Lesson 1 of 4
Mad Men: Basics for Beginners
@meirrosenschein invited you
4 lessons · Novice
About this study
“Mad Men: Basics for Beginners” is a free, 4-lesson study on Mad men at novice, created with soclever, a personal AI teacher. Each lesson takes a few minutes and ends with a check-in question; finish the curriculum and you can take a certificate test to earn a diploma. Starting is free once you sign in — or generate your own study on any topic. Shared by @meirrosenschein.
What you'll learn
- What Mad Men Is About. You've probably heard Mad Men mentioned as one of the best shows ever made, but the title itself doesn't tell you much. What actually happens on the show? Well, that's the…
- Don Draper's Hidden Past. Don Draper is not who he says he is, and that lie is the engine of the entire show. His real name is Dick Whitman—a poor boy from the Midwest who invented a new identity to escape…
- Advertising in the 1960s. The 1960s presented a genuine puzzle for American companies: how do you sell a product when everyone already has access to the same basic goods? A family in 1960 could buy a…
- Identity, Lies, and Social Change. Don Draper walks into a room and everyone believes he is exactly who he appears to be: a brilliant, unflappable advertising executive with impeccable taste and an air of…
Questions this study answers
- What is the central tension that makes *Mad Men* compelling—the conflict between what Don does for work and who he is as a person?
- Why does Don's secret identity matter more to the show than just being a personal problem he keeps hidden?
- Why did selling a product in the 1960s require creating an emotional or aspirational story around it, rather than just describing what it did?
- Why does Don's false identity become more difficult to maintain as the 1960s progress?
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