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FrancoAngeli Journals

Altri sguardi, a cura di Costanza Jesurum

No. 63 (2026)

Masculine and Feminine, Animus and Anima in the 20th-century subject: On Mad Men

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/jun63-2026oa23149
Submitted
giugno 25, 2026
Published
2026-09-24

Abstract

Cinema first, and later television, have offered symbolic representations rich in meaning-works that frequently found their way into the consulting room, recounted by patients as if they were their own dream imagery. Drawing on the history of psychoanalytic hermeneutics regarding the interpretation of films and television programs, the author offers a psychoanalytic reading of the series Mad Men. First aired in the USA between 2007 and 2015 and subsequently broadcast worldwide, the show achieved such critical and popular acclaim that it even influenced fashion and social mores. The series is interpreted as a rather unique variation of the “hero’s journey”, in which the protagonists embody archetypal manifestations and symbolic aspects of the collective psyche, with a particular focus on a historical period that brought about profound changes in ways of living, thinking, and relating to others.

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