Serial sounds. Interactions between image and music in Mad Men

Abstract

The television series Mad Men (Mathew Weiner, 2007-2015) is set in the 1960s in New York and deals mainly with the advertising universe. Its soundtrack contains both original and pre-existing pieces of music. Our goal is to analyze the interactions that are established between image and music in the first season of the series, employing textual analysis. We will examine its musical world, as well as the sensations that this world produces, in order to specify the experience of the spectators. To this aim, we will analyse different scenes from the first season where we can listen to characteristic musical themes of this audiovisual text. First, we will focus on the creative processes developed by composer David Carbonara and music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, both responsible for Mad Men’s music. Secondly, we will analyze different scenes in which the following themes sound: “A Beautiful Mine» (RJD2, 2006); «Band of Gold» (Don Cherry, 1955); «On The Street Where You Live» (Vic Damone, 1956); «P.S. I Love You» (Bobby Vinton, 1967); «The Great Divide» (The Cardigans, 1996); «Água de beber» (Astrud Gilberto y Antonio Carlos Jobim, 1965); «Mad Men Suite» (David Carbonara, 2007); and «Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right» (Bob Dylan, 1963). Finally, during the conclusions we will explain how music interacts with the following dimensions of the audiovisual text: formal elements of the series; audiovisual storytelling; historical accuracy.