If you follow me on social media or are unlucky enough to have to put up with me in real life, you’ll know I’m obsessed with Mad Men. My poor students went through the first weeks of the semester being told how EVERYTHING WE WERE STUDYING WAS ACTUALLY DONE BETTER IN MAD MEN. My obsession is fundamentally abnormal, and is discussed here, in this blog post.
So I’m not going to bore you with more Mad Men adulation (at least until the new season starts). Instead, I’m going to bore you with my adulation of a documentary that, at least in the first half, was awesome to watch as a Mad Men devotee.
The movie is Art & Copy, and here’s the trailer:
I love documentaries as much as I love Mad Men, and when I’m not tweeting my #lessonsdumadmen, I’m tweeting my outrageously excited reactions to things I just learned in a documentary. But I found Art & Copy to be so riveting, I couldn’t even tweet it.
The first half of the film is perfect for anyone who loves Mad Men. They talk about the age of advertising in which Mad Men is set, and they even discuss some of the real ad campaigns that Mad Men references, often as successful campaigns created by Don Draper. It was also interesting to see the “real” Peggys: the women who became powerhouses of their industry at a time when most women were relegated to the secretarial pool.
But the whole move was a fascinating reflection on how advertising works in our society in general, as well as its effect on our culture. For you creative types out there, it was also–especially in the second half–a really fascinating riff on creativity and the creative spirit.
If you’re not interested in anything I’ve mentioned, the second half of the documentary is worth a watch just for the interior design of the headquarters of the top firms. I gotta say, I wish writers could have offices like the big advertising companies. If any of y’all want an Urban Fantasist In Residence, I am THERE. Especially any of you in NYC or Frisco. Just sayin’. 😉
Bottom line: if you like Mad Men, like a good documentary, or are interested in either the nature of creativity or the effects of advertising on our culture, you should love Art & Copy.
And wait till you see the Nest! That’s all I’m saying. Nest.
Nicole where did you see this doc? Did you rent it?
It's streaming on Netflix. 🙂
Book rec: Dorothy L. Sayers' "Murder Must Advertise" takes place in a British ad agency in the 1930s. She had worked in one of the top ones before writing her Lord Peter novels, so OF COURSE 🙂 she had to set one there. Very enjoyable and shows advertising hasn't changed all that much …
It used to be on Netflix. Now you can buy a copy for about $23 at the Art & Copy website. As a professor, that's a great value. I need another movie like it. Hard to find and match.