new vid - "Smoke and Mirrors" - Mad Men

[obsessive24]

Smoke and Mirrors
Fandom: Mad Men
Song/Artist: Smoke and Mirrors by Gotye
Duration: 3:38 minutes

Summary: A temporary bandage on a permanent wound. A festivids treat for nicole_anell.
Spoilers: Seasons 1 - 5.

Click to view

Password: Mirrors



You're a fraud and you know it
But it's too good to throw it all away, anyone would do the same
You've got 'em going and you're careful not to show it
Sometimes you even fool yourself a bit
It's like magic, but it's always been a smoke and mirrors game
Anyone would do the same

So now that you've arrived, well you wonder
What is it that you've done to make the grade
And should you do the same? (Is that too easy?)
Are you only trying to please them? (Will they see then?)
You're desperate to deliver anything that could give you
A sense of reassurance when you look in the mirror

Such highs and lows, you put on quite a show
All these highs and lows
And you're never really sure what you do it for
Well do you even want to know?
You put on quite a show

Mother, are you watching?


Oh man, I have such feelings for Mad Men. I’d always maintained it was an unviddable show, but had to try this anyway. I wanted to explore the idea that Pete, Don and Roger are essentially the same man on the same path in life, each at different points. It’s only supported up to a point in canon, but I wanted to push it as far as I’m able.

For me, the men of Mad Men seem so much more tragic than the women. There is so much regret for the path not taken, and there is equally potent unhappiness following actually taking that path. They peddle in images of suburban bliss, eternal youth and “finally, something beautiful that you can truly own”, but life never measures up to that and it’s all eventually dead-ends and freefall. The hanging imagery is metaphor as it applies to Don/Pete/Roger - I don’t think any of them will literally kill themselves because I feel that all three of them are pragmatic survivors at heart - but it’s more about a slow spiritual death, staring down the yawning elevator shaft.

I want to vid the women too, but it’s been much harder to find songs for them. While the female characters also fall to depths of sadness, I feel like there’s an undercurrent of optimism and hope for them that I simply don’t feel with the male characters. Which is great to think about, but it’s a bitch to find a song that captures that idea.