So we both love a good tv series. From The X Files to Millennium, Gossip Girl to the Wire, Game of Thrones to Mad Men.
Like the internet-savvy, modern couple that we are – and having been conditioned on the pain of waiting a whole week for the next instalment of 24, (let's face it, having to sit through commercial breaks during 24 was painful) – we now do not download a TV show until the season is almost complete*. That means we get the pleasure of watching episodes back to back until one of two things happen:
- The youngsters next door arrive home from a night on the town and we realise we should really be getting to bed.
- We run out of Pedro Ximenez.
This brings us to the joys of Mad Men. Is it the style, the bottomless bottles, the head slaps as Don jumps in bed with yet another woman or the unabashed delight at seeing Betty Draper become a walking advertisement for Greenpeace….? I am not sure. The thread perhaps that weaves these elements all together is the writing.
And so this leads us to our second quote.
The quote is from Mad Men's Don Draper, appearing in season one, episode one as part of one of his longer lectures on human truths :
“The reason you haven’t felt it is because it doesn’t exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.”
On the surface, this quote communicates a denial of love's existence, proposing that love is a human perception merely fabricated by Ad Men and countless Walt Disney fairytales. Pondering this quote and how marvellously it sets up the character of Don Draper over a few glasses of South Gin and tonic, a horrifying thought struck me: perhaps Don is right, love doesn't exist, and like the famous line from Carl Sagan :
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
But therein the magic of love lies, more specifically true love. True love is not that perfect picture painted by the media we consume, true love is defined by every magical particle of stardust within two unique beings. It is only tangible to the two who share it. Others might feel it, but are left to wonder what it means. Most importantly, true love is a bond created together until at some point in time, the universe decides to return you to being stardust.
To me true love is simple, wondrous and terrifyingly beautiful. It should not be confused with the love of Ad Men and fairytales.
CB
*OK so we do download. But we also do purchase these on DVD or BluRay once they have been released.