The Legacy Of Mad Men

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The Legacy of Mad Men

Author : Karen McNally
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030310914
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis The Legacy of Mad Men by : Karen McNally

Download or read book The Legacy of Mad Men written by Karen McNally and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-30 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For seven seasons, viewers worldwide watched as ad man Don Draper moved from adultery to self-discovery, secretary Peggy Olson became a take-no-prisoners businesswoman, object-of-the-gaze Joan Holloway developed a feminist consciousness, executive Roger Sterling tripped on LSD, and smarmy Pete Campbell became a surprisingly nice guy. Mad Men defined a pivotal moment for television, earning an enduring place in the medium’s history. This edited collection examines the enduringly popular television series as Mad Men still captivates audiences and scholars in its nuanced depiction of a complex decade. This is the first book to offer an analysis of Mad Men in its entirety, exploring the cyclical and episodic structure of the long form series and investigating issues of representation, power and social change. The collection establishes the show’s legacy in televisual terms, and brings it up to date through an examination of its cultural importance in the Trump era. Aimed at scholars and interested general readers, the book illustrates the ways in which Mad Men has become a cultural marker for reflecting upon contemporary television and politics.

Difficult Men

Author : Brett Martin
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143125699
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis Difficult Men by : Brett Martin

Download or read book Difficult Men written by Brett Martin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 10th anniversary edition, now with a new preface by the author "A wonderfully smart, lively, and culturally astute survey." - The New York Times Book Review "Grand entertainment...fascinating for anyone curious about the perplexing miracles of how great television comes to be." - The Wall Street Journal "I love this book...It's the kind of thing I wish I'd been able to read in film school, back before such books existed." - Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad and co-creator of Better Call Saul In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows on cable channels dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and creative ambition. Combining deep reportage with critical analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of this artistic watershed - a golden age of TV that continues to transform America's cultural landscape. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players - including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) - and reveals how television became a truly significant and influential part of our culture.

A Voyage For Madmen

Author : Peter Nichols
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 006186840X
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (618 download)

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Book Synopsis A Voyage For Madmen by : Peter Nichols

Download or read book A Voyage For Madmen written by Peter Nichols and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An extraordinary story of bravery and insanity on the high seas. . . . One of the most gripping sea stories I have ever read.” — Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm In the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, comes a breathtaking oceanic adventure about an obsessive desire to test the limits of human endurance. In 1968 nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held and never before completed: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. Gorgeously written and meticulously researched by author Peter Nichols, this extraordinary book chronicles the contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms, and of those riveting moments when a decision means the difference between life and death.

The Real Mad Men

Author : Andrew Cracknell
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 085738757X
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (573 download)

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Book Synopsis The Real Mad Men by : Andrew Cracknell

Download or read book The Real Mad Men written by Andrew Cracknell and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-03-26 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In New York City in the late 1950s and the 1960s - the era and location of TV's Mad Men - advertising went through a revolution. In a booming market, a punchy and proud new workforce of younger, multi-ethnic writers and art directors gorged themselves on a vibrant and artistic social scene. In many ways they were similar to Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Peggy Olsen: confident, driven and ambitious, they lived the three-martini life and worked the machine to their advantage. Also clever, creative and streetwise, they outclassed and outthought the old advertising establishment, implementing a new way of thinking and behaving which spread across the newspapers, magazines and TV screens of America and beyond. The story of modern advertising starts here, with these real Mad Men - and women - of Madison Avenue who created the most radical and influential advertising ever, transforming the methods, practice and execution of the business. Their legacy still resounds in the industry today. How did this golden age of advertising happen? It is a remarkable, inspiring story of creativity, ingenuity and larger than life personalities who made it up as they went along.

The Revolution Was Televised

Author : Alan Sepinwall
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476739684
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (767 download)

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Book Synopsis The Revolution Was Televised by : Alan Sepinwall

Download or read book The Revolution Was Televised written by Alan Sepinwall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-02-19 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A phenomenal account, newly updated, of how twelve innovative television dramas transformed the medium and the culture at large, featuring Sepinwall’s take on the finales of Mad Men and Breaking Bad. In The Revolution Was Televised, celebrated TV critic Alan Sepinwall chronicles the remarkable transformation of the small screen over the past fifteen years. Focusing on twelve innovative television dramas that changed the medium and the culture at large forever, including The Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, Sepinwall weaves his trademark incisive criticism with highly entertaining reporting about the real-life characters and conflicts behind the scenes. Drawing on interviews with writers David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and Vince Gilligan, among others, along with the network executives responsible for green-lighting these groundbreaking shows, The Revolution Was Televised is the story of a new golden age in TV, one that’s as rich with drama and thrills as the very shows themselves.

The Brothers Luna

Author : Jules Delgallego
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781494791261
Total Pages : 418 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis The Brothers Luna by : Jules Delgallego

Download or read book The Brothers Luna written by Jules Delgallego and published by . This book was released on 2013-12-24 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE BROTHERS LUNA is a novel based on historical facts intertwined with a compelling story of romance, passion, friendship, intrigue, murder, espionage, war and the arts.Two brothers. One cause. Both willing to die for the freedom of the Philippines from foreign rule. Juan and Antonio Luna find themselves in late 19th century Europe after taking advantage of the Royal Education Decree of 1863, which allowed native Filipinos to be fully educated in the school system across Spain's colonial islands as well as in the major universities of Europe. After attending the Academia de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Juan Luna astonishes the European art scene by garnering numerous gold medals in various highly acclaimed art competitions. Antonio Luna becomes a pharmacist, but passion for reform inspires him to become a propagandist' and later, a general in the army, and the fearless soul of integrity of the Philippine revolutionary forces. In the aftermath of personal tragedy for Juan Luna, the brothers seek a new beginning, but are unknowingly caught in a web of political intrigue and rebellion against Spain's colonial authorities controlled by the powerful Dominican friars. As general, Antonio leads his soldiers into combat against the powerful invading American forces under General Arthur MacArthur. However, deprived of authority by his President, Antonio Luna's fiery temper and fighting spirit result in betrayal and tragedy. Juan Luna vows revenge but falls into a deep depression to a point of sheer madness, and eventually, returns to the Philippines to face his destiny.

Masters of Bedlam

Author : Andrew Scull
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400864402
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Masters of Bedlam by : Andrew Scull

Download or read book Masters of Bedlam written by Andrew Scull and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through an examination of the fascinating lives and careers of a series of nineteenth-century "mad-doctors," Masters of Bedlam provides a unique perspective on the creation of the modern profession of psychiatry, taking us from the secret and shady practices of the trade in lunacy, through the utopian expectations that were aroused by the lunacy reform movement, to the dismal realities of the barracks-asylums--those Victorian museums of madness within which most nineteenth-century alienists found themselves compelled to practice. Across a century that spans the period from an unreformed Bedlam to the construction of a post-Darwinian bio-psychiatry centered on the new Maudsley Hospital, from a therapeutics of bleeding, purging, and close confinement through the era of moral treatment and nonrestraint to a fin-de-siécle degenerationism and despair, men claiming expertise in the treatment of mental disorder sought to construct a collective identity as trustworthy and scientifically qualified professionals. This fascinating series of biographies answers the question: How successful were they in creating such a new identity?. Drawing on an extensive array of sources, the authors vividly re-create the often colorful and always eventful lives of these seven "masters of bedlam." Sensitive to the idiosyncrasies and peculiarities of each man's personal biography, the authors replace hagiographical ac-counts of the great men who founded modern psychiatry with fully rounded portraits of their struggles and successes, their achievements and limitations. In the process Masters of Bedlam provides an extremely subtle and nuanced portrait of the efforts of successive generations of alienists to carve out a popular and scientific respect for their specialty, and reminds us repeatedly of the complexities of nineteenth-century developments in the field of psychiatry. Originally published in 1996. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Seeing MAD

Author : Judith Yaross Lee
Publisher : University of Missouri Press
ISBN 13 : 082627448X
Total Pages : 621 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeing MAD by : Judith Yaross Lee

Download or read book Seeing MAD written by Judith Yaross Lee and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2020-11-16 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Seeing Mad” is an illustrated volume of scholarly essays about the popular and influential humor magazine Mad, with topics ranging across its 65-year history—up to last summer’s downsizing announcement that Mad will publish less new material and will be sold only in comic book shops. Mad magazine stands near the heart of post-WWII American humor, but at the periphery in scholarly recognition from American cultural historians, including humor specialists. This book fills that gap, with perceptive, informed, engaging, but also funny essays by a variety of scholars. The chapters, written by experts on humor, comics, and popular culture, cover the genesis of Mad; its editors and prominent contributors; its regular features and departments and standout examples of their contents; perspectives on its cultural and political significance; and its enduring legacy in American culture.

Diary of a Man in Despair

Author : Friedrich Reck
Publisher : New York Review of Books
ISBN 13 : 1590175867
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Diary of a Man in Despair by : Friedrich Reck

Download or read book Diary of a Man in Despair written by Friedrich Reck and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as one of the most important works on the Hitler period, this is an “astonishing, compelling, and unnerving” portrait of life in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1944—from a man who nearly shot Hitler himself (The New Yorker) Friedrich Reck might seem an unlikely rebel against Nazism. Not just a conservative but a rock-ribbed reactionary, he played the part of a landed gentleman, deplored democracy, and rejected the modern world outright. To Reck, the Nazis were ruthless revolutionaries in Gothic drag, and helpless as he was to counter the spell they had cast on the German people, he felt compelled to record the corruptions of their rule. The result is less a diary than a sequence of stark and astonishing snapshots of life in Germany between 1936 and 1944. We see the Nazis at the peak of power, and the murderous panic with which they respond to approaching defeat; their travesty of traditional folkways in the name of the Volk; and the author’s own missed opportunity to shoot Hitler. This riveting book is not only, as Hannah Arendt proclaimed it, “one of the most important documents of the Hitler period,” but a moving testament of a decent man struggling to do the right thing in a depraved world.

The Wise Men

Author : Walter Isaacson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0684837714
Total Pages : 852 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (848 download)

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Book Synopsis The Wise Men by : Walter Isaacson

Download or read book The Wise Men written by Walter Isaacson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1997-06-04 with total page 852 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A captivating blend of personal biography and public drama, The Wise Men introduces the original best and brightest, leaders whose outsized personalities and actions brought order to postwar chaos: Averell Harriman, the freewheeling diplomat and Roosevelt's special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, self-cast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense throughout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation's most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, adroit diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union.

The Best of Everything

Author : Rona Jaffe
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593511263
Total Pages : 497 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (935 download)

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Book Synopsis The Best of Everything by : Rona Jaffe

Download or read book The Best of Everything written by Rona Jaffe and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sixty years later, Jaffe’s classic still strikes a chord, this time eerily prescient regarding so many of the circumstances surrounding sexual harassment that paved the way toward the #MeToo movement." -Buzzfeed When Rona Jaffe’s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. Almost sixty years later, The Best of Everything remains touchingly—and sometimes hilariously—true to the personal and professional struggles women face in the city. There’s Ivy League Caroline, who dreams of graduating from the typing pool to an editor’s office; naïve country girl April, who within months of hitting town reinvents herself as the woman every man wants on his arm; and Gregg, the free-spirited actress with a secret yearning for domesticity. Jaffe follows their adventures with intelligence, sympathy, and prose as sharp as a paper cut.

Factory Man

Author : Beth Macy
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316231568
Total Pages : 469 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (162 download)

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Book Synopsis Factory Man by : Beth Macy

Download or read book Factory Man written by Beth Macy and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The instant New York Times bestseller about one man's battle to save hundreds of jobs by demonstrating the greatness of American business. The Bassett Furniture Company was once the world's biggest wood furniture manufacturer. Run by the same powerful Virginia family for generations, it was also the center of life in Bassett, Virginia. But beginning in the 1980s, the first waves of Asian competition hit, and ultimately Bassett was forced to send its production overseas. One man fought back: John Bassett III, a shrewd and determined third-generation factory man, now chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co, which employs more than 700 Virginians and has sales of more than $90 million. In Factory Man, Beth Macy brings to life Bassett's deeply personal furniture and family story, along with a host of characters from an industry that was as cutthroat as it was colorful. As she shows how he uses legal maneuvers, factory efficiencies, and sheer grit and cunning to save hundreds of jobs, she also reveals the truth about modern industry in America.

Mad Men, Mad World

Author : Lauren M. E. Goodlad
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 0822354187
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (223 download)

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Book Synopsis Mad Men, Mad World by : Lauren M. E. Goodlad

Download or read book Mad Men, Mad World written by Lauren M. E. Goodlad and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-11 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the show's debut in 2007, Mad Men has invited viewers to immerse themselves in the lush period settings, ruthless Madison Avenue advertising culture, and arresting characters at the center of its 1960s fictional world. Mad Men, Mad World is a comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking TV series. Scholars from across the humanities consider the AMC drama from a fascinating array of perspectives, including fashion, history, architecture, civil rights, feminism, consumerism, art, cinema, and the serial format, as well as through theoretical frames such as critical race theory, gender, queer theory, global studies, and psychoanalysis. In the introduction, the editors explore the show's popularity; its controversial representations of race, class, and gender; its powerful influence on aesthetics and style; and its unique use of period historicism and advertising as a way of speaking to our neoliberal moment. Mad Men, Mad World also includes an interview with Phil Abraham, an award-winning Mad Men director and cinematographer. Taken together, the essays demonstrate that understanding Mad Men means engaging the show not only as a reflection of the 1960s but also as a commentary on the present day. Contributors. Michael Bérubé, Alexander Doty, Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Jim Hansen, Dianne Harris, Lynne Joyrich, Lilya Kaganovsky, Clarence Lang, Caroline Levine, Kent Ono, Dana Polan, Leslie Reagan, Mabel Rosenheck, Robert A. Rushing, Irene Small, Michael Szalay, Jeremy Varon

Fool's Errand

Author : Robin Hobb
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
ISBN 13 : 0006486010
Total Pages : 673 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (64 download)

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Book Synopsis Fool's Errand by : Robin Hobb

Download or read book Fool's Errand written by Robin Hobb and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2002 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Prince Dutiful disappears, is it only because he is nervous about his betrothal ceremony, or has he been taken hostage by the Witted? As the situation worsens, Queen Kettricken summons Fitz to track the young prince down than another gifted with the Wit? This is the first in a new trilogy.

Ray & Joan

Author : Lisa Napoli
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101984961
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Ray & Joan by : Lisa Napoli

Download or read book Ray & Joan written by Lisa Napoli and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The movie The Founder, starring Michael Keaton, focused the spotlight on Ray Kroc, the man who amassed a fortune as the chairman of McDonald’s. But what about his wife Joan, the woman who became famous for giving away his fortune? Lisa Napoli tells the fascinating story behind the historic couple. Ray & Joan is a quintessentially American tale of corporate intrigue and private passion: a struggling Mad Men–era salesman with a vision for a fast-food franchise that would become one of the world’s most enduring brands, and a beautiful woman willing to risk her marriage and her reputation to promote controversial causes that touched her deeply. Ray Kroc was peddling franchises around the country for a fledgling hamburger stand in the 1950s—McDonald’s, it was called—when he entered a St. Paul supper club and encountered a beautiful young piano player who would change his life forever. The attraction between Ray and Joan was instantaneous and instantly problematic. Yet even the fact that both were married to other people couldn’t derail their roller coaster of a romance. To the outside world, Ray and Joan were happy, enormously rich, and giving. But privately, Joan was growing troubled over Ray’s temper and dark secret, something she was reluctant to publicly reveal. Those close to them compared their relationship to that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. And yet, this volatility paved the way for Joan’s transformation into one of the greatest philanthropists of our time. A force in the peace movement, she produced activist films, books, and music and ultimately gave away billions of dollars, including landmark gifts to the Salvation Army and NPR. Together, the two stories form a compelling portrait of the twentieth century: a story of big business, big love, and big giving.

Cable Guys

Author : Amanda D. Lotz
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479800589
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis Cable Guys by : Amanda D. Lotz

Download or read book Cable Guys written by Amanda D. Lotz and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2014-03-31 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The emergence of "male-centered serials" such as The Shield, Rescue Me, and Sons Of Anarchy and the challenges these characters face in negotiating modern masculinities. From the meth-dealing but devoted family man Walter White of AMC’s Breaking Bad, to the part-time basketball coach, part-time gigolo Ray Drecker of HBO’s Hung, depictions of male characters perplexed by societal expectations of men and anxious about changing American masculinity have become standard across the television landscape. Engaging with a wide variety of shows, including The League, Dexter, and Nip/Tuck, among many others, Amanda D. Lotz identifies the gradual incorporation of second-wave feminism into prevailing gender norms as the catalyst for the contested masculinities on display in contemporary cable dramas. Examining the emergence of “male-centered serials” such as The Shield, Rescue Me, and Sons of Anarchy and the challenges these characters face in negotiating modern masculinities, Lotz analyzes how these shows combine feminist approaches to fatherhood and marriage with more traditional constructions of masculine identity that emphasize men’s role as providers. She explores the dynamics of close male friendships both in groups, as in Entourage and Men of a Certain Age, wherein characters test the boundaries between the homosocial and homosexual in their relationships with each other, and in the dyadic intimacy depicted in Boston Legal and Scrubs. Cable Guys provides a much needed look into the under-considered subject of how constructions of masculinity continue to evolve on television.

Mad Men, Death and the American Dream

Author : Elisabeth Bronfen
Publisher : Diaphanes
ISBN 13 : 9783037345504
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (455 download)

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Book Synopsis Mad Men, Death and the American Dream by : Elisabeth Bronfen

Download or read book Mad Men, Death and the American Dream written by Elisabeth Bronfen and published by Diaphanes. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Matthew Weiner s series "Mad Men," garnering awards, fandom and critical acclaim, has come to be viewed as a powerful time capsule. Given the precision with which the show invokes the visual culture as well as the political scene of the 1960s, it has been prasied for bringing back to the T.V. screen this watershed moment in American history. In her sophisticated study, Elisabeth Bronfen treats Lionsgate s serial drama, that aired from 2007-2015, as a signficant DVD novel of the early 21st century. Her claim is that it not only thrives on a significant double voicing, reviving the literature, film, music and fashion of the past "within" and "for" the cultural concerns of the present, and as such speaking both about the past and about the present. With Don Draper an embodiment of the prototypical con man, his precarious journey from poverty to fame and prosperity can also be seen as a continuation of the moral perfectionism so key to the American literary tradition. His fall and spiritual recovery is as much an individual story as a comment on the state of the nation. The notions of family and home he works (and fights) for are necessary symbolic fictions, with advertisement disclosing them as such. At the same time, the pitches Don Draper is such a creative genius at, tap into collective desires that are as much about fantasies of personal happiness as they are about buying into the America project. If we need myths to offer imaginary solutions for conflicts that can not be resolved in political reality, "Mad Men" self-consciously reflects on the role television has come to play in this work of the cultural imaginary, both fragile and fruitful. We identify and sympathize with the people in this series not despite but because they are fictional representations, different yet also a mirror of ourselves. "