Monday, June 3, 2013

Mad Men Quickie: No, Megan isn't Sharon Tate

Update: This post was intended to be more tongue in cheek than serious. I suspect that Mia Farrow inspired the creation of Megan but I don't think it changes our way of understanding the show if it is true. This post is a protest against the over-analytic approach to characters on the show that we've seen this and every other season. Repeat after me: Don Draper isn't Jay Gatsby, Bob Benson isn't Nick Carraway, Megan isn't Sharon Tate, the Chevy account isn't a symbolic stand in for Vietnam, the real truth is neither Freudian nor Jungian. Just watch the show people! (Or, given how crappy it has been this season, don't watch the show.)

There is a lot of talk floating around about a tie-in between Megan's character and Sharon Tate. As Tom and Lorenzo note, the model's for characters rarely draw directly from how they are dresses.

Besides, as I've said many times before, the obvious actual character model for Megan is Mia Farrow.

The evidence for this is painfully obvious if your paying attention:
  • Mia Farrow played in the television version of Peyton Place.
  • In a TV movie version in which Farrow does not appear, the character associated with her has an illegitimate child named Megan!
  • An older man representing the style of a passing era (Frank Sinatra) surprised everyone by impulsively marrying Farrow.
  • Then, in 1968, Farrow stars in Rosemary's Baby, a movie in which she spends a lot of time alone in a spooky New York apartment building because her husband leaves her alone. 
  • Her husband has odd connections with another couple in the buidling.
  • There is a meeting in which Farrow's character meets another woman in the laundry room!
  • There is a "666" on the side of a building visible from the lobby of the office in the Time-Life building and a scene from Rosemary's Baby was shot in the Time-Life building.
I mean, how much more obvious can it get?

And Don and Roger get more and more like Frank and Dino with every passing episode.

Finally, if you were paying attention last night it was pretty obvious that Danny Siegel was the Roman Polanski type. (Apropos of nothing, a favourite joke of mine from the 1970s: Roman Polanski is a five-foot Pole you wouldn't want to touch anyone with. And you wouldn't, I mean yechhhh!)

Special added bonus: Here is some actual footage of the Mad Men recap team at Slate meeting to discuss this season's episodes:


1 comment:

  1. Yes, this all makes sense. Also, don't forget that a week or so ago Sally was reading Rosemary's Baby. One can see Megan in 5-10 yrs becoming involved with an older but hip filmmaker, moving to CT and adopting 10 children.

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