When the End Is just the Beginning: The Systemic Indefinability of (Non)subversive Mad Men

The text considers the potential subversiveness  of the Mad Men (2007–2015) by focusing on the final scene of the TV series in which the creators of the series seem to be suggesting that the creator of one of the most famous advertising campaigns in recent history is none other than Donald Draper. Even though this particular scene can be analysed on many different levels, we can characterise it as an embodiment of quality TV. In order to elaborate on this point, the text maps the elements of quality TV, traces a basic genealogy of the TV medium itself, taking into account the latest wave of quality TV and the omnipresent reality of the society of control. Finally, the question of the potential subversiveness of the TV series is dealt with through the evocation of Brecht’s V-effect.

The integral (Slovenian) version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!