Don't Make that Indian Cry

Do you watch Mad Men? If not, you should. If only for the clothing. I wish I could wear a bra that made my boobs look like bullets, although not as severe as Madonna. But I digress.

Last week's episode included a picnic scene with Don, Betty and their kids. They took the new Caddy out to the park and had a bucolic scene with children running around the grass, water running by in the background. Before getting into the car, Don makes Betty look at the kids' hands, to make sure they don't wreck the upholstery. I empathize with Dan, I must tell you. If you don't know about my stain removal festish, you're better off.

So the kids run off to the car after getting Betty's approval and she is left to gather up whatever Coleman camp gear they brought to carry lemonade and sandwiches, etc. There are paper plates all over the plaid wool blanket they laid upon for the afternoon, napkins, wrappers for foodstuff. Good ol' Betty. She shakes off the blanket, dumps the garbage on the grass, packs up and heads off the luxury of the Caddy.

The point, of course, is to make us gape at the changes in society. It equates to the earlier scene in which Betty scolds her daughter for playing with the plastic dry cleaning bags. Not because they're dangerous. But because she wants to save the bags to use later. And, of course, we're supposed to think about the things we do now that, in thirty or forty years, we'll realize were absolutely ridiculous, thoughtless and dangerous. That we're currently subjecting ourselves and our children to needless risk and polluting our environment unknowingly and uncaringly.

And I got all that. I really did.

But, honestly, the first thing I thought of when I saw Betty leave the rubbish on the grass in the park and drive away? I thought, "well, there's a girl that never saw the commercial with the crying Indian."