Mad Men - "At the Codfish Ball"

Season 5, Episode 7

“It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.”

As I’ve said many times already, this season of Mad Men is all about watching how these once formerly powerful characters react to the changing decade around them. Okay, these show has always been about that to some extent, but as the show begins to depict more and more stereotypical events of the 1960s, those that deal with change and upheaval. Taking that theme one step further, “At the Codfish Ball” asks the all-important question: won’t somebody think of the children?

The thematic centerpiece of this episode comes in the form of the latest idea pitch to Heinz’s. The idea is relatively simple: The audience would see variations of a mother and child (played by the same actress and actor, natch) throughout the various historical eras, and in each one, the mother would be serving the child Heinz’s Beans. It’s idea that’s so simple that it’s actually trite, at least to 21^st century eyes, but it seems to be revelatory to the hard-pressed creative of SCDP, and even the client seems to like it. (But what do the client know, anyway?) It’s a commercial that banks on the idea of timelessness, that nothing will ever change, be it the ubiquity of a product, the mother-child dynamic, or even society itself, apart from a few superficial tweaks.

And yet things won’t stay the same, no matter how much those at the top may be married to the idea. Adults see tradition as a utility in the fight to protect children from society around them, to make sure that they receive a “normal” childhood, like that of their parents. Yet with the society of the decade changing all around them, that becomes a harder and harder thing to do.

Sally learns that lesson all too well. She’s certainly trying to embrace the new emerging social norms of the decade, but considering that one of the phone calls to Glenn causes her grandmother to trip and become injured, and that Don balks at her new outfit and make-up, it seems that the world isn’t ready for her to embrace these new markers of adolescence. (Don at one point even explicitly states that she’s not old enough to wear make-up.) Yet even despite these limitations that are put upon her, somehow adult life still manages to find its way through.

Accompanied for the evening of her father’s award by Roger, Sally gets a good deal of life-lessons that her father would no doubt not approve of. Most of these lessons are fairly innocuous, as Roger goes about teaching her how to schmooze with potential clients, and the general lack of morality that exists within the advertising world. Roger’s a 50s guy to the core, and many of the ideas that he exposes her to – including when she accidentally catches him en flagrante with Megan’s mother in the backroom – are themselves ideas of that era. However, to call this version of childhood – which seeks to rob her of all of the innocence that was so precious during that time – of the 50s would be a lie. And given that we’ve already seen Sally’s willingness to explore her sexuality (with an assist from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), no doubt her experience with seeing Roger will help push her towards it even further. She just has to get over the fact that it’s “dirty” first, because after all, she was raised with some 50s values.

Even some of the actions of older children – as we all indeed are somebody’s children – don’t seem to be gelling with the ideas that their parents espouse. Megan runs into problem with her own father, who disapproves of the stylish and capitalistic lifestyle that she lives. Sure, his communist ideals (or was it socialist?) are something that would rise to prominence, but Carl Marx also dreamed them up in the 50s. But it’s not like that matters in the slightest, because his concerns are not based on his economic beliefs so much as they come from a place of patriarchal authority. He’s upset because his little girl isn’t undertaking a life plan that he deems to be the right one.

(It’s that patriarchal authority that likely also drives him to cheat on Marie, which in turns causes her to cheat in retaliation, and leads to Sally’s eye-opening experience.)

Peggy meanwhile undertakes perhaps the most blatant act of 60s rebellion, when she decides to accept Abe’s proposition to move in together, the important next step in their relationship. There are two sides to this coin. Abe asks her to move in together out of a selfish sense of love, one that compels him to want Peggy all to himself. It’s the only way he sees to keep her all to himself, to assure that he doesn’t have to compete with the advertising office for her attention. It’s another bit of patriarchal upholding, albeit one that replaces the traditional tool of marriage with the more progressive-seeming action of moving in together. Either way, it achieves the same affect of allowing Abe to retain a controlling stake in the relationship.

That stake was actually assisted by societal expectations on Peggy’s end. Bolstered by Joan’s assertion that there was going to be a proposal, Peggy instead had to settle for the next best thing with moving in with Abe. As a character, Peggy exists in a shifting middle ground, since she was brought up with 50s ideals, but perpetually seems to exist on the verge of the second-wave of feminism. As we saw in “Tea Leaves”, Peggy may be a progressive character, but she’s perhaps not as progressive as the audience would like to pretend. She still pauses before leaving her purse alone with a black person, and she only accepts Abe’s suggestion of moving in together so that she can hold on to a proper relationship.

The way that she invites her mother over so that she can throw the fact in her face only speaks to that fact that Peggy knows it’s shameful (or at least something people should be ashamed of). She’s aware that what’s she’s doing is “wrong”, and though she doesn’t like it, she’s going to try to own it as if she did. Pissing off her mother just seems to be a beneficial side effect.

Don may not have a biological parent in the world that looks down on him, but there are still plenty of authority figures that seem to snub their noses at what he does. Megan’s father of course disrespects his capitalist lifestyle. But he also can’t seem to get more that superficial approval from another group of father, those on the anti-tobacco board. They may feel good about him speaking out against the age-old institution of cigarettes, but by doing so, Don broke a much more sacred institution – respect. And that’s something that even this group of patriarchs can’t abide by.

There’s an irony here, with Don attempting to control Sally’s actions, and then being surprised when his elders likewise scold him for doing something that they perceive to be childish. The idea of childhood and what it should be may constantly make children feel constrained, but it’s also something that they seem to forget when they have kids of their own to look after. And unlike the popularity of Heinz’s Beans, that is something that will carried on from generation to generation.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

Peggy, to Joan: “Someone dumped you?”

“Oh. You two are actually working.”

“Who knows why people in history did good thing? For all we know, Jesus was trying to get the Fishes & Loaves account.”

“I don’t know what the Canadian equivalent of baseball is, but this is a homerun.” “It’s baseball.” “So it’s a homerun!”

“Peggy made a ham. It’s my favorite.” “Really?”

“Don, no matter what you do, one day your little girl will spread her legs and fly away.”