The Dramatization and Criticism of the Ideal of Success in American Society on American Television: A Case Study of the Representation of Success in Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire.

Abstract

This paper will look at the reasons why work and success are such integral parts of American society, and specifically in which way the success-related themes of the self-made man, ambition and crime are dramatized and criticized in American television series. This paper proposes that the dramatization and the prevalence of the ideal of success in the American television series Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire suggests an ingrained fascination and a recent disillusionment with the narrative of the American Dream within American culture.