OUR ABILITY TO CHANGE,

ACCORDING TO MADMEN:
A POPULAR CULTURE STUDY USING
SEMIOTICS AND FEMINIST ANALYSIS

BY ANGELA SMITH
INTRODUCTION

• Mad Men (2007 – 2015), a period drama set primarily in the 1960s, was AMC’s
first original series.
• Textual analysis of the last two episodes
• Season 7, Episode 13, “The Milk & Honey Route” aired on May 10, 2015
• Season 7, Episode 14, “Person to Person” aired on May 17, 2015

• Both episodes are written & directed by series creator Matthew Weiner. These
episodes take place in the fall of 1970.
• This primary research study uses semiotics and feminist analysis to establish
examples in the texts that demonstrate two of Mad Men’s recurrent themes:
• The ability to change
• The role of women in society
SEMIOTICS
• Semiotics can be defined as the study, interpretation, and analysis of signs
and symbols.

FEMINIST ANALYSIS
• Feminist analysis can be defined as the interpretation of texts using feminist
theory. Feminist theory deals with the politics and social constructs of gender
inequality.
• Weiner uses cars as a way to represent Don’s journey

• Both episodes open with Don driving a car, but both scenes have very
different meanings
 EPISODE 13: THE PAST

• “The Milk and Honey Route” finds Don in a strange place: a motel in
small town Oklahoma. Here, Don begins to confront his past.
• By the end of the episode, he has both literally and figuratively let go of most of
his baggage, including his beloved Cadillac – he is ready to move on, and no
longer running from his past.
 EPISODE 14: THE FUTURE

• “Person to Person” finds Don in yet another strange place: a counter culture
retreat center in California.
• In this episode, after learning of Betty’s cancer, Don struggles with his past yet
again. Finally, Don ends his confrontation with his past and is seemingly finally
able to find peace.
 THE WOMEN IN MAD MEN

• Betty is the traditional “1950s housewife”

• Gave up her modeling career when she married Don (prior to season 1)
• Eventually left Don, but remarried Henry Francis right away
• Peggy is the “career woman”
• Gave up a child for adoption during season 1 – she “wanted other things”
• Don Draper’s protégé, she worked her way up from a secretary to a copywriter
• Joan is somewhere in between
• An office manager, her only career ambition in season 1 is to find a husband
• She eventually marries, has a son, gets a divorce, and becomes a partner and
account executive
• In “The Milk and Honey Route” Betty is diagnosed with lung cancer and given
only a few months to live.
• Weiner has frequently used Mad Men to point out the sexism that existed in
the 1960s – with the other female characters, we often see workplace sexism.
With Betty, we see her as the “property” of her husbands (first Don, then
Henry).
 THE DEATH OF THE HOUSEWIFE

• Weiner uses Betty’s diagnosis to symbolize the “death” of the mid-century

housewife. She is literally dying, and so is the archetype that she
represents.
• The decision to have Betty’s demise come from smoking seems to be
symbolic as well: a generation and culture that glamorized smoking is
also coming to an end.
• Although she has lived her life in the shadow of her husbands, she will not
have men dictate how she will die.
• Betty is flawed, as all of Weiner’s characters are, but she is still a strong
woman.
 THE RISE OF THE CAREER WOMAN
• Weiner further symbolizes the “death of the housewife” by giving his other
two female leads promising futures.
• Joan breaks up with her boyfriend when he is unsupportive of her career.
• Joan asks Peggy to go into business with her.
• “Person to Person” finds Betty’s health deteriorating while Peggy and Joan
thrive – times are changing for women. The 1970s will be the defining decade
of second wave feminism.
• Peggy, after a series of failed relationships, finds herself happily single and
thriving at work.

• Although this is a familiar trope, Weiner isn’t using it in the way that we are
used to.
• Stan isn’t Peggy’s “prince charming” and their relationship isn’t superficial.
IN THE END…

• We find Don embracing therapy, change, and counter culture at the retreat center.
• Finding peace, he is able to come up with his “next big idea” for an ad campaign.
• The series ends with Don smiling as he seemingly comes up with the idea for the
1971 “Buy the World a Coke” commercial.
• Assuming that Don returns to the advertising world, as the show suggests, is his
newfound peace permanent or temporary?
• Coke
• The Coca-Cola machine at the motel in episode 13 was a symbol of the past.
• Does this mean that Don returns to his old habits?
 IN CONCLUSION:
IS CHANGE REALLY POSSIBLE,
PERSONALLY OR CULTURALLY?

• The final two episodes of Mad Men show that people can change, and embracing
and confronting the past is the only way to move forward.
• Personal growth happens in waves – just like social movements.
• Even though we are capable of change, it might not be permanent. The final scene
of Mad Men connotes togetherness, while also trying to sell us something,
suggesting that Don may have returned to his old ways.
• Individuals can return to old habits, and so can society.
• Many themes in Mad Men are still very relevant today:
• Personal & professional growth
• Work & life balance
• Women’s rights
• Reducing the stigma of mental health treatment
• Commercialism

• Whether or not true change is really possible is ultimately left up to the viewer.