The Return of Organisation Man: Commuter Narratives and Suburban Critique

Melissa Gregg

doi:10.5130/csr.v18i2.2767

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Published: Sep 17, 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/csr.v18i2.2767

Keywords:

modernity, commuter narrative, suburbia, Man in the Grey Flannel Suit

Melissa Gregg

University of Sydney

Abstract

This article considers the significance of suburban commuter imagery in a selection of screen visions of mid-century modernity. A number of examples, including Mad Men, and the screen adaptations of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit (1956) and Revolutionary Road (2008), will be shown to echo key themes, symbols and scenes in their depictions of suburbia and the cultural impact of the corporation. Taken together, these narratives indicate the resilience of the “Organization Man” (Whyte 1956) as a figure marking the tension between individualism and conformity. It is this tension that the archetypal businessman’s uniform continues to symbolise in popular culture, even if, as this paper will argue, it is no longer the most fitting expression available.

Issue

Vol 18 No 2 (2012): Secular Discomforts and On Mad Men

Section

On Mad Men (Peer Reviewed)

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Author Biography

Melissa Gregg, University of Sydney

Melissa Gregg works in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. Her previous publications include Work’s Intimacy (2011), The Affect Theory Reader (with Gregory J. Seigworth, 2010) and Cultural Studies’ Affective Voices (2006).

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Melissa Gregg, University of Sydney