Doit-on regarder Mad Men ?

Abstract

This article explores crucial concepts of Stanley Cavell's moral perfectionism by asking: what does it mean to watch Mad Men closely? Matthew Weiner's TV show's portrayal of the ordinary, the familiar, adulthood, gender and social issues does not beg to be rebuked as much as it raises the question of the acceptance, or the sharing, of what is shown at the screen. Is the show's America - its words, its deeds, its sins - a place the audience can call home? In order to respond, the audience must follow Don Draper's life, and eventually discover that Draper is not an essence but a search - of himself, his home. Then Mad Men can arguably be said to confront viewers with the unreality of their (everybody's) present, by showing that a new Draper, or a new America, appears « out there », far away, because we are not capable of seeing it (living it, creating it) right here, close to us.

Keywords

• education
• emancipation
• learning
• moral perfectionism
• scepticism