At the opening of A Night to Remember, Betty rides a horse.
In the previous episode she had been confronted by Jimmy Barrett and Don’s affair with Bobbie. We can imagine that as she is walking through the steps of her life, the facade is harder and harder to maintain. We find out in the next scene that she is in the process of organizing a dinner party for Don; a party for Don’s business and social positioning. The perfect wife.
She rides the horse hard. She is trying to literally ride it out, shake it off; all the horrid feelings.
She dismounts and, exhausted, she rests her head huggingly against the horse. She is giving it love for helping her, and for being willing to connect with her the way no one else is willing. She turns to the horse the way she turned to Glen in Season One.
12 Responses to “Looking for love in all the wrong places”
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I love your posts, Roberta — you always bring an extra dimension to the show with them.
It's funny, but when I read that post I immediately thought of a quote from Clint Eastwood in the new Esquire:
"The innocence of childhood is like the innocence of a lot of animals."
One wonders if Betty's gradual transformation in S2 was also about finally letting go of her childhood, but also about realizing her connections to Glen and her horses weren't helping her work through her pain and traumas in a positive, constructive way: they were just assuaging her feelings with easy, gentle reminders of The Way She Was.
This is also a touch off-topic, but I had an interesting conversation with a work colleague (also a huge MM fan) and he brought up a point I don't know that's been considered before when it comes to the cultural roots of MM: Bewitched.
Obviously there's no social comparison between the two, but think about it. Advertising agency, a profit-oriented boss, a tense relationship between Samantha and Darrin… I'd love to ask Weiner about that.
Greg, thank you.
I don't know if I agree that Betty's connections to the horses and to Glen didn't help her work through her pain. Children learn through practice, through playing. In a way Betty was connecting where it was safe, and ultimately coming to terms with the appropriate boundaries (sending Glen back to his mother).
I don't think Weiner drew much from Bewitched. I only say this because he didn't watch much TV as a kid; not really until college. Matt and I are the same age, and Bewitched was a big part of my viewing as a child. I don't imagine he really got into Bewitched later in life.
NYC64, I knew someone would bring that up. I left it out because it did not in any way feel like Betty was looking for love in that case. If she had been, it would have left her sad and depleted, because it would have been a failure. It left her steadied and invigorated and hungry for more; chicken, as we saw, but also for life. I think it was her final step in snapping out of it. Some may argue, but I think that the tryst was very healthy for Betty.
The more obvious influence is Hitchcock's film "Marnie" (for which the title of this thread is particularly apt) where Tippi Hedren's character has a relationship with a horse unlike any she has with men. Horses can be controlled — people can't.
"She turns to the horse the way she turned to Glen in Season One."
And then to the man in the bar at the end of season two.
She turns to the horse the way she turned to Glen in Season One.
I love this.
IIRC, MW has mentioned Bewitched, but only in passing, to note the contrasts. For example, the fact that the pitches take longer to develop and (usually) do not appear suddenly. And viz "Red in the Face," noting that the "boss comes to dinner" scenario was a staple of sitcoms like Bewitched, but nothing like when Roger comes home for dinner.
It's also useful on this point to recall MW comment about media that are obvious influences, like The Apartment or The Twilight Zone. MW likes to say that he is not doing a show like these shows or movies, but a show about the people who consumed them. They are influential to the degree that they influenced people in the culture at the time — and occasionally stylistically — but are rarely a direct influence.
Even more OT: I was watching The Apartment with the commentary from a film historian, and a lot of what gets said about Billy Wilder and his writing method could be said about MW. E.g., Wilder's scripts apparently were extremely detailed.
It’s also what she does when Carla advises her to get out of the house and “everything will be right where you left it.”
I didn't mean to imply that Betty's tryst was unnatural or limiting, quite the contrary I think she is expanding the ways she interacts with other adults.
The women on this show certainly have the more interesting character trajectories, presumably because they have more untapped potential.
The thing I noticed about Betty's tryst in the bar was that a) for once she really looked like she was in charge and enjoying the encounter. She was much more forward with the stranger than she ever was with Don. And b) she I don't think she was looking for love there. It looked more like an opportunity with a handsome stranger. She wouldn't even tell him her name. The horse was a trusted friend, an ally, if you will. Much the same way that Glenn was an ally, but both the horse and Glenn could not fill her need for connection. They are both innocents here. The guy in the bar was a different encounter and while it most likely was satisfying physically, it wasn't fulfillment or real connection.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out tvsquad.com for an ad company's take on the opening sequence of mad men.
Here's the TV Squad post. It's holiday themed.