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Mad Men, Season 4: Saarinen's Curves
Filed under: The Squib Report Tagged: Jacques Tati, Mad Men, Martin Schneider
Martin Schneider writes:
Watching Mad Men the last two weeks ("Public Relations" and "Christmas Comes But Once a Year"), it's been a shock to see how thoroughly its creators have used the plot point of a new office environment as an opportunity to pivot from what I've been calling the 1950s/"Sinatra" side of the 1960s to something closer to, say, Swinging London, not to mention Woodstock. I had once assumed that the show would find this transition difficult—at this point, I think this show can do anything.
The sight of the airy, sleek, symmetrical, somewhat plastic new SCDP office, with its Eero Saarinen furniture and Op Art wall decor, puts me in the mind of a possible key influence none of the smarties I read at Slate or Vanity Fair have mentioned—yet. I refer to Jacques Tati.
At the Awl's "Footnotes of 'Mad Men,'" Natasha Vargas-Cooper, excited about the new relevance of infidelity lyrics from "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," doesn't seem to notice the fairly obvious Tati reference implied by a resonant screenshot of the show (I assume) she has posted. That is, this picture:
Myself, I can't decide whether the Mad Men staff spent last summer screening Playtime or are barely conscious of the echo. I suspect it's closer to the former option.
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Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
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Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
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Comments
Martin - brilliant!
btw, for those in NYC, ‘Mon Oncle’ is coming to Film Forum in September….
Thanks, Jonathan! The sight of that still image (is it really from MM? Is their office that large? I’m skeptical.) sparked a connection in my mind. With any luck, my insight will be cliche in two weeks.
Clarification! That image is not from the show, it’s just an arbitrary Tati-esque image.
Yeah. The set has a much more cluttered look. I’m actually not that impressed with the transition. Too much Ikea/Target’s take on the mid-sixties.
But … I still think your Tati reference is right on, because they seem awkward in the space. At least, the older guys do.