In 'Mad Men,' fewer places to hide
The new office for the firm is smaller with fewer opportunities for privacy and privilege. With a less repressive environment, the ad agency reflects a new social order is on its way. Where do characters still flee for secrecy? Think closets and elevators.A boy, dressed up as a cowboy, sits under a dining room table, clutching the rods of a chair like bars on a prison cell. "Let me outta here! Let me outta here!" he screams. It's a scene from fictional adman Don Draper's most acclaimed commercial, and though it may just be a spot for a floor wax, viewers of "Mad Men" know that it symbolizes much more. The show, which ends its fourth season Sunday, has repeatedly used enclosed spaces — elevators, closets, back seats — to reinforce the themes of secrecy, repression and isolation that are central to the show.