Mad (wo)men ou le devenir sujet féminin : historicité et généalogie d’une conscience de genre et d’une conscience féministe

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which the TV show Mad Men depicts the possibility of becoming a subject for a woman in the 1960s in the United States. Drawing on a détailed analysis of the relationships between (his)story and fiction created by the fictional apparatus, it accounts for the main female protagonists’ evolution, their relationships, as well as those which connect them to other secondary female characters, which put at stake other power relationships such as race and age, as well as to their male counterparts. Through the exam of the ways in which the « great » history of gender meet particular histories, which are shaped by them and contribute to shape it as well, the article focuses on the genealogy of gender consciousness and feminist consciousness shown through and with the process of the TV show, i.e., in a subtle game between reality and fiction. To do so, and although the two levels are keen to overlap, it firstly examines the ways in which gender norms which weigh upon women are depicted before analyzing, secondly, the various paths of female emancipation Mad Men shows.

Keywords

• Mad Men
• gender
• feminism
• gender consciousness
• feminist consciousness
• genealogy