Andy Morales' Impacts of TV & Digital Culture

Hi, my name is Andy Morales, and this is my secondary Tumblr account. This page will feature all of my assigned blog posts throughout the Fall 2017 semester at SUNY New Paltz. These blog posts are showcased from my Impacts of TV & Digital Culture (DMJ:432) class with Professor Margaret Aloi. Aside from this, I'm also a huge 1980's music fanatic/disk jockey! My insane craze of 80's music, inspired me to create an 80's styled radio podcast show on Dailymotion called, "The Andy Morales Show". Feel free to check out my show if you ever get the chance in the future. Anyway, I hope all you guys will enjoy my blog posts for this class on the Impacts of TV & Digital Culture. Email: [email protected]

[morales80sfan]

Satanic Panic...An Analysis

This post will be kind of brief because I really don’t think this topic shouldn’t be expressed in greater detail. For those of you who don’t know about satanism, pentagrams, and demonic possessions...consider yourselves lucky. For those of you who do know about this stuff, well then this post is pretty much useless. However, if you’re really interested towards learning about satanism within the media, then by all means keep on reading!! I’m going to delve into a cultural phenomenon that existed during the 1970s and 80s called “Satanic Panic;” a belief system that caused fear within a secularized society for Americans worldwide. In this post I’ll showcase two talk show segments from the 1980s that focused on the Satanic Panic crisis, so without further ado, let’s get started!!

1. The Oprah Winfrey Show - Dr. Michael Aquino (1987-88)

During the early days of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1987-88, Dr. Michael Aquino was a part of a group called the Temple of Set, which was an occult organization that made people believe Satan was the one true almighty god in aiding humanity; according to my minuscule knowledge. Now, what makes this clip quite shocking to all of us was that Aquino was a member of the U.S. Army, and to make matters worse, they actually knew about him being associated with this occult group for over two decades!! Yikes!! Afterwards, an audience member stood up in front of Aquino, and began to share his own personal experiences involving a satanist church in Chicago. The rest of the video speaks for itself, so I’ll highly recommend all of you guys to give it a watch sometime. FYI, the quality is pretty bad, as this was at a time when people recorded stuff on analog VHS tape, rather than digitized technology. Anyway, here is the clip:

2. The Morton Downey, Jr. Show - Satanism (1987-88)

For the record, I’m a huge fan of Morton Downey, Jr.’s talk show!! Even though it’s considered outdated by today’s standards, I occasionally watch reruns of this program because not only was he labeled as the pioneer of trash television, but his show broke the boundaries on a lot of controversial issues during his short-lived run on the air from 1987 to 1989. To my surprise, I was in for a real treat when I’ve discovered this short ten minute clip on YouTube about satanist activities. In this segment, Downey brought in two guests to talk about demonic possessions...Father James LeBar from New York, and a religious examiner named Shawn Carlson. Since this portion was recorded during the first few minutes of the episode, sadly there wasn’t anything enticing going on from the looks of it. Although this is a broad example, it’s still a great educational outlook on how people were speculating the satanist religion during the late 1980s, so please feel free to check it out sometime in the future. Here is the video:  

Well everyone, that was my analysis on two classic talk show segments exploring the Satanic Panic crisis in the 1980s. I could’ve rummaged a few more programs that further analysed this issue like Geraldo Rivera and Phil Donahue, but in a sense, I think they would’ve been too redundant and unnecessary for the sake of this particular blog post. In my opinion, the Satanic Panic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s was a scare tactic that misconstrued information for people to accuse others of crimes they did not commit; much like the Salem witch trials. The media was interested in these religious cults because it just made good television at the time, and nobody gave a damn what to think of it. Since fundamentalists began to focus on other issues within our society, the glamour soon began to fizzle out by the early 2000s, thus no one heard from it again. On a side note, I do believe that satanism does exist in some way shape or form; just not in the right context as we assume them to be on paper. No matter what you believe, satanism is a religion no one should even mess around with today.

-AndyM

[morales80sfan]

Good Night, And Good Luck Review (2005)

There has been a lot of great movies out there that have depicted on historical events pertaining to how society was like in the 20th century. Films like: Schindler’s List (1993), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Apollo 13 (1995), were all pretty good film adaptations on what was exactly happening during those specific time periods; coming from only a director’s interpretation towards his or her’s creative abilities. George Clooney’s 2005 film, “Good Night, And Good Luck,” turned out to have been another triumphant motion picture about television’s political activism on U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. The reception of this movie received a total of six academy awards, in which some of those included for best actor, best director, and best picture!! Nevertheless, this movie did extremely well in the box office, as I’m still quite blown away George Clooney was able to pull off such a controversial issue on governmental politics during the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s. This blog post will cover a synopsis of the film, so without further adieu, let’s get started!!

The film starts up in a 1958 press conference involving the departure of CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow; played by David Strathairn. During Murrow’s final speech, he stated that people must use television as a form of educational opportunities, rather than it being just an entertainment gimmick of lights on a box with vast amounts of moving images. We are then transported back a few years to CBS Television Studios in 1953, when Murrow and his fellow team of reporters learn about a U.S. Air Force officer being discharged because of him being presumed and labeled as a communist. Murrow quickly springs into action, as he presents this story to Sig Mickelson; the director of CBS News (Jeff Daniels). He warns Murrow afterwards, addressing that this story could be a potential risk to CBS’ sponsors; whom some of which were containing governmental contracts. Murrow refused to prevent this from happening, as he and his team decided to air the story on live national television. For more insight, here’s a short clip of Murrow’s news broadcast on the event:

After Murrow’s news segment went on the air, the public really supported its cause for only a short time. Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.), an editor for CBS, acquired an envelope describing false accusations of Murrow being a communist threat to the U.S. government, which later brought an unsettling tension onto CBS’ chief executive, William Paley (Frank Langella). Paley persuades Marrow that who ever is associated with communism will be stepped down for his next story...the attack of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Throughout the remainder of the film, Murrow continued to expose McCarthy for his accusations, as they were all deemed effective for the most part. Later, McCarthy then goes on Murrow’s show for which he allows to have him featured on the program. This continued to spread a whole mess of problems between Murrow and his team of reporters shortly after. Here’s a clip of Murrow’s broadcast with Joseph McCarthy (FYI: it’s kind of long, so skip to the good parts if necessary):

A few days later, the U.S. senate was in the process of investigating McCarthy, as Murrow’s broadcast soon began to end his tirade of public indecency. Murrow and his team were out celebrating the good news, but it was once again cut short to say the least. Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise), Murrow’s fellow colleague, was facing a slew of problems during Murrow’s attack on McCarthy. His wife recently divorced him while a publicist named Jack O’Brian, accused Hollenbeck of being a “pinko” during his news speeches. These outcomes lead to his demise as he committed suicide from Carbon Monoxide poisoning in his home. Not only did Murrow lose a loyal friend, but his program was then cut in duration because of high production costs and overly controversial topics. This eventually brings us back full circle to the 1958 press conference, as Murrow gave his final speech to the press. Here’s a clip of Murrow’s 1958 press conference:

Well, that was most of what I got out of George Clooney’s 2005 motion picture, “Good Night, And Good Luck.” This movie was such a surreal experience by informing all of us on how television wasn’t used for just entertainment, but for educational purposes based on controversial events while it was still in its infancy. Edward R. Murrow’s goal was to treat television as a 24-hour news phenomenon, much like of what CNN is doing right now. By the early 1960s, television became more than just news, as we were all trying to find new ways of expanding this new medium for further monetary gain. Still, I’ll agree with Murrow...the future of television is whatever you make it, but without people being educated, how can one determine its future? I guess in 1958, we were all uncertain on what it could do for us, as his last words were: “Otherwise it’s merely wires and lights in a box...good night and good luck.”

-AndyM

[morales80sfan]

Hurricane Maria - The Devastation of Puerto Rico (September 19-21, 2017)

On August 2017, the U.S. encountered its first major hurricane of the season called Harvey. During that time, U.S. citizens were unaware that it became one of the strongest, and most destructive hurricanes ever recorded since Wilma’s arrival in 2005; ending a 12 year hiatus of an intensifying force of mother nature impacting on U.S. soil. Hurricane Harvey made landfall directly on Houston, TX, where dozens of people in the area immediately lost their homes from flash floods; resulting in $70-200 billion dollars in property damages. After Harvey dissipated, September saw yet again another powerful hurricane coming towards the U.S. named Irma. Aside from Harvey being a Category 4 hurricane, Irma was a Category 5; causing catastrophic damage in the Caribbean Islands, as well as in the state of Florida. Fast forward to September 16th, when the Caribbean Islands faced another Category 5 hurricane in their sights named Maria. On September 21st, Hurricane Maria had just passed Puerto Rico, as it severely damaged most of the island; crippling all of the electrical grids in the area, as well as people’s homes were left in severe decay. This blog post covers two days of reports from various news anchors covering Hurricane Maria’s arrival and destruction in Puerto Rico, so I hope all of you guys will enjoy.

Let’s start at the beginning, CNN was covering Hurricane Maria’s path on September 19th, 3:09am, when Anderson Cooper contacted an NOAA flight director named Richard Henning. During this time, Henning was flying inside the storm while contacting Cooper on CNN, saying that Maria will be approaching the island of Puerto Rico as a Category 5 hurricane by no later than tomorrow morning. A couple of hours ago, Maria had already traveled through the island of Dominica with sustained winds of up to 175 mph; putting the island under high alert warnings for many of its residents. According to CNN, Maria turned out to have been Puerto Rico’s strongest recorded hurricane since 85 years; damn!! For more details of this news report, here’s a link to the article:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/americas/atlantic-storms-maria-jose-lee/index.html

On September 20th, 2:47pm, News 12′s Stacey Kohan was reporting on the scene when Hurricane Maria approached Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm during the early morning hours. Due to heavy winds, first respondents weren’t able to reach potential victims who were caught in the storm, as the National Weather Service had lost two of their radars on the island. According to News 12, the worst is yet to come. Here’s the link for more info on the story:

http://hudsonvalley.news12.com/clip/13740387/hurricane-maria-arrives-to-blast-puerto-rico

On September 21st, 11:02am, New York’s Daily News gave us a report on Hurricane Maria’s path as it left Puerto Rico leaving many residents without power, totaling 80% of residential properties were already destroyed. President Trump later addressed the citizens of Puerto Rico that he’ll visit the island, along with providing some federal aid charges to give them a speedy recovery. As a result, Hurricane Maria was a Category 3 storm that began to move up north towards the Dominican Republic. For more info, here’s the link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/hurricane-maria-regaining-strength-hits-dominican-republic-article-1.3510849

The last one I’ve covered on Hurricane Maria was from The New York Times. On September 21st, 3:46pm, photos started to resurface from reporters on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s destruction in Puerto Rico. I’ll have to say, some of these photos are quite heartbreaking to see what had happened to them. This article informed all of us that many Puerto Rican residents were struggling to adjust after the storm completely perished their homes, and temporarily obliterated their lives. The good news was that people were rebuilding from Maria’s damage, the bad news was that they weren’t sure if they’ll get any electricity back for at least four to six months!! For more details, here’s the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/us/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico.html

Well, that’s all of my news findings on Hurricane Maria’s destructive powers in the island of Puerto Rico; within a two day span. I hope all of you enjoyed what I’ve presented in this blog post, as I think we all need to be informed regarding people’s safety from around the globe. I’ll still wish the citizens of Puerto Rico to remain safe out there, as I’ll keep sending my prayers to them by any means necessary. Also, let us never forget what happened to the residents in Houston, TX from Hurricane Harvey, as well as in the entire state of Florida from Hurricane Irma. Just remember that we are here to help, so believe me, you guys aren’t alone in this situation. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

-AndyM

[morales80sfan]

Black Mirror - “The National Anthem” Pilot Review

Alright, after two weeks of blogging about the hit 1990 ABC-TV show “Twin Peaks,” I’ve decided to finally change it up a notch by covering one of Netflix’s flagship programs that’s still receiving widespread media attention from around the world today. I’m sure by looking at my cover photo, you guys probably know what it is already. Yep, it’s the British science-fiction anthology TV series entitled, “Black Mirror;” created by Charlie Brooker. Originally on Britain’s Channel 4 television network from 2011-2013, and re-issued on the Netflix streaming platform during the show’s third season in 2016, Brooker’s creation became noted as being like a modern innovation that’s quite reminiscent of the 60′s science-fiction classic by Rod Serling called, “The Twilight Zone;” only with more digital technology. The pilot episode of the series titled, “The National Anthem,” featured some of the strangest and most distasteful scenes that left some viewers with an overall bad taste in their mouths. Nevertheless, this episode was interesting and unique when it premiered on December 4, 2011, as Brooker knew afterwards that this show would soon start to become an international global success toward audiences worldwide.

First off, I’ve actually watched this episode previously while working on a coverage paper assignment in one of my classes last semester, so I pretty much know most of the plot, but for those who forgot most of the story in Professor Aloi’s class, here’s a quick overview. Princess Susannah (Lydia Wilson), a praised member of the royal family has been kidnapped, as Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear), the British prime minister, tries to do what ever he can in hopes of saving her from being killed. According to the kidnapper’s ransom demands from a video posted onto YouTube, Michael has to partake in a vile act of sexual intercourse with a pig on live national television in order for Princess Susannah to be rescued. Now I know what you are all thinking...damn Andy, that’s one crazy plot to introduce such a beloved TV series on Netflix!! It seems like only a sick person would come up of this story, but it’s true!! This was the pilot episode to Black Mirror...a man having sexual intercourse with a live animal!! For those who still don’t believe me, here’s a clip of a fan made trailer of the episode:

Throughout the episode, Michael and the rest of the British government try and stop the person who kidnapped Princess Susannah, just so he won’t have the decency of having sex with a pig during the afternoon hours on live national television. With only a short time span, it’s blatantly obvious that Michael doesn’t even have a chance to save his reputation as a human being, as the only hope he had was finding out where the kidnapper uploaded the video. Sadly, it was a decoy that became such a total savage move in my opinion!! It almost makes me believe that Michael’s press secretary, Alex Cairns (Lindsay Duncan), actually wanted him to perform this sexual act in front of millions of British citizens, just because of her “so-called” relaxed sarcasm; if that makes any sense. Anyway, as this video was uploaded onto YouTube, the media went all nuts covering this situation, as a news reporter named Malaika (Chetna Pandya) gets caught into the line of fire by Michael’s swat team; damn reporters!! 

Afterwards, there was no choice for Michael to partake in the kidnapper’s demands, as citizens from all over Great Britain are watching him embark on his desperate sexual act of indecency in order to save the princess from being killed; man, what a sport!! If Michael didn’t try and save the princess, I’m sure his reputation would’ve been still abolished by the royal family, as I guess saving the princess was his only best option. To be honest, he literally would’ve been screwed both ways in my opinion, as I think maybe they should’ve stayed with the digitized body double. I guess no more pleasure from the wife; wink, wink.

During the time of when people are watching him screw a pig on live TV, Princess Susannah was presumably rescued 30 minutes before Michael’s pig sex-o-rama, for which we find out the reveal of the kidnapper who was some kind of male meat butcher in the downtown London area. A couple of years later, Princess Susannah is pregnant with her first child, and Michael Callow’s name is all cleared up. However, his wife on the other hand still hates him for what he did, as his personal life will forever be tainted in the long run. Well, that was my basic synopsis on the first episode of Black Mirror. I’m still quite blown away that Charlie Brooker actually chose this one to kick off his infamous modern anthology tales of the strange and supernatural. Now I’ve never seen any of the later episodes of Black Mirror, so I’ll definitely watch more of them in the future. In the meantime, Michael Callow is probably still in the bathroom crying his eyes out right now...so somebody please give him a counselor.

-AndyM

[morales80sfan]

Twin Peaks - A Brief Overview of the Spiritual Entities

During my previous blog post about the pilot episode of the hit 1990 ABC-TV series, “Twin Peaks,” I’ve mentioned that if you want to delve much deeper into the later episodes, please be warned, there will be a lot of over the top moments based on supernatural elements that’ll leave you with a lot of theories and explanations for the rest of the series. This post may contain minor spoilers on these character’s backstories, but don’t worry, I won’t spoil much stuff for you guys; not even who killed Laura Palmer for the matter. As I’m such an avid fan of the original ABC series, here’s a brief overview of three important characters that coincide with the Laura Palmer murder mystery in the town of Twin Peaks, WA. 

1. MIKE (Al Strobel)

First let me start with MIKE. Now, do you guys remember the scene in the pilot episode when Sheriff Harry S. Truman and Agent Cooper ride the elevator up to see the dead corpse of Laura Palmer? Well, a man with one arm enters the elevator with them and quickly exits their presence, only to be bombarded by Dr. Lawrence Jacoby afterwards. That person with the one arm is a shoe salesman by the name of Philip Gerard, who inhabits an internal spiritual entity called MIKE. MIKE is one of the so-called “good” spirits in Twin Peaks, for which his main goal is to eliminate all of the evil energy that’s in the Black Lodge. I’ll mention a small tidbit about the Black Lodge for our next spiritual character in Twin Peaks. MIKE is the only entity who doesn’t show his true form throughout the entire series; not even in the 2017 revival by the way. So, just consider him to be a human inhabited protagonist in the spiritual realm of Twin Peaks. 

2. The Man from Another Place (Michael J. Anderson)

Now, a lot of you guys in Professor Aloi’s class probably don’t even know who this person is yet, so I’ll give you a quick synopsis on who he really is. In the end of the third episode, Agent Dale Cooper has a dream of himself being in a strange red curtained room that limits time and space called the Black Lodge. He encounters a strange little man who talks backwards, and dances quite similarly to Audrey Horne; if that makes any sense for some of you. This spirit doesn’t exactly have a name, so he’s called “The Man from Another Place.” At first, you’ll start thinking he is a nice comedic entity, but in hindsight, his personality is somewhat sarcastic and threatening in my opinion. I’m going to conclude that he is extremely connected with the MIKE entity, and also he is one of the most memorable characters that catapulted the show to its fame. Keep a strong lookout for him because he is coming very, very soon. 

3. BOB (Frank Silva)

Okay, remember my previous blog post about a man being reflected in the mirror while Sarah Palmer is screaming, as well as her seeing him in Laura Palmer’s bedroom during the second episode? That person a lot of you guys were questioning in Professor Aloi’s class was BOB; the spiritual antagonist out of the three in Twin Peaks. There is so much I want to say about him, but sadly, I can’t go into too much detail. BOB is a product of pure evil; a menace to society sort of speak. He uses people’s fear to become partially present in Twin Peaks, as he’s the reason MIKE wants to stop his actions from not only the Black Lodge, but in reality on Earth. Aside from Dale Cooper being my most favorite character on the show, BOB is a surprising second!! For those who want to know more about BOB, I’ll conclude that his scenes are the most terrifying and spine-chilling moments ever captured on television!! You’ll start to see him frequently occurring in the second season, so you guys can relax for the next five/six episodes.

Well, those are the quintessential three spiritual characters within the Twin Peaks saga. I hope some of you have expanded your knowledge a little bit, as I think my brief overview was somewhat informative. Now, there’s so much more I can say about the entities of Twin Peaks, but the worst thing I can do is spoil the answers to such a groundbreaking TV series from 1990. I’ll leave by saying this, MIKE is the good spirit, and BOB is the bad spirit who both coincide in the Black Lodge (Red Curtained Room). The Man from Another Place is in the middle of all the action between the entities of both BOB and MIKE. MIKE wants to get rid of BOB, while BOB wants to get rid of MIKE. Those are the only things I can say about them, so by all means, keep on watching the original ABC series of Twin Peaks to find out the answers. One last thing: “The owls aren’t what they seem.” 

-AndyM      

[morales80sfan]

Twin Peaks “Pilot” Review

Alright, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for...reviewing the pilot of the iconic ABC-TV drama series from 1990, “Twin Peaks;” created by David Lynch & Mark Frost. Now for the record, I’ve watched every single episode of this show with my brother, so I know who killed Laura Palmer. If you’re wondering who killed her, I’m just gonna say that this person is featured somewhere in the pilot episode. You might be a little bit shocked to know who it is, so keep on watching the series to find out. Anyway, even though I’ve seen the pilot episode about ten times, I’m going to analyse a few things I’ve liked about the first episode, as well as some of the stuff you probably might have missed while watching it. 

Let me start at the beginning...the introduction to the show. I absolutely love the shots of the saw mill in the distance, the road sign of the entrance to Twin Peaks, and a steady cam shot of the descending waterfall near The Great Northern hotel. Along with the transitional dissolves, and 80′s synth orchestral scores composed by Angelo Badalamenti, this intro is what made me get into Twin Peaks from the start. For those who want a refresher, here’s the intro:

Next up I’ve enjoyed was the characters. What really made the pilot stick out with viewers back then was definitely the inner life stories pertaining to each character residing in the town of Twin Peaks. Now everybody has their favorites: Audrey Horne, Sheriff Harry S. Truman, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, Bobby Briggs, James Hurley, Donna Hayward, Deputy Andy Brennan & Lucy Moran, Catherine & Pete Martell, Shelly Johnson & Norma Jennings at the Double R diner; the list goes on!! My favorite will always be Special FBI Agent Dale Cooper. In my opinion, Cooper felt like a total jerk in the pilot, but later into the show he starts to really connect with the people of Twin Peaks as he tries to solve the Laura Palmer murder mystery. For a sneak preview of the next episode, here’s Dale Cooper interacting with Audrey Horne; along with one of his signature lines: 

While watching the pilot episode again in Professor Aloi’s class, I’ve just realized that there’s absolutely nothing abnormal, or spiritual throughout most of the episode. A lot of the characters were just upset, and somewhat blown away that somebody killed a sweet innocent teenage girl; according to some. Now later on in the original series, the show will start to get extremely weird and strange; especially in the second season. So I’m gonna warn you, going into this show will start to leave you with some really unexplained over the top moments. At first, the pilot felt more like a detective murder mystery, but afterwards, it’ll immediately start to feel like a paranormal investigation that’ll give you a lot of theories and explanations on what the hell is exactly going on. Now, if you look at the upper right hand corner of this screenshot where Sarah Palmer is screaming, there’s actually a person being reflected in the mirror. That person being reflected in the mirror is believe it or not, an extremely important character that’ll connect to the excessive spiritual elements throughout the entire show: 

What else could I say about the pilot episode of Twin Peaks...well, there has been a lot of usage with the color yellow; meaning signs of fear and death are being addressed. Also, Sheriff Harry Truman and Agent Cooper ride an elevator with a man with one arm; who’s also later connected towards the spiritual elements of the show. Definitely be on the lookout for him while delving into the series. Plus, I’ll stupidly mention that to this day I don’t like James; if that makes any sense right now. Overall, the pilot episode of ABC’s Twin Peaks is probably the only episode that makes any logical sense than the later ones. It’s a timeless murder mystery that has an excellent plot, good character development, and amazing 80′s synthesized scores!! Keep on watching the original series because if you say you’re hooked right now, then there’s no stopping your addiction. 

-AndyM

[morales80sfan]

A Brief Mad Men Episode Analysis (Season 3: The Arrangements)

Now, I have watched a few drama programs throughout my lifetime. Some of which are: “The Sopranos” (HBO), “Melrose Place” (FOX), & “Dawson’s Creek” (The WB). However, for the longest time, I’ve NEVER watched an episode of Mad Men; AMC’s longest running drama program created by Matthew Weiner. Throughout its run on AMC from 2007-2015, the show cultivated our viewers with its historical visual representation of New York City in the 1960s, with lots of mesmerizing script dialogue, and lovable characters that excessively craved people for more episodes every time it came on the air. With an immense amount of awards credited towards this show, it’s without a doubt that Mad Men is truly one of the greatest television programs of all time!!

Of course I can go on for days talking about the plot and analysis of the characters, but this blog post is strictly based on my first experience of a season three episode, that I found quite intriguing for me to go check out the pilot in the future!! The episode was called, “The Arrangements;” which aired on September 6, 2009. Most of the episode was relatively quiet, and by quiet I mean it was very mellow and slow paced; according to my first interpretations. However, although it had somewhat of a relaxed tone, that doesn’t mean it was beyond boring to watch. Believe it or not, some die hard fans of the series would actually consider first time watchers to immediately start viewing this episode, rather than the pilot; just to get an overall “broad” sense of what the show is about.

From what I got out of it, the characters were centered around certain life changing situations that involved effects of the positive and negative. For a positive aspect, I really enjoyed the daughter/grandfather relationship of Sally Draper and Gene, but a lot of the negative aspects revolved around Gene trying to mend with the relationship between Don & Betty Draper. I’m positive his goal was to become a better person by potentially spending more time with his grandchildren, and repair the mends with Don & Betty. Another example I’ve liked on the positive and negative aspects, in relation to Gene, was when he shows off some Korean War memorabilia with Don’s son, Bobby. Now, Don doesn’t approve Bobby to wear the helmet of a deceased Korean War soldier, but Gene wants to let him have it for old times sake. Sadly, Don eventually takes action for Bobby to take off the helmet because he was, presumably, in the Korean War as well. Anyway, there was also a positive and negative aspect between Peggy Olson and her mother, but I don’t really want to spoil the entire episode if you ask me.

Like I said previously, “The Arrangements” is a mellow Mad Men episode, but its subtle importance towards the characters’ relationships between family members and clients, was part of the resolution. It laid a groundwork for people to reminisce about their pasts, and repair these situational problems for the better; not the worst. There were also some additional scenes involving other characters, but sadly, they didn’t quite stick out with me. However, their lives were structured on historical media events during the 1960s, which is always the overall criteria of a typical Mad Men episode. Now, even though I’ve officially started my Mad Men viewing experiences on an episode from season three, I still would really want to know more knowledge on these characters’ lifestyle choices ‘til the very end. I guess I can now see why AMC promoted the hell out of this show, and they definitely made a good choice to keep it on the air for seven seasons. Give it a watch sometime!! :) 

-AndyM