his” corpse behind. In a very real way, the train is where Don Draper came from. So when he was lost, confused, bereft, and didn’t know where to go, he went to where he came from, where he began. The train.
Then Weiner talked about the CGI image of the train reflected on Don, and how beautiful it was, and how important, and how pleased he was to see it.
But the thing I came away with was that (a) I was right about the importance of trains as a symbol, and that felt validating, and (b) that Weiner’s response was more psychological, more nuanced, and less of an answer.
I love that. I was looking for “an answer.” As in “it meant this.” It meant suicidal. It meant running away. But no, it didn’t mean anything so specific, so packagable. Don sat there not knowing why he sat there. He sat there hoping an answer for why he was sitting there would emerge.
I hate movies and TV shows that are too answery. It was all a dream. She was really his sister. Ray Charles had a drug problem because of his brother’s death. Howard Hughes had OCD because his mother made him spell c-h-o-l-e-r-a. Movies and TV are full of “because,” but real life just isn’t.
Sometimes I’m on a date and someone will ask me why my marriage ended. And I want to ask, ‘Did your marriage end because of a “why”? Does any marriage end that simply?’
There’s an answer to Don’s past”he was Dick Whitman, “whoreson,” and he switched dog tags with his dead CO. But there also isn’t an answer. He’s a lost and fearful person who doesn’t understand why his happy life doesn’t feel happy, why he’s given his wife everything but her hands go numb, why he sits at the train and can’t make himself go home. And answers don’t come in neat little packages just before the last commercial break. Not on our show.
Basket of Kisses: The unofficial blog of AMC's Mad Men. Where all the cool kids meet & greet to talk about Don Draper, Janie Bryant, Christina Hendricks, Jon Hamm, Matthew Weiner, & subtexty things.
Loading...
February 13th, 2008 at 3:15 am
I loved that answer as well.
He said (and yes, I'm the one with the recorder, so yes, I've been listening. a lot.) that the train image was videoed and then digitally placed across the windshield. Amazing.
And for the record, I never quite even asked my question. I got halfway there and he just started talking. Which was fine; probably better.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:43 am
Hopefully we are years and years from the wrap-up of this series. Is Weiner fundamentally optimistic or pessimistic? I dunno. He is warm and brilliant and intense and loves his four sons, the youngest of whom is four and also a fan of trains… in the form of Thomas. So I hope he's not a total pessimist.
As a storyteller, I find it hard to believe that he'll give us a happy ending. Though I do think all the characters, but definitely Don and Betty, whether together or separately, will find moments of peace, and that we'll see them grow. Don is not quite introspective but he approaches it. (to Roger… "Maybe I'm not as comfortable being powerless as you are.")
February 13th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Don does have an ability to observe American society and cut through its bullshit, or use it to his advantage as an adman.
Ken: Weight loss is a difficult thing to prove.
Don: No, it's not. It's before and after pictures, since the dawn of time.
Don: People want so badly to be told what to do, they'll listen to anyone.
Roy: I have a feeling you're talking about thou.
Don: And I have a feeling you spent more time on your hair this morning than she did. (Roy does not dispute him.)
February 13th, 2008 at 8:18 am
So, then ….
By time this series is wrapped, does Don Draper openly acknowledge that he is Dick Whitman?
Does he tell Betty about his childhood? Does he come to terms with his inveterate flight instinct?
If we look at Don as a metaphor for 20th Century America — endless reinvention, “whatever you’re doing, it’s okay”, living like there’s no tomorrow, etc. — then it would hinge on whether the creator of the show is fundamentally optimistic or pessimistic.
If optimistic, he may have Don reach a place of balance, truthfulness (not truthiness, ha!) and seeking a more well-adjusted outlook. If not for himself, then for his kids.
If pessimistic, he would let the lies fester until the truth is buried so deep it could never be uncovered (certainly not by a jr acct exec making one call to the Pentagon). And then what? The image Don portrays to the world would continue to be that of successful self-reliance, carefree confidence and power.
So rich a first season tells us that there is ZERO probability that Weiner & Co. would craft so simplistic a dichotomy … that’s why we’re here, and they’re there.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Max, good point about Don's insight.
However Rachel didn’t reject Don because he revealed himself – if anything, it probably only made her want to take him in all the more.
Dan, from Rachel's point of view you're right, and if asked, Rachel would say she appreciated and cherished Don's revealing of himself. But to Don, he finally reveals himself to one special person, and she pushes him away. He's just going to connect the dots that way.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Don doesn’t have the habit of truth, but he does have the habit of being truthful to himself about his life at some level. Running away is, in part, an acknowledgement of unhappiness, a look inside, an assessment, that says “I can’t do this.” That truthfulness is something that Roger (as Roberta says) doesn’t have.
But he doesn’t have the habit of revelation, and I don’t think it’ll come to him easily. He has revealed himself to Rachel and gotten slapped. How can he risk it with Betty?
But Betty has something that Don doesn’t have—therapy. By the start of Season 2, almost two years of therapy under her belt; enough to start asking the questions that Don isn’t forthcoming about. That will be a very interesting dynamic.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Agreed, Deborah. Especially about Betty’s probable progress through therapy (assuming she’s stayed with it – I bet it’s addressed in the first 5 minutes of Ep 2.1).
However Rachel didn’t reject Don because he revealed himself – if anything, it probably only made her want to take him in all the more. She slapped him because he acted so impulsively and irresponsibly (“Oh my God. You haven’t thought this through”).
Interesting your and Roberta’s comparison of Don and Roger – never thought of that.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Deborah, you are so right about much of life not having a “why” to wrap it all up. So many times people, not just Mad Men characters, do things without any conscious recognition of their motives. That’s the kind of realism you don’t see on TV–with the exception of this show.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
[...] thoughts on these opening credits? We’ve never talked about it. We’ve discussed the possibility of Don being suicidal, and here’s this falling [...]