Comments on: Flashbacks http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/ Intelligent media, including Mad Men, Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels & more. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:23:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dark Peggy http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42498 Dark Peggy Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:43:11 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42498 @8 Anne B, I wanted to send this last week but the site kept timing out on my work computer and I am still waiting for Santa to bring me a new laptop (think I shouldn't hold my breath on that one :-) ). Anyway, I don't think you are or were a bad daughter at all. To me it sounds like you are a loving daughter who not only wanted to know more about your father and his life, you wanted to know someting about your grandmother; that is not a bad thing. I'm sorry it made your Dad so sad to talk about it, but I know that sometimes, at least for me, when something has really bothered me and hurt me (though I'm fortunate enough to not have experienced such a tragedy especially so young) it sometimes really helps to get it out even if it is tortured at first. I had some stuff happen in my life at one period that made me feel awful and sub-human and one of the first times I talked to someone about it, I was almost HYSTERICAL, but I felt a little better later and now I can talk about it and it isn't so bad. I dont' know if that was the case with your father or not, but I don't think you should feel guilty about asking. I'm sure he wasn't upset with you he just still misses his Mom so at least you know that your grandmother was very loved and probably a good person. @8 Anne B, I wanted to send this last week but the site kept timing out on my work computer and I am still waiting for Santa to bring me a new laptop (think I shouldn't hold my breath on that one :-) ). Anyway, I don't think you are or were a bad daughter at all. To me it sounds like you are a loving daughter who not only wanted to know more about your father and his life, you wanted to know someting about your grandmother; that is not a bad thing. I'm sorry it made your Dad so sad to talk about it, but I know that sometimes, at least for me, when something has really bothered me and hurt me (though I'm fortunate enough to not have experienced such a tragedy especially so young) it sometimes really helps to get it out even if it is tortured at first. I had some stuff happen in my life at one period that made me feel awful and sub-human and one of the first times I talked to someone about it, I was almost HYSTERICAL, but I felt a little better later and now I can talk about it and it isn't so bad. I dont' know if that was the case with your father or not, but I don't think you should feel guilty about asking. I'm sure he wasn't upset with you he just still misses his Mom so at least you know that your grandmother was very loved and probably a good person.

]]> By: less of me http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42497 less of me Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:44:43 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42497 I just dropped by to borrow a cup of sugar. We’re mixing up Sidecars next door. I like the post and I want to comment while I’m in the room. I personally don’t have a problem with flashbacks when they’re used to reveal more detail about past events and to flesh out a character’s back-story. I agree with those who don’t like them when they’re used to convey a different mood subtext; something that may not have been well presented or hinted at in the main story, (it feels to me like the director is trying to recover from “ineptitude with insufficient cover” in those cases) or when they’re used to express emotions that a more skilled actor might have given us in the main narrative. But I certainly don’t feel either of those two conditions apply to Don’s flashbacks, so I am content. Oh yeah, before I depart, I want to compliment you on the spiffy new header. That’s a great photo; it projects an honest sense of community and the spirit that will be needed to get Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce off the ground. It’s feels both hopeful and practical; and <i>fun</i> too. Hope Rich forgives you for the decapitation, though. <i>Hey, everyone can’t get a pony, buddy; be reasonable about it.</i> I noticed the new image earlier in the week but literally just now read the caption. May I just say <i>the copy sings</i>? (!!!!) I really like it and it has the bonus charm of being the truth. Smiley emoticons all around! I just dropped by to borrow a cup of sugar. We’re mixing up Sidecars next door.

I like the post and I want to comment while I’m in the room. I personally don’t have a problem with flashbacks when they’re used to reveal more detail about past events and to flesh out a character’s back-story.

I agree with those who don’t like them when they’re used to convey a different mood subtext; something that may not have been well presented or hinted at in the main story, (it feels to me like the director is trying to recover from “ineptitude with insufficient cover” in those cases) or when they’re used to express emotions that a more skilled actor might have given us in the main narrative.

But I certainly don’t feel either of those two conditions apply to Don’s flashbacks, so I am content.

Oh yeah, before I depart, I want to compliment you on the spiffy new header. That’s a great photo; it projects an honest sense of community and the spirit that will be needed to get Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce off the ground. It’s feels both hopeful and practical; and fun too. Hope Rich forgives you for the decapitation, though. Hey, everyone can’t get a pony, buddy; be reasonable about it.

I noticed the new image earlier in the week but literally just now read the caption. May I just say the copy sings? (!!!!)
I really like it and it has the bonus charm of being the truth.

Smiley emoticons all around!

]]> By: Meowser http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42496 Meowser Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:10:00 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42496 OK, I think I have it straight now. Hobo Code is the episode where he gets stoned and remembers the scenes with the hobo from when he was 10. That's where I was getting mixed up; I knew there was a stoned flashback in there somewhere, I just crossed up where it was. (I swear I'm not actually stoned myself.) OK, I think I have it straight now. Hobo Code is the episode where he gets stoned and remembers the scenes with the hobo from when he was 10. That's where I was getting mixed up; I knew there was a stoned flashback in there somewhere, I just crossed up where it was. (I swear I'm not actually stoned myself.)

]]> By: Meowser http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42495 Meowser Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:03:08 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42495 Meh, forget what I just said. I'm getting my episodes scrambled, forgive me. Meh, forget what I just said. I'm getting my episodes scrambled, forgive me.

]]> By: Meowser http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42494 Meowser Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:00:55 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42494 Hey, I'm surprised nobody caught my goober, which I just realized rewatching S1. It was actually Hobo Code where he was stoned and remembering being on the train going home from Korea, not NvK where we saw the actual Korea scene where he switched the tags. I'm not up to NvK yet, so I don't know what the transition was to that particular flashback. Hey, I'm surprised nobody caught my goober, which I just realized rewatching S1. It was actually Hobo Code where he was stoned and remembering being on the train going home from Korea, not NvK where we saw the actual Korea scene where he switched the tags. I'm not up to NvK yet, so I don't know what the transition was to that particular flashback.

]]> By: el presidente http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42493 el presidente Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:13:20 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42493 Well, I had a dream recently in which I was president of the new ad company Don formed. Though I slowly realized I had no power since all I did was sign documents for approval; eventually Don started giving me his mail and things to photocopy. I think they figured out I was going to mess up everything else but could not fire me. I think the fact that I was not given an office should have tipped me off. It didn't so I don't blame them at all. Well, I had a dream recently in which I was president of the new ad company Don formed. Though I slowly realized I had no power since all I did was sign documents for approval; eventually Don started giving me his mail and things to photocopy. I think they figured out I was going to mess up everything else but could not fire me.

I think the fact that I was not given an office should have tipped me off. It didn't so I don't blame them at all.

]]> By: Deborah Lipp http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42492 Deborah Lipp Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:38:28 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42492 The movie is "Poor Cow." The movie is "Poor Cow."

]]> By: Josie http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42491 Josie Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:33:41 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42491 Deborah, I loved your thought provoking post. I'm so glad you liked "The Limey". One of my favs. I especially liked the fact that the Terence Stamp character's flashbacks featured real movies of the young and very handsome Terence Stamp in a hoodlum acting role (don't remember the movie). The flashback movie was from the early 1960s I believe. I like the flashbacks on MM. Don's backstory is one of the pillars this series is based on. It has to be told. Deborah,
I loved your thought provoking post.

I'm so glad you liked "The Limey". One of my favs. I especially liked the fact that the Terence Stamp character's flashbacks featured real movies of the young and very handsome Terence Stamp in a hoodlum acting role (don't remember the movie). The flashback movie was from the early 1960s I believe.

I like the flashbacks on MM. Don's backstory is one of the pillars this series is based on. It has to be told.

]]> By: Meowser http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42490 Meowser Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:38:47 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42490 Some of Don's "flashbacks" aren't so much flashbacks, but scenes he's pieced together of his past, either through memory or what someone has told him. Certainly the scene at the very beginning of S3, about Dick Whitman's birth, is not something Don actually <em>remembers</em>. Either it's the way he pictures things went down, based on the information he was given, or the writers are filling us in on what actually happened as Don is thinking about it, knowing things that even Don doesn't know. (Did he actually know his father didn't have an extra 15 cents, or whatever it was, for a condom? Who would have told him such a thing?) Similarly, in long flashbacks like the Korean War sequences, does he actually remember every single line of dialogue, word for word, that everyone has said? It's doubtful. Of course, when he was remembering the Korean War scenes, he was stoned, so it would have been easier for him to "re-invent" what was actually said to him during a long reverie. But it doesn't feel like a stoner's daydream; more likely, Don was having the flashbacks in fragments out of sequence, like most people do, and what we saw was what occurred in real time. Some of Don's "flashbacks" aren't so much flashbacks, but scenes he's pieced together of his past, either through memory or what someone has told him. Certainly the scene at the very beginning of S3, about Dick Whitman's birth, is not something Don actually remembers. Either it's the way he pictures things went down, based on the information he was given, or the writers are filling us in on what actually happened as Don is thinking about it, knowing things that even Don doesn't know. (Did he actually know his father didn't have an extra 15 cents, or whatever it was, for a condom? Who would have told him such a thing?)

Similarly, in long flashbacks like the Korean War sequences, does he actually remember every single line of dialogue, word for word, that everyone has said? It's doubtful. Of course, when he was remembering the Korean War scenes, he was stoned, so it would have been easier for him to "re-invent" what was actually said to him during a long reverie. But it doesn't feel like a stoner's daydream; more likely, Don was having the flashbacks in fragments out of sequence, like most people do, and what we saw was what occurred in real time.

]]> By: brenda http://www.lippsisters.com/2009/12/10/flashbacks/comment-page-1/#comment-42489 brenda Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:34:05 +0000 http://www.lippsisters.com/?p=9476#comment-42489 I come down in the middle on the flashbacks. Sometimes they seem flat out corny and too broadly acted -- I'd put many of the Archie related ones in this category. Others are handled with a more subtle touch, like those featuring Anna. Now that we've had three seasons full of flashbacks, they're an established device. But use them too much, and they become like Wayne's World, and easy for SNL and others to mock. As for myself, I don't have full blown flashbacks, but I have many sensory memories. When I hear "Silver Bells" I remember walking amid Christmas shoppers at a very young age, holding my mom's hand and hearing the song on a department store loud speaker. And the aroma of the Paris Metro brings back my first trip there when I was 16. I come down in the middle on the flashbacks. Sometimes they seem flat out corny and too broadly acted — I'd put many of the Archie related ones in this category. Others are handled with a more subtle touch, like those featuring Anna. Now that we've had three seasons full of flashbacks, they're an established device. But use them too much, and they become like Wayne's World, and easy for SNL and others to mock.

As for myself, I don't have full blown flashbacks, but I have many sensory memories. When I hear "Silver Bells" I remember walking amid Christmas shoppers at a very young age, holding my mom's hand and hearing the song on a department store loud speaker. And the aroma of the Paris Metro brings back my first trip there when I was 16.

]]>