mad men

Introduction

Created by Matthew Weiner in 2007, the television Drama series, Mad Men, from the television network AMC, is set in New York during the late 1950s and early 1960s. According to the networks official website, the series "follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell"(AMC.com). The show is largely based on Don Draper’s relationships inside and out of work, as the creative director at Sterling Cooper. According to AMC’s website, the premise describes how Don Draper “struggles to stay a step ahead of the rapidly changing times and the young executives nipping at his heels. The series also depicts authentically the roles of men and women in this era while exploring the true human nature beneath the guise of 1960s traditional family values”. Since I am an avid fan of the show, I have seen every episode to-date. Therefore, I have seen Don Draper’s struggle with his personal identity. As a result, I will attempt to examine it with Kenneth Burke’s Identification reading (1950). Throughout the episodes from the first three seasons, we see how Don Draper unveils part of his past identity fraud, which culminates his first marriage. His daily struggle with who he is, is a major theme to these series.

Context

As stated in Wikipedia, recurrent themes in the show are sexism and adultery, alcoholism, identity, racism, and smoking. They continue and indicate that “since its premiere, Mad Men has received high critical acclaim” (Wikipedia.com). An online article titled “Matthew Weiner on Creating Mad Men”, by Neil Midgley quotes Weiner, the creator, saying, “The most stimulating thing, intellectually and creatively, about Mad Me...

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... stories showing the hero “between love and duty” (Burke, 266). “Identity involves “change of identity” insofar as any given structure of society calls forth conflicts among our “corporate we’s” (Burke, 268-269).

Analysis

It is important to discuss how Tony Watson (2011) has redlined ‘identity work’. Watson states, “This incorporates a clear analytical distinction between internal personal `self-identities' and external discursive `social-identities' with social-identities being seen as a link or bridge between socially available discourses and self-identities” (2011).In other words, he discusses how managers, in the work field, identify with the “multiplicity of social-identities” (Watson, 2011). Hence, Don Draper’s lifestyle.

Conclusion (so what is it doing)

People are acting “perfect” in jobs outside but are indeed facing personal identification crisis as well.