"Mad Men" and television aesthetics: Final shots as a tool for textual configuration

Palabras clave: Television Aesthtics, Style, Shot, Mad Men, Aesthetic of emptiness

Resumen

Academic studies of Mad Men confirm that television aesthetics awaken a secondary interest among scholars. The present work joins the body of critical literature that defends the importance of style to television programming. In spite of the thrust and value of the new results achieved by television aesthetics, it is enough to look into the existing bibliography about works like Mad Men to arrive at the conclusion that their scope continues to be comparatively residual. In concrete terms, a formal analysis (scale, placing, length, angle, movement, composition, etc.) of the ‘shot unit’ related to this series is proposed. This will examine the 92 units that comprise the final shot of each episode of Mad Men, to yield the quantitative and qualitative elements that help forge the ‘aesthetic of emptiness’ that characterizes the TV show created by Matthew Weiner. The final images of each installment make up a kind of unhurried ritual in which the television form portrays a man on his own, trapped in an oppressive setting and unable to progress dramatically.

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Biografía del autor/a

Miguel A. Huerta, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca

Miguel Á. Huerta is Associate Professor at the School of Communication and Secretary General and Quality Manager at the Pontifical University of Salamanca. His research concerns Fiction Genres in Audiovisual Media and Film Production and Aesthetics. He published four monographs in Spanish on, Film genres. Uses in the Spanish cinema (1994-1999), Analysis of Spanish cinema. Sixty films for the end of the century, Celluloid in flames. American cinema after 9-11 and Paul Schrader.

Ernesto Pérez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Ernesto Pérez Morán is Associate Professor at Medellin University. His research concerns Film History, Audiovisual Languages and Fiction Narratives in TV. He published four books, several papers in ISI/Scopus journals and nowadays he’s running a Doctor’s Degree at his University.

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Publicado
2019-09-10
Cómo citar
Huerta M. A. y Pérez E. (2019). "Mad Men" and television aesthetics: Final shots as a tool for textual configuration. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 31(4), 825-838. https://doi.org/10.5209/aris.62072
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Artículos