Mad Men

Reasons for popularity

• Men can identify with men on the series
• It identifys what the men were like in the 60s and it is possibly for people compare how men have changed.

 Target Audience

• Men who think of themselves to be the typical hegemonic male.
• Men who look up to the typical hegemonic male.
• Woman who want to compare the typical male from the 60s to the typical male now.

 What representations of gender are they?
In mad men and typically in the 60s woman generally had jobs as receptionists and it is very unusual for Peggy to get the job that she has. This is why the men treat her differently to each other and they cannot get used to the fact she has a job equal to there’s; they believe this is wrong.
The men are the dominant species and they tell the woman what to do. This happens when the man and woman are in bed and the woman tries to talk, although he leaves because it makes him feel like she is taking away some of his power. This could also link to Peggy’s job because the men feel like they should be the only people with a higher job and woman don’t deserve a higher looked upon/ paid job.

What are Don's or the other male’s ideology?

Is there any evidence of masculinity in crisis?
When the man throws the dog outside in order for him to have a drink. He wasn’t prepared to drink alcohol in front of his dog; maybe it made him feel guilty.
Don's daughter looks up to him but he feels that he has betrayed his family (cheating on his wife) and he finds it hard to have a good/strong relationship with his daughter.

What represntations of men are affered/constructed in the media form(s) you've studied?

In fight club the males would like to think they are the typical hegemonic males or they are regaining the power of a hegemonic male or they aspire to be the tradititional hegemonic male.

The characters of fight club don’t believe that they have a place in society and they feel a sense of distortedness. In other words they are more marginalised rather than hegemonic, sense the reason fight club is started and why new people join the club. It could be apparent that the males are related to the theory Bly has and that they are trying to get back to the pre-industrial man, due to their attraction of violence, which is denied in society, and the fact that Tyler shows the role of a father figure to the narrator and trying to bring him up the way he thinks best. Although he isn’t shown to be young, you could look at the narrator as an adolescent. Another way the narrator could be seen as an adolescent is the view or relationship he has with opposite sex, he cannot treat Martha in a mature way.