{"id":13094,"date":"2008-08-19T07:30:25","date_gmt":"2008-08-19T06:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=485"},"modified":"2008-08-19T07:30:25","modified_gmt":"2008-08-19T06:30:25","slug":"mad-men-trouble-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/mad-men-trouble-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"#TypesTuesday – Mad Men and Power of Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mad_men

Here\u2019s how AMC describes the show on the official website: \u201cReturning for its second season, the Golden Globe\u00ae-winning series for Best TV drama and actor will continue to blur the lines between truth and lies, perception and reality. The world of Mad Men<\/strong> is moving in a new direction — can Sterling Cooper keep up? Meanwhile the private life of Don Draper becomes complicated in a new way. What is the cost of his secret identity?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a description of a classic Power of Truth story.\u00a0 Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is a classic Power of Truth protagonist. \u00a0Note the tagline of the series: \u00a0“Where the truth lies.”<\/p>\n

These kinds stories are about issues of loyalty and betrayal. They ask: What exactly is loyalty? What is betrayal? How do we betray ourselves? How do we betray others? Can you be loyal to someone and betray them at the same time? When should you let go of old loyalties and move on?\u00a0 How is the ground shifting beneath you?\u00a0 What is real and what is an illusion? Who or what can you trust?<\/p>\n

All these issues were front and center in the first season.\u00a0 They had a real urgency and the potential for disastrous consequences.<\/p>\n

Over the course of initial 13 episodes we learned Dan Draper isn\u2019t who he seems.\u00a0 He is leading a secret life on a number of levels.\u00a0 He stole another man\u2019s identity in Korea (by switching dog tags with a dead officer).\u00a0 He is cheating on his wife.\u00a0 He is a slick master of illusion in an industry that thrives on selling half-truths and the manipulation of perceptions.\u00a0 As the season progressed we worried and waited for hammer to drop.<\/p>\n

Mad Men<\/strong> has authenticity working for it in even the smallest details.\u00a0 Everything on the sets, in the background, what the people wear, how they talk, what they talk about is absolutely true to the period. As important as authenticity is, a series can\u2019t survive on authenticity alone.<\/p>\n

The story also needs a sense of urgency.\u00a0 It\u2019s this urgent dramatic thrust that is missing in the second season. Don seems to have settled into a feeling of utter weariness and discontent.\u00a0 He\u2019s increasing disenchanted with his job.\u00a0 He seems bored and depressed (taking the afternoon off to stare laconically at a French New Wave film at the cinema).<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t make for compelling or urgent viewing. According to the Hollywood Reporter<\/strong>, the second season opened to a series high of 2 million viewers.\u00a0 People were curious after all the Emmy nominations.\u00a0 But a significant percentage didn\u2019t stick around to see a second episode.\u00a0 Viewership plummeted to 1.3 million the following week.<\/p>\n

My prediction is that if the pace doesn\u2019t pick up, if Don isn’t in real danger of his lies and shady past catching up with him, viewers just won’t care.<\/p>\n

Right now, Don just seems depressive and cynical.\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t struggle harder to conceal his secrets, if he doesn\u2019t start paying a price for his double life, if we don\u2019t see more active stories about loyalty and betrayal (with dire consequences) I predict the show will drop viewers.<\/p>\n

Another example of a Power of Truth character and show is The X Files<\/strong> and Fox Mulder. \u00a0That show’s taglines were: \u00a0“The Truth Is Out There,\u201d \u201cDeny Everything” and “Trust No One.” \u00a0These slogans with a slightly different context \u00a0could also apply to Don Draper.<\/p>\n

You will find dozens of other examples and a full explanation of this Character Type in the Power of Truth eBook<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#TypesTuesday – Stories that are about issues of loyalty and betrayal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,49,52],"tags":[545,546,547,548,549,27,28,30,550,32,551,33,552,37,39,40,553,41],"class_list":["post-13094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-power-of-truth","category-television-character-development-script-scriptwriting-tv-blog","category-types-tuesday","tag-advertisement","tag-advertising","tag-amc","tag-don-draper","tag-emmy","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-jon-hamm","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-mad-men","tag-movies","tag-mulder","tag-screenwriting","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-the-x-files","tag-tv"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",125,94,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",75,56,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",500,375,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"#TypesTuesday - Stories that are about issues of loyalty and betrayal.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}