Lauren M.E. Goodlad on Goth and Mad Men

In today's Chronicle of Higher Education, Lauren M.E. Goodlad, co-editor of Goth: Undead Subculture, reviews the television series, Mad Men. While Goodlad looks at why audiences love Mad Men, she primarily focuses on the character Don Draper. "I have been intrigued by the mysteries of culture before. In the 1990s, I was writing on gothic subculture and the phenomenon of 'men who feel and cry'...all of whom beckoned young men to dramatize emotion in ways that previous generations had scorned as unmasculine. Alongside those men in black were harsher specimens of masculinity in crisis.... While superficially different, both kinds of men were desperate to feel, through catharsis or brutal violence. Yet most of these tales focused on men's relationships with one another.... They were men searching for their feelings in the company of other men. And now comes Don Draper, icon of masculinity-in-crisis for the 21st century. Don is in pain, yes, and hurting himself, too (for all his spectacular emotional reserve). But he is also different. No tears or blood on that impeccably pressed suit. No close ties to other men. What is it that makes this odd blend of Jay Gatsby, the American Gigolo, and the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit so captivating a figure for today?" To read more of the article, please visit here.