Mad Men's Don Draper as Artist as Teacher

• In Event: Maddening Lessons: Critical Engagements With Mad Men and Curriculum Thought

Abstract

This paper relies on a cultural studies framework in which popular culture is seen as an important site of discussion (Fiske, 1989; Hall, 1998; Kellner, 2002). In the case of the artifact, Mad Men (Weiner, 2007a), its popularity in the United States is especially intriguing given it is a period drama set in the 1960s. This paper contends that the current neoliberal moment (Harvey, 2005), in which a hyper-realized individual is subject to accountability measures of productivity rather than praise for creative endeavors, should be considered a factor in the show’s relevance. Moreover, this paper posits its main character, Don Draper, as a means to discuss teachers’ roles in the current state of U.S. curriculum influenced by neoliberal education reform (Apple, 2001; Giroux, 2010; Ravitch, 2010; Watkins, 2012).

Draper represents a seeming dichotomy between art and commerce as an advertising firm’s creative director. He demonstrates a flair for creating imaginative advertising campaigns meant to play on consumers’ emotions in order to encourage them to buy a product. He is at the height of his skills during the pitches to potential company clients—perhaps best demonstrated in the episode, “The Wheel”, in which he reintroduces Kodak’s new slide projector as the Carousel (Weiner, 2007d). Draper is considered a giant of the industry with peers often seeing his process as artistic and magical. Draper himself extols the creative virtues of advertising eschewing research and data as irrelevant. At the same time, Draper’s cynicism about the very emotions he seeks to stir is evident by the line, “What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons” (Weiner, 2007b). His cynicism alludes to an awareness of his artistic process within a larger capitalist system where his creativity, however impressive and rewarding, is meant to sell products. The paradox Draper represents is similar to the role of the teacher in the current United States curriculum. The work of teachers has often been posited as artistic (Dewey, 2008, 2012; Eisner, 1983; Greene, 1977, 1995). However, if teachers see their work as an artistic process how does it fit within a curriculum heavily dominated by neoliberal deform in which artistry is only in service to higher test scores? Similar to Draper, belief in the artistic merit of their jobs allows them to see their work as “meaningful” in spite of an audit culture (see Apple, 2001) that tells them it is not. This connection to teachers is more apparent in an episode in which Draper begins an affair with his daughter’s teacher (Weiner, 2007c).

Akin to Taubman’s (2009) discussion of educator’s role in the growth of neoliberal education reform, a belief in artistry reinforces teachers' complicitness in an audit culture by further ingraining the role self-surveillance plays in curriculum. Draper is problematic as he represents an idealized advertising “mad man” (white, male, and wealthy). His privilege allows for his artistry just as the idealized teacher might be allowed the same only in service to neoliberal goals.

Author

• Gabriel Stephen Huddleston, Texas Christian University