Unleashing a Flow of Desire: Sterling Cooper, Desiring-Production, and the Tenets of Late Capitalism
Files
Document Type
Book Chapter
Description
Book Title:
Analyzing Mad Men Critical Essays on the Television Series
Book Chapter Description:
This chapter, relying on the works of Deleuze and Guattari, Jameson, and other, examines how Mad Men represents the pinnacle of the modern American corporation and pre-1970s capitalism. It argues that Freudian psychoanalysis, especially the Oedipal complex, functions to regulate desire and serves as a kind of social cement for the forces of late capitalism. While Sterling Cooper's employees are at the center of the "desiring-production," they are not exempt from contending with the ongoing deterriorialization and reterriorialization concomitant with living in a capitalist society. The chapter also explores how the series serves as a nostalgic vision of pre-1970s capitalism for contemporary viewers, presenting a time period when working for a corporation was the aspiration of many middle-class professionals. As the series; central character, Draper is well-suited for the changing demands and opportunities attendant to corporate capitalism. He is also the type of person who is likely to survive in today's unstable, corporate environment. In many ways, Draper represents a crucial transitional figure for both pre-1970s corporate and post-Fordist, flexible capitalism.
ISBN
978-0-7864-4738-1
Publication Date
2011
Publisher
McFarland
City
Jefferson, North Carolina
Keywords
Capitalism, Psychoanalysis, Corporate America, Middle-class
Disciplines
Broadcast and Video Studies | Communication | Critical and Cultural Studies | Film and Media Studies | Television
Recommended Citation
Pierson, David P., "Unleashing a Flow of Desire: Sterling Cooper, Desiring-Production, and the Tenets of Late Capitalism" (2011). Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Books. 725.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/facbooks/725
