Mad Men and the Falling Bodies of 9/11

Abstract

In this article, Daniel Adleman and Chris Vanderwees explore the unique manner in which AMC’s Mad Men remediates traumatic images of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on Manhattan’s Twin Towers. The authors take up the production of the show’s title sequence, the media controversy surrounding its representation of 9/11’s falling bodies, and Don Draper’s perilous trajectory over the course of the series. Their analyses lead Adleman and Vanderwees to dwell on Mad Men’s portrayal of the advertising industry as a crucible of, and synecdoche for, unfettered capitalism. The authors contend that Mad Men’s falling man sequence ultimately serves as an uncanny commentary on American political anxieties, contradictions, and uncertainties at the beginning of the twenty-first century.