Friday, April 12, 2013 - 5
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tippi Hedren reflects
on'Marnie,' Hitchcock
AMC
Drapers doing what Drapers do best.
Don Draper s back
* Tides shift in
season-six premiere
of 'Mad Men'
By KAYLA UPADHYAYA
Daily Arts Writer
Death trickles throughout
the season six premiere of "Mad
Men." For one, there's a wake:
the death of
Roger Sterling's
(John Slattery)
elderly mother. Mad Men
There's also a
freak accident Sundaysat
that causes Don 9 p.m.
Draper's (Jon Season six
Hamm) door- premiere
man to lose AMC
consciousness
and technically
die for a matter of minutes before
surging back to life. "What did
you see, Jonesy?" a drunken Don
slurs days later, hoisted between
the arms of Pete Campbell (Vin-
cent Kartheiser) and Ken Cos-
grove (Aaron Staton). "When you
died - what did you see?"
Passageways - doors, eleva-
tors, windows, hallways - have
been recurring narrative and
framing mechanisms for "Mad
Men" since the beginning. In
this premiere - pointedly titled
"The Doorway" - Roger tells his
therapist, "You realize that's all
there are: doors, and windows,
and bridges and gates. And they
all open the same way. And they
all close behind you ... You're just
goingin a straight line toyou know
where."
There's that shadow of death
again, lurking in the corners of
passageways. For Don and Roger,
death never lingers too far behind
- it's a formative facet of both
characters. Sometimes it sneaks
up unexpectedly, like when Don
pitches his grand "jumping off
point" campaign to SCDP's latest
high-profile account, the Royal
Hawaiian Hotel. To Don, the
sketch of abandoned clothes and
footprints at the seaside repre-
sents shedding skin, becoming
someone new, just as he did when
he made the transformation from
Dick Whitman to Don Draper. To
the client - and everyone, really
- it looks like a suicide scene.
"Mad Men"has always excelled
in giving great meaning to.objects
and imagery, sometimes getting a
little too assertive in its explana-
tions (last season, we probably
didn't need someone to tell Don
that it's not his tooth that's rot-
ten to understand the symbolic
weight of an abscessed tooth). In
"The Doorway," the imagery is a
bit more delicate. An abandoned
violin becomes Betty's desire for
something that makes her spe-
cial, something that uplifts her
from the mundane life Sally's
perceptive-yet-naive (Sally: "She
thinks she's 25 because she uses
tampons") friend Sandy points
to with disgust. Don accidentally
takes the lighter of a soldier he
meets in Hawaii, which drums up
all sorts of weighted memories of
his time in Korea.
Plenty of callbacks to "Mad
Men" 's early years come up in
"The Doorway," some subtle,
like the Kodak Carousel Don and
Megan use to show their neigh-
bors pictures of their Hawaii get-
away - the time machine. But
nostalgia shouldn't be mistaken as
stasis: Though Roger insists in his
doorway soliloquy that nothing
really changes as life goes on, if he
were to step back and view things
from where we do, he'd see that's
far from the case. The most notice-
able change comes in the form of
Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss). To
say she's a Don 2.0would be unfair
to the strength and depth of the
character, but it's hard not to think
ofher former boss when she effort-
lessly convinces a client she's right
and he's wrong and takes a well
aimed verbal punch at her copy-
writing underlings.
Last season, the clash of the
generations (the Dons and Rog-
ers vs. the Megans and Janes and
Freddys) picked up speed. Now,
it's in full acceleration. The copy-
writers have shaggy hair and style
that suggest the imminence of the
1970s, making clean-cut Don look
almost like a foreigner in his own
office, which has been rearranged
by photographers shooting pub-
licity stills for the company, much
to Don's annoyance. He's back
to his philandering ways, sleep-
ing with his new doctor friend's
wife despite his picture-perfect
life with Megan. Roger, too, tries
to hold onto the life he knows
despite the shifting tides around
him.
Meanwhile, the people around
them are going, well, through
"The Doorway," into 1968.
By NATALIE GADBOIS
Daily Arts Writer
Tippi Hedren has hardly
changed since her modeling
days 60 years ago. Star of Alfred
Hitchcock's "The Birds" and
"Marnie," the latter of which
was featured in a specialty
screening set up by Turner Clas-
sic.Movies at the Michigan The-
ater on April 9, Hedren exudes
the same delicate beauty and
refreshing directness that she
did when she became a star half
a century ago.
The Michigan Daily inter-
viewed Ben Mankiewicz, regu-
lar host for TCM, and Hedren,
who discussed the gravity of
film appreciation and her com-
plex relationship with the
eponymous Hitchcock with the
same level, refined voice that she
so eerily used to play psycho-
logically dysfunctional Marnie.
She said this character was her
favorite and most rewarding
role.
"I felt so fortunate in being
able to do this film because it was
such a groundbreaking story at
the time," Hedren said. "With-
out the story you have nothing.
You can have the best producers,
the best actors, the best direc-
tors, but if you don't have a story,
you have nothing."
The film was advertised as
"Alfred Hitchcock's suspense
sex mystery," and it follows
Marnie, an intensely disturbed
woman - a calculating thief and
compulsive liar - as her tragic
past is uncovered by her beguil-
ing boss Mark Rutland, played
with dark humor by Sean Con-
nery.
"Actresses in Hollywood
knew that this was a compli-
cated leading lady, a leading
lady with a whole lot of depth,"
Mankiewicz said. "You knew
she was messed up, but there
was a full sort of range, a fully
human character, which I think
was rare at the time."
Although the film was not
well received at the time, since
its release it has been hailed
as an innovative look into the
effects of traumatic incidents
during childhood on a person's
psyche.
"All those years ago, nobody
realized that what happens to
a child traumatically can have
such an effect later on in life,"
Hedren said. "It wasn't a big film
when it came out because people
didn't understand it, but I read
the book over and over again,
I talked to psychiatrists about
this issue ... It was really kind of
a wonderful (thing) to have hap-
pen, to be able to play that role."
Hedren wasn't the obvi-
ous choice for this role; a host
of famous actresses, including
Grace Kelly, vied for the part of
Marnie. As a model and com-
mercial actress, Hedren lacked*
any dramatic experience, but
Hitchcock became enamored
with her during one of her com-
mercials and decided to sign this
beauty without ever having met
her.
The signing of a seven-year
contract between Hedren and
Hitchcock began a tumultu-
ous and abusive working rela-
tionship that effectively ruined
Hedren's promising career, and
revealed the film master's dark-
er side.
"He isbrilliant. He will always
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a
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rk side of him was really at the same time she will tell
really ugly," Hedren said. these awful stories about him.
ims he became obsessed She has reconciled herself to
her, following her con- the idea that there were mul-
and demanding her ulti- tiple sides to this man."
dedication to their work In addition to their inter-
er. view with the Daily, Hedren
ere are so many things and Mankiewicz discussed this
would have to thank him complex relationship in front
d I would certainly never of an audience at the screening
at away. But on the other of "Marnie" at the Michigan
ere was this deviousness Theater, which was filled with
n, and I kept thinking, the diverse combination of col-
s he doing this?"' Hedren lege students there to see a leg-
What was the reason for end speak, and older fans who
this obsessive thing he remembered when "Marnie"
vith wanting to squeeze was first released. Both sympa-
e out of a person? That's thetic laughs and murmurs of
Talk about a scary movie." shock rang through this crowd
when Hedren reflected on her
commitment to this warped
Hitchcock character and highlighted
Hitchcock's idiosyncrasies as a
both made director and a man.
"Hitchcock may have ruined
Lnd ruined my career, but he did not ruin
my life," Hedren said 45 min-
her career. utes into her conversation with
Mankiewicz.
The entire audience rose
with resounding applause.
ing the production of Although she has never
ie," Hedren demanded to since reached the fame she had
oved from her contract. while under Hitchcock's tute-
ponse, Hitchcock vowed lage, Hedren has continued to
n her career," which he work, finding a passion in her
using their contract to love of animals. Forty years
any choice roles offered ago she opened Shambala, a
reserve outside of Los Angeles
e Girl," a film released for neglected lions and tigers,
BBC in 2012, directly where she now lives and dedi-
sed the unsettling rela- cates most of her time.
p between Hedren Even now, her most signifi-
itchcock, a relationship cant memory of the making of
n did not speak about for "Marnie" was not Hitchcock's
in an effort to keep the claustrophobic attention or her
ehind her. The film has meteoric rise to fame or even
d some understandable her famous kiss with then "Sex-
m from Hitchcock devo- iest Man Alive" Sean Connery.
Instead, she remembers what
pi is one of the few peo- made her happiest: Forio, her
th a really rounded view character's horse.
itchcock," Mankiewicz "I really, really loved that
She will talk about how animal so much."
A book lover visits Literati
By TEHREEM SAJJAD
Daily Arts Writer
I rememberwhenmy7-year-old
self would spend hours maneu-
vering through the aisles in the
children's section of the library,
surfing through the collection
of "Junie B. Jones," "Magic Tree
House" and "Diary of a Wimpy
Kid" books, gathering the ones I
wanted and ultimately carrying
the stack to my mom to take them
home.
As a child, it was the anticipa-
tion of flipping through the pages
of a book, taking quick glances at
the forthcoming pictures and the
growing excitement and desire to
reach that particular place in the
plot.
As a teenager, it was the words,
rather than the pictures, that
amplified my exhilaration. I can
still recall the nights when I would
stay awake long after midnight,
turning the pages of a "Harry Pot-
ter" book - fully immersed in J.K.
Rowling's magical world - and
painfully longing to be a part of it.
Though it has been only a few
years since then, I see more people
reading books on their iPads, Kin-
dles and other devices. Sometimes,
I feel like every such instance
serves to remind me that this is the
era of the e-book.
With technological advance-
ment, including the expansive
reach of the Internet and mobile
applications, e-books are slowly
crushing the publishing industry.
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n, at the forefront of this thought of a bookstore as a com-
ent, already sells three munity center. It's the place where
is many Kindle e-books as people bring their kids for story
vers. E-books are by far hour, it's the place where authors
stest-growing element of from all across the nation come
erwise stagnant, recession- to do readings. You can pick up a
d publishing business. So, book, you can sit in a chair and you
ng to e-book fanatics, per- can just be there. It's the "being
11 be another two years - or there" part that I'm so good at.
five - but sooner or later Though Literati is tight on
les will turn. Or so those space, its collection of books is
fanatics think. expansive. From "The Scarlet Let-
the departure of Shaman ter" to "Twilight," I found that the
Bookshop wasn't enough, store's fiction collection (my favor-
s, the second largest book- ite) not only covered the classics,
hain in the country, closed but also contemporary writing,
rs to Ann Arbor and book something that stands out to me.
like myself. Since then, I must've spent an hour making
)wn Ann Arbor has been my way around Literati, flipping
an independent bookstore through books I'd already read and
now the ones I wanted to read, glanc-
ing through a few good recipes in
the cooking section and ending up
kiindling love at the magazines. It felt reward-
ing and peaceful to be amid books
for books again.
People think that with the rise
of e-books, book stores will soon
be extinct. However, the tables
kpril 3, after weeks of scan- haven't turned quite yet in Ann
ategorizing and stocking Arbor, and the crowds that Literati
s upon bundles of books, receives every day are a testament
Bookstore finally opened of that.
ors to Ann Arbor. Though Sometimes, when I turn to the
ce is tight, I like it; it makes last page of a good book, I feel as if
as if I'm cozied up in my I've lost a friend. When I stepped
quilt on a rainy day with out of Literati the other day, I felt
ing book in hand. as if I had lost a whole group of
of people think of a book- friends.
lely as a place to buy books. And, of course, the only thing
urse, that's its primary better than the smell of a new book
e. However, I've always is the smell of a new bookstore.
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