Posts by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen
MAD MEN Season 7: The Women
Revolution or Evolution?
Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” defined the 60’s and the Cultural Revolution taking place. These times were especially momentous for women in their roles in the workplace and as wives. Enter the world of Mad Men – and we are in the culture that fueled the fires for Friedan’s 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique. The Women’s…
Read More
MAD MEN Season 7 Episode 1
Where Are Joan, Peggy, Megan, and Don in 1969?
Could Sterling, Cooper, and Partners of Mad Men fame be an even worse environment for – and especially the women – as we enter Mad Men Season 7 in 1969? Each of the main characters seems poised for the struggle of their lives – as Mad Men’s psychologically-minded creator Matthew Weiner hints: “This season is…
Read More
MAD MEN Season 7 Episode 2
Is There Hope for Don and Sally?
Is there hope for love in Mad Men Season 7 Episode 2? Maybe between Don (Jon Ham) and Sally (Kiernan Shipka). But, first of all, Don needs to stop lying – and, finally, in Mad Men Season 7 Episode 2, he’s beginning to come clean. You see, Don’s lies catch up to him when Sally…
Read More
MAD MEN Season 7 Preview
Don Draper’s Shame
The Toll of Living a Lie
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) has been running from his past through the last six seasons of Mad Men. At least, he’s tried his best – amidst flashbacks and his brother’s return. To me as a psychoanalyst, there’s no doubt he’s a traumatized man. A man using various methods, mostly affairs, and alcohol, to convince himself it’s…
Read More
12 YEARS A SLAVE
What Makes Some People Crueler?
Some people need someone to hate. In Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay, “Anti-Semite and Jew,” he says: “If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him.” I don’t think it’s a far leap to put the history of Blacks in America in the same category. The important question is why? Why does this need to…
Read More
HER
Fantasy Relationship 3.0
Spike Jonze is interested in loneliness. His new film, Her, is a semi-futuristic exploration of one lonely man’s struggle to learn what love is and what love is not. Here’s what we know about Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix). He has a broken heart. His marriage to Catherine has come to a devastatingly sad end. At BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com,…
Read More