Some thoughts on Thomas Pynchon (“pinch on”) and The Crying of Lot 49.

Pynchon’s best known novel is Gravity’s Rainbow. It’s a sprawling psychedelic WWII novel covering mind control, propaganda, drug experiences, precognition, fate, paranoia and sexual fetishes. It’s a challenging read, filled with obscure historical references and elaborate puns, much like James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The Crying of Lot 49 is a similar kind of story told in a similar way, but much more accessible and easier to read. The main character is a woman named Oedipa Maas. When her ex boyfriend dies and makes her executor of his estate, she travels to the California town that he basically owned and finds herself embroiled in a global conspiracy involving secret mail delivery. Her ex’s estate is divided into lots and as she investigates the conspiracy she concludes that whoever ends up bidding on lot 49 is behind it all. I won’t spoil the ending. Actually, I’m not sure it’s possible to spoil the ending.

There are two themes in the book that are relevant to Pete. First, there is a band in the novel (The Paranoids) clearly based on the Beatles (their hit is “I Wanna Kiss Your Feet.”) Secondly, there are numerous references to Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita. And while Rapey Pete’s attraction to the high school girl doesn’t exactly qualify as pedophilia, it definitely had a Lolita vibe.

Paranoia + Sexual Exploitation + The Beatles? I’m feeling good about that Pete Campbell Helter Skelter prediction I made a few episodes back. Though I’m thinking now that it will be more of a Double Indemnity scenario than a Spahn Ranch shootout. Beth might be looking to Pete to help her lose 190 lbs of fat, if you know what I mean. Then all she has to do is get rid of Pete.

We’re also seeing Pete continuing his role as the poster child for Freudian psychology.

Check out a documentary on YouTube called “The Century of the Self.” It’s a four-part series the BBC did in the 80s about the rise of Freudian psychology in the 20th century, particularly how it was used in advertising. Freud’s nephew was a guy named Edward Bernays. Bernays was the first ad man to market cigarettes to women with the “torches of freedom” campaign, which tied women’s suffrage to their right to smoke and cigarettes to the torch held by the statue of liberty. The brand he did this campaign for was Lucky Strike.

So when Roger says losing Lucky Strike cost him everything, he doesn’t just mean the client. Lucky Strike was the first product sold with what we would recognize as modern advertising techniques. Losing Lucky Strike means losing modern advertising’s first born child.

Anyway, about Pete, one of Freud’s major theories was that society is formulated precisely to prevent everybody just raping everyone. Freud believed that we have these impulses and that we need society to regulate our behavior and thus we live in a constant state of frustrated discontent. Either that or the cocaine is doing it. He wrote about this in 1929 in “Civilization And Its Discontents.”

Eddie Bernays took that thesis and used it to sell everything from cigarettes to instant cake mix. What we’re seeing in Pete is a story akin to a drug dealer who starts getting high on his own supply. Ad men like Bernays and his fictional counterparts at SCDP are skilled at identifying and often creating discontent in order to exploit it. I mean, can any of us say that our dishes are REALLY shiny enough? I know I will not be happy until my dishes sparkle brightly enough to down low flying aircraft.

Pete is transitioning from hustler to mark. He’s had a certain lifestyle advertised to him, mostly by Don, and like many people who try to use materialism to create happiness (rather than simply stave off misery) he has ended up miserable.

Of course, Pete doesn’t see that Don is ultimately just as miserable as he is. But Don never really seems to expect to be happy.

Some thoughts on Dark Shadows:

Don’s selection of the Hell motif for the Sno Ball campaign reminded me of Jean Paul Sartre’s play “No Exit,” from which we get the famous phrase “hell is other people.” Or as Roger might put it…hell is all kinds of people.

In Dark Shadows, we see two kinds of people: those who cannot have what they want and those who cannot want what they have.

Was I the only one who was relieved that Howard’s wife didn’t really give Pete a “Jolly Roger” in his office? I was worried for a moment when they cut to the close up of his smirking face.

We have two references to murder this week from Ginsburg. In the Manischewitz conversation with Roger, Ginsburg makes a film-noir murder plot joke. Also, in his file folder is a sketch from the Sno-Ball account: “Sno-Ball – It’s Something To Name Your Pig.” Snowball was one of the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. He represented Trotsky and was murdered by Napoleon. And Roger called Peggy Trotsky a few episodes ago when she extorted him for overtime pay. It’s also interesting that Ginsburg didn’t answer when asked “why a pig?” during the pitch with Don.

What I’m saying is that Ginsburg is going to murder Peggy. No doubt about it.

I’m also pretty sure this is the first time the phrase “everybody loves the cartoons in the New Yorker” has ever been uttered on planet Earth.

Moving on…

It wouldn’t be a Thanksgiving episode without a food motif. We open with Betty weighing and measuring her midnight snack and the cut to Roger describing fishing as “man vs man…the weighing and the measuring.”

We also saw the equation of food to sin. Don talks about Sno-Balls being “sinfully delicious, the sin that gets you into hell” and we cut to Betty abortively sneaking a whipped cream shooter in the kitchen. She should probably forget the whipped cream and just inhale the nitrous oxide inside. Maybe she’ll have a breakthrough like Roger.

Continuing the hell motif, the scene where Henry feeds Betty a bite of steak after Betty makes the speech about being in things together is reminiscent of the Sartre-like old parable about people in heaven and hell both being stuck with spoons too long to eat with. In Hell, they starve. In Heaven, they feed each other.

Interesting to see that Sally has Don’s short temper and sense of entitled indignation. Loved the framing with her standing opposite Don in the apartment, the world outside between them as he looks at her…nearly at his eye level…and says “you’re a little girl.” As Sally grows into her own, I think a real battle of the wills is forming. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

-Jason from NatterCast

Oh, yeah, and of course, just grab whatever pieces you want. I like to post to the web page so people can come here if they want the unedited stuff. Totally don’t expect you to read my complete random stream of consciousness

-J from NC.