Not being part of the cool club and not keeping up with fads. That’s Don Draper’s secret to success.
Mad Men’s producer Matthew Weiner reveals in an interview with Vulture that Don’s ability to steer clear of 1960s’ counterculture kept him ahead of his younger colleagues, such as Stan Rizzo and Michael Ginsburg.
“So, the secret to his success is in not being a fad-ist,” said Weiner. “It’s not like someone’s coming in and blowing him away with brand-new work that’s super ingenious.”
“He operates from what he wants. His creative style is timeless.”
As for Don’s sense of loss in Season 6 when he says, “I can’t do this anymore,” Weiner puts it to a ”product of the events in his life more than the events in the world.”
Excessive drinking and getting older go some way to deflating Don’s ego, and the sense that he might not mend bridges with his daughter, Sally Draper, was the final straw.
In Season 6, Sally caught Don having an affair with a neighbor.
“(Don’s) relationship with his daughter was the pure thing in his life, and he ruined it, and it obviously spurred him on to do something about it,” said Weiner.
On who the enigmatic ad man would vote for in the 1968 US Presidential Elections between Nixon and Humphrey, Matt said that Don won’t even bother voting.
“We kind of established he doesn’t vote,” said Weiner. “Part of it is his assumed identity, but also Don has a very cynical attitude about politics.”
“Again, with regard to his being in touch or out of touch, being someone who probably sees himself on the outside of society, that’s probably where he wants to stay.”
The first half of Mad Men Season 7 is set to air April 13, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, on AMC.
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