Conflict between projected and actual identities of individuals in partnership in the television series Mad Men and the film Revolutionary Road

graduation thesis

Tanja Vidmajer (Author), Victor Kennedy (Mentor)

Abstract

My diploma thesis deals with the television series Mad Men and the film Revolutionary Road. The first part of the thesis consists of short summaries of both works as well as descriptions of the two married couples as main character figures from each story, the Drapers and the Wheelers. Firstly, the main part of the thesis discusses American post-war domestic ideology and the meaning of identity through a detailed analysis and comparison of the main protagonists and their relationships. Additionally, the thesis reveals how conformity, domestic containment, the banality of suburban life, consumerism, strictly defined gender roles, superficial marriages and the loss of one's true identity lead to adultery and the destruction of the protagonists' true selves. Secondly, alienation, a sense of frustration and silent despair inevitably culminate in the break-up of their marriages. Thirdly, the conflict between the actual and projected identities of the character roles they are bound to play becomes so major that the utopian aspirations of living their lives in the American dream are shattered into pieces. The inability to escape from their empty, hopeless lives is all there is left. Both works can be considered masterpieces, particularly in displaying conformity and the lack of that personal drive to ever escape mediocrity, mainly because they seem to be more determined by the environment than they are capable of realizing. Ultimately, I had to pose a question: Are we all living our true, actual identities, freely and autonomously, or are we just like the Wheelers?

Keywords

domestic containment ideology;conformity;identity;social character;suburbanisation;consumerism;mass culture;quest for authenticity;hopeless emptiness;theses;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2016
Typology:	2.11 - Undergraduate Thesis
Organization:	UM FF - Faculty of Arts
Publisher:	[T. Vidmajer]
UDC:	316.472:791.221.4(73)(043.2)
COBISS:	22039560
Views:	918
Downloads:	80
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	Slovenian
Secondary title:	Konflikt med projiciranimi in dejanskimi identitetami posameznikov znotraj partnerskih odnosov v televizijski seriji Mad Men in filmu Revolutionary Road
Secondary abstract:	Diplomsko delo se ukvarja s televizijsko serijo Mad Men in filmom Revolutionary Road. Prvi del se sestoji iz kratkih povzetkov obeh del in zakonskih parov, Draperjev in Wheelerjev, kot glavnih protagonistov obeh zgodb. Osrednji del diplomske naloge obravnava ameriško povojno ideologijo zajezitve družbe na ravni doma in pomen identitete skozi podrobno analizo in primerjavo glavnih protagonistov in njihovih odnosov. Prikazuje kako konformnost, zajezitev družbe na ravni doma, banalnost predmestnega življenja in potrošništvo, striktno določene spolne vloge, plitve zakonske zveze in izguba prave, dejanske identitete, vodijo k prešuštvu in destrukciji njihovega bistva. Odtujitev, občutki frustracij in tihi obup neizogibno vodijo k razdoru njihovih zakonskih zvez. Polega tega konflikt med dejansko in projicirano identiteto protagonistov, ki so jo primorani igrati, postane tako močan, da se celotne ameriške sanje, ki so jim bile obljubljene, razpadejo v koščke. Vse kar ostane je zavedanje nezmožnosti pobega iz njihovih praznih, brezupnih življenj. Obe drami sta mojstrovini v prikazovanju konformnosti in nezmožnosti glavnih akterjev, da bi zbrali dovolj notranje moči in drznosti, da pobegnejo iz povprečnosti. Na koncu sem morala postaviti vprašanje: Ali živimo v skladu z našo pravo, dejansko identiteto, svobodni in avtonomni, ali smo prav takšni kot Wheelerji?
Secondary keywords:	ameriška ideologija zajezitve družbe na ravni doma;konformnost;identiteta;družbeni karakter;suburbanizacija;potrošništvo;množična kultura;iskanje avtentičnosti;brezupna praznina;diplomska dela;
URN:	URN:SI:UM:
Type (COBISS):	Undergraduate thesis
Thesis comment:	Univ. v Mariboru, Filozofska fak., Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko
Pages:	50 f.
ID:	9124121