MAD MEN RECAP: SEE "THE BOB DYLAN"

Film.com, WA
Oct 14, 2008

Bob Dylan and Johnny Mathis help tie the themes of identity and
self together

As we head into the final two episodes, Mad Men continues to lay the
groundwork for some serious fireworks. This episode, "The Jet Set," was
tied together by a theme of identifying one’s self, featuring myriad
examples, including Duck going off the wagon, and as a result, upping
his game. The theme culminates in that final scene of Don dropping a
"Dick Whitman" on us when we least expect it, calling this season’s
mystery person (to whom he sent the book from the first episode?). Come
to think of it, even with a flashback in an earlier episode, the
"Dick Whitman" name hasn’t been spoken aloud this season until now.

It hardly seems an accident, then, that we get our first mention of
Bob Dylan as well, given the similarities in reworked identity between
Dick Whitman and Bob Zimmerman. Right before identifying himself as
homosexual to his coworkers ("I don’t think that word means what you
think it means"), Curt spoke of his plans to see "The Bob Dylan"
with Peggy, after having already been witness to a performance at
Carnegie Hall. That performance would’ve been the Pete Seeger-led
Hootenanny at the Hall on September 22, 1962, Dylan’s first appearance
there. What gets mentioned most often about that concert was Dylan’s
playing of the song "A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall," the first widely
attended and recorded instance (it was actually performed before at
The Gaslight). The reason I bring up the song is the lyrics concern
nuclear war, which is a growing, festering underlying historical
plot, with the slideshow that Don witnesses at the rocket convention,
and ready to boil over with the coming Cuban Missile Crisis right
around the corner. So while we may not hear the song in the episode
(it wouldn’t be available for public consumption until 1963), it
still feels part of the underlying historical events.

Don’s storyline in California took quite a turn, with Don seeming to go
"down the rabbit hole" by following Joy off to Palm Springs. It was
like a bizarro version of last season’s parallel eleventh episode
("Hobo Code") with these nomads instead being wealthy, and mostly
without code, with Don stepping into a Fellini movie. Anytime we see
Joy, we also hear Martin Denny’s tiki version of the Armenian folk song
"Misirlou," a song that refers to a forbidden relationship (in the
song, one that’s cross-faith and cross-race). Most people nowadays
associate the song with Dick Dale, and his surf guitar version that
was used in Pulp Fiction.

Besides the minor Alice In Wonderland reference, William Faulkner’s
The Sound and the Fury makes an appearance, and Don uses the last
page from Joy’s copy to write an address. Faulkner had rewritten the
ending for that edition of the book, and coupled with the fact that
1962 was the year he died, it feels symbolic that the page was ripped
out. Faulkner’s infamous time in Hollywood seems like a relevant
reference to Don’s fish-out-of-water experience as well.

Finally, the closing credits featured "What’ll I Do?" from singing
legend Johnny Mathis, which is an interesting choice in that Mathis
was like Sal during this time, in that he had to hide his real self as
a closeted homosexual. He finally outed himself in an interview with
US Magazine in 1982, saying, "Homosexuality is a way of life that
I’ve grown accustomed to." If Mathis’ situation is any indication,
it might be some time before Sal can come out of the closet. But even
1982 wasn’t an easy time to come out for a celebrity like Mathis,
as death threats had him swearing off interviews and publicity for
his concerts, and staying mum on the subject for more than 20 years
following that interview. As Mad Men often shows, we’ve come a long
way, and yet still have a ways to go as a society.

Previously: Surviving Your Parents (Episode 2.10) drake lelane curator
of the music/soundtrack blog thus spake drake