Mad Men’s Deceptive (Critique Of) Creativity

Julie Robert

doi:10.5130/csr.v18i2.2768

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Published: Sep 17, 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/csr.v18i2.2768

Keywords:

creativity, alcohol, silence, industry, narrative ellipses

Julie Robert

University of Technology, Sydney

Abstract

This article analyses Mad Men’s relationship to creativity. Considering popular, industry-specific and scholarly understandings, it uses close readings of the show and its narratological techniques to demonstrate how these potentially contradictory concepts and practices of creativity overlap in the show’s fourth season. The points at which these understandings collide become sources of tension between characters and are marked by narrative gaps that conceal deceptive creativity. The conflicts centre on three primary debates: a) the role of alcohol in the creative process, b) industry-specific norms of creativity, and c) the popular perception that creativity is about expression. Consequently, this article approaches questions about creativity using the show’s own partially elided debates and undermines widely-held romantic beliefs about the creative ‘type’ and the what exactly it means to sell creativity in a corporate setting.

Issue

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

Section

On Mad Men (Peer Reviewed)

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Author Biography

Julie Robert, University of Technology, Sydney

Julie Robert is a lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. She teaches French and Québécois studies within the International Studies program. Her research interests include literature and medicine, political rhetoric of the body, cultural pathography, discourses of alcohol and authority, and participatory public health campaigns.

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Julie Robert, University of Technology, Sydney