Falling

I wanted to watch "Mad Men," the new AMC drama about the Madison Avenue advertising world around 1960.  I started watching, and there in the opening montage was the stylized silhouette of a man in a business suit and tie falling, or jumping, from a high-rise building.  I turned it off.

Am I wrong?  I'm from New York.

Comments

[ThinkItThroughNow...]

Is it because the memories of 9-11 are still so fresh for you?

Remember those men who jumped on Black Tuesday? That was my first image from history when you talk about jumping, but I tried not to dwell on the televised 9-11 images that were continually replayed.

Give yourself time amba. Maybe moving away to NC delayed that. Some people heal faster than others, but we all do in time. Sounds like you missed out on a good show btw. It got good reviews. Maybe try again next week? Time is a good healer when you're ready and strong enough to face your fears.

[amba]

I was a little shocked by their choice to use that image. It is impossible to use it so soon after 9/11 without being conscious that that's going to be the immediate association that springs to mind. That means it was used deliberately -- why? To get an emotional reaction completely unrelated to the topic of the show? That's cheap. Or to say, "Time to move on, those images also belong to Black Tuesday and the suicide of some '60s adman and we're reclaiming them from the exclusive grip of 9/11." I would really like to know what they were thinking.

[Ruth Anne]

I watched the first episode and it really emphasized the [sexist/shabby] way that women were treated in the work force [secretaries/bimbos for the boss]. The first ad account was for Lucky Strikes and the good ole' boy from Carolina used to play Holling Ven Coer on the TV show Northern Exposure. The hero is a very conflicted/brilliant ad man. It's worth a look again.

[Kim]

"It is impossible to use it so soon after 9/11 without being conscious that that's going to be the immediate association that springs to mind."

I have to respectfully disagree.

I'm from NYC and was here on Sept 11, 2001. You're the first person I've heard about who has associated the opening credits of Mad Men with the Twin Towers. It certainly didn't occur to me, and I know someone who died in the attack.
My own high school almuni newspaper published accounts of students from my alma mater (Stuyvesant HS, just a couple of blocks from the towers) watching the falling people from their classroom windows.

So, I don't think the association is as obvious as you might think. I certainly don't wish to belittle your reaction,of course. I regret the image called up such memories. But it may not have been so for everyone.

[jimmee]

i just had the same thought tonight (9/13). i had been watching the show since the beginning of the season and hadn't made the connection, but having just gone thru the 6th anniversary of 9/11, it totally jumped out (no pun intended) at me. i'm sure they're not trying to antagonize anyone, but i'm perplexed how the show's creators/producers could have approved it. i found your post via a google search for precisely this issue: "mad men" +9/11 +falling. inexplicable!

[amba]

I'm glad to hear from you, because I was beginning to wonder if I was crazy. Mot people just didn't seem bothered, which to me is even more inexplicable. I have a feeling the show's creators did it very deliberately, to get people subliminally upset, on the gamble that that would draw them to the show rather than repel them from it. Didn't work on this viewer.