Dyna Moe’s Mad Men Illustrated

Dr. Enrica Picarelli

Department of American, Cultural and Linguistic Studies
University of Naples “L’Orientale”

A woman in a nightgown is standing in the middle of a field, pointing a rifle to the sky while
the body of a dead bird lies at her feet. The unlit cigarette that dangles from her mouth makes her
look like a character from an old Western, misplaced in time and space, with a modern haircut and
cocktail shoes. Her eyes are fixed on a flock of birds flying over: they must have done something
terrible to snatch her out of bed. The scene doesn’t reveal where the shooting is taking place,
however, the woman’s obsession with the birds does not pass unnoticed.
In fact, thousands of people saw her picture on the web.
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It is a drawing created by Dyna Moe, a freelance artist based in New York and included in
Mad Men Illustrated – an ongoing series of digital works inspired by Matthew Weiner’s TV drama
about the lives of a team of advertisers in 1960’s New York.
SLIDE
The set was assembled after Rich Sommer – an actor from Mad Men – requested the artist to
realise a Christmas card for Weiner’s cast and crew.
SLIDE
The card was posted on Flickr – a blog-site where amateurs store and debate their visual
creations – and ever since it appeared, Moe has collected a growing following. From 2008, sketches
inspired by the show have been uploaded in the hours following the broadcasting of Mad Men on
AMC. Moe has also created Lego mini-figurines, T-Shirts, paper dolls, desktop calendars and other
Mad Men-inspired gadgetry and even worked on an unfinished cocktail recipe book inspired by the
characters’ heavy drinking.
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Although her engagement with the show should be analyzed in detail, I will focus on a
selection of drawings centred on Betty Draper, the woman with the rifle. Part of my analysis deals
with Moe’s aesthetic engagement with the show. On TV, Betty entertains a conflicted relationship
with her unfaithful husband and the intrusive suburban community where they live. Mad Men
explores her painful coming of age, reflected in drawings that address the effects of conformism on
American post-war society. However, Moe also adds variations on Betty’s character, making her a
more assertive woman.
1
 On a discursive level, I argue that the attention received by the illustrations frames the
artist’s oscillating position as a consumer of popular culture as well as a producer of original
material, reflecting the chaotic relationship of contemporary audiences to their favourite shows. My
paper aims to trace her move from invisibility to notoriety and how she got involved in the
reconfiguration of media power set in motion by contemporary “convergence culture”.1 Part of the
reported quotes are from a personal correspondence with the artist.
According to Henry Jenkins, convergence culture is activated by the “circulation” of
contents “across multiple media platforms” as the result of a technological, industrial and aesthetic
shift that “occurs within the brains of individual consumers and through their social interactions
with others”.2 As I show, Moe’s illustrations replicate this “integrated model”3 of interaction
“alter[ing] the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres and
audiences”4 and reconfigur[ing] the show as an “emotional capital” flowing across the media
system.5
Save for a few exceptions,6 Moe’s illustrations follow Mad Men’s original plot.
Some replicate scenes from the episodes, as “Girl Rodeo” (1x10)
SLIDE
that reports on Roger Sterling’s affair with a young actress in “The Long Weekend”;
SLIDE from the show
whereas others are portraits.
While “The Girl Rodeo” copies from the show, the portraits are extrapolations on the vices,
weakness and double-lives of the characters.
SLIDE
“Joan and the Xerox” (2x01) is an example of such creative appropriation. The illustration
plays with the sexual harassment and work obsession pursued by the show through the character of
Joan, the senior secretary and erotic magnet at Sterling Cooper agency. By placing her at the
entrance of an enticing red room, screened by a beaded curtain, the drawing turns the office into a
place of ambiguity where a working tool, the photocopy machine, becomes a sex toy guarded by a
forward woman.

1
Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2005).
2
Ivi, p. 3.
3
Suzanne Scott, “Authorized Resistance: Is Fan Production Frakked?” in Tiffany Potter and C.W. Marshall
(eds.), Cylons in America (New York: Continuum, 2008): 210.
4
Henry Jenkins, “The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence”, International Journal of Cultural Studies,
7.1(2004): 34.
5
The term is used by Coca Cola president Steven J. Heyer to refer to “the strength of a connection
[between the brand and consumer][that] is measured in terms of its emotional impact.” Jenkins,
Convergence Culture, pp. 68-9.
6
Ref. to tarots and Fool’s day card

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 The style of these illustrations is essential and Moe believes that their appeal derives from
their minimalistic look. The figures’ cartoon-like aspect is obtained with vector techniques and a
homogeneous light that doesn’t project shadows, defining a flat appearance. The characters are
often alone or arranged in small groups and are alienated from context as the vignettes show no
details of the setting. This strategy turns them into versatile characters that retain some of the traits
established on TV while also offering the occasion for further creative “extraction”. As Moe’s
Flickr set is assembled sequentially, the illustrations unfold synchronously with broadcasting,
creating a fragmented but coherent flow that can be enjoyed individually or sequentially.
Although Dyna Moe watches Mad Men, she doesn’t call herself a “fan”, stating that “I
certainly enjoy-watching the show, but I'm not an obsessive fan “.7 However, her relationship with
Mad Men is certainly “enunciative”, “productive”[as per John Fiske’s definition of fan activity] and
time-consuming.8 [In Jenkins’ words] Mad Men llustrated “strive[s] to […] explore excess details
and underdeveloped potentials”, often taking a character behind its role on the show to give it
a new, sometimes even dissonant, personality.9
Furthermore, Flickr offers a place for fan participation and creative engagement with the
show. The drawings are subjected to collective approval and discussed extensively, each of them
receiving hundreds of visits a day. There is no doubt that Mad Men Illustrated contributed to
materialize the buzz that has grown around a show that, to this day, has not developed a solid online
following.10 For a series so positively praised by critics, Moe asserts that, besides her
illustrations, “there's not really any other Mad
Men stuff. No products or toys or anything, so fans want to have a
thing that says "I like this show" […]. It's
a fan-signifier more than anything. And it was new every week (even if
I had to stay up all night to get it up in time), which the internet
demands."11
Basically, the artist re-works the televisual canon from the inside, offering a complementary
perspective that respects the show’s representative politics while also offering additional space for
broader discussion. Often the posts regard Moe’s artistic merit and personal life, overlapping
personal vicissitudes with the events on the show. This reminds us that the virtual world of

7
Personal interview.
8
John Fiske, Television Culture (London: Routledge, 1987), p. 123. In an interview on the blog “stickers
and donuts” she declares: “I am doing [sketches] an average rate of four illustrations a week so no
“favorite” reigns very long. I can’t be sentimental… PRODUCE!”. See:
http://stickersanddonuts.com/2008/10/20/dyna-moe-mad-men-interview/
9
Henry Jenkins, Textual Poachers (New York: Routledge, 1992), p. 278.
10
Only recently it has produced some sponsored merchandise like cocktail shakers and portasigarette,
inspired by modernist design.
11
Personal interview.

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convergence culture is not a “closed” system but a space of emergence where domestic and
professional contexts intersect. As Jeff Malpas writes it is “always dependent […] on various
socio-economic and socio-cultural processes” that map the affective economy permeating fan
activity.12
The illustrations catch on Mad Men’s affective and cognitive solicitations from an individual
point of view that is shared and debated and I believe that the drawings on the shooting woman are
one such place where fan and human experience intersect.
As I anticipated, Moe takes liberties with the show, giving new life to its characters. In Mad
Men Betty is the wife of Don Draper, the leading character of the show.
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Betty lives in domestic segregation, regretting her years as a sexually active model. Still in
her 20’s, but already a married woman and mother of two, Betty is repressed and confined to her
suburban house, while her husband pursues affairs in the city. The show often places her at
segregated places as behind closed doors or in front of a shut window, emphasizing a curtailed
mobility the leaves no personal space.
SLIDE
These limitations cause Betty nervous problems. She attends therapy sessions that are
monitored by her husband, while hers and a friend’s obsession with the life of a divorced neighbour
make Betty the source as well as the potential victim of a compulsive exercise of social discipline.
In Mad Men Illustrated, Betty’s struggle with normative behaviour inspires an aesthetic
engagement that adds a feminist take to its unfolding. Moe chooses to focus on Betty’s mental life
on several occasions.
SLIDE
The May and December sketches from the un-official Mad Men calendar address her
nervous breakdown and nostalgic memories, shedding light on a complex character torn between
conformism and anti-conformism. A scene of Betty’s happy marriage is juxtaposed to its neurotic
long-term effects as to highlight the idealism of what could be considered a stereotypical female
fantasy of fulfilment.
In “Ossining Calling”,
SLIDE
posted on Sept. the 17th 2008, Moe’s idea of Betty’s mental situation takes a leap from the
show. Here, we have the woman acknowledging domestic segregation. Moe has her performing
Paul Simonon famous smashing of his bass guitar on the cover of London Calling, an iconic
12
Jeff Malpas, “On the Non-autonomy of the Virtual”, Convergence : The International Journal of Research
into New Media Technologies, 15.2 (2009), p. 136.

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representation of rebellion and self assertion. Throwing away the kitchen chair, Betty too expresses
her frustration, claming a status at the head of a generation of assertive housewives. Contrary to the
show, Betty never gets back to her husband.
I believe that what established the notoriety of Mad Men Illustrated is its affective politics.
Moe says the drawings go beyond a textual engagement with Weiner’s show to create essential
shapes that are “like colorforms”.13 As she underlines, Mad Men’s visual impact is an important
audience attractor. It creates an impressive frame for the action that is not just a background but a
mechanism that blends into the skin of the actors to guide their moves and body language. As in
“Ossining Calling”, Moe’s attention goes to the corporeal architecture of the show, to the way it is
staged, and how the actors are placed in a shot. Her illustrations expose the impact played on
viewers by non-discursive elements and their dynamic power as a mechanism of attraction.
These representations are the focal node of an affective topology that unfolds from Moe’s
Flickr page and blog to corporate and independent voices that hail Mad Men as an open text and the
source of consumer creative inspiration. As Moe declares, the news about Mad Men Illustrated did
not spread according to the linear cartography of marketing strategy but followed the chaotic flow
of “word of mouth”. She states that she just “[got] caught up in an internet meme”, “stumbl[ing]
into a massive wave of interest” that has not weaned away to this day.
According to her, after posting a few drawings, the Internet “discovered” her in July 2008,
unleashing a wave of interest that touched magazines and blogs the likes of USAToday, the Chicago
Tribune and BuzzFeed. She keeps statistics on her page [– showing the aggregate number of views
on her account –] to report on what she calls the “continuing virality” that made her famous. On
October 15 she writes: “Every other week, when my views taper off and I think this attention cloud
is over, I randomly get slammed from an unexpected source and it cycles over again. This is the
fourth cycle in 3 months”.14 The flow of interest reached the top of the television system in April
2009 when Matt Weiner contacted Moe to offered her a position as Mad Men’s official illustrator
which she is negotiating with Lionsgate’s advisors.
In Convergence Culture, Jenkins discusses the new affective strategies of TV corporations,
declaring that they are changing according to “a new configuration of marketing theory […] which
seeks to understand the emotional underpinnings of consumer decision”.15 This claim can be applied
to the institutionalization of Mad Men Illustrated.
Moe states that her characters may be read as more than textual signifiers. Their simple
aspect is configured as an emotional palette that inspires active engagement, creating an emotional
13
Email correspondence.
14
“More Stats”, nobodyssweetheart, October 15, 2008,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nobodyssweetheart/2943888014/ [consulted: July 23rd, 2009].
15
Jenkins, Convergence Culture, pp. 61-2.

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hook16 that morphs textual gratification into recombination, identification and creation. In our
correspondence she mentions that the visitors to her page aren’t interested in discussing plot
unfolding and are more attracted to the mechanism of creative manipulation. She writes: “People
always told me they would try and predict what I would do from each episode, so maybe [my
work] extended the enjoyment of the show into the next week to include the wallpaper as a
part of it. So, it is an appendix, I guess… not to the storyline, but to the fan experience”.17
Lately, Lionsgate has expressed an interest in this expanded fan experience that began with
appropriating Moe’s creative rights. An example is the new feature added on Mad Men official page
that allows fans to “Mad Men themselves” using drawings by Dyna Moe. While last week the artist
posted pictures of her new set of drawings that the company is giving as a premium to advertisers.
SLIDE
The story behind the success of Mad Men Illustrated is thus an instance of new
collaborations and affective engagements. Relatively unknown as an “indie” illustrator, Dyna Moe
moved from the fringes of New York art circles to the spotlight of corporate interest. As an amateur
illustrator at the margin of the canon she appropriated the show’s visual language and progressed
toward its centre as her interest in Mad Men acquired an authorial value in itself. This shift from
bottom-up to top-down involvement reflects the turbulent nature of convergence culture, and asks
us to acknowledge the existence of a prismatic universe of producer-consumer interactions and the
unstable nature and affective engagement of such identities. Moe’s experience reflects Jenkins’
argument that the advent of the Web expanded the visibility of independent or “fan” productions
“represent[ing] a site of experimentation and innovation, where amateurs test the waters, […]
generating new materials […] that may well attract cult followings on their own terms”. 18 Her
example shows that “fan works can no longer be understood as simply derivative of mainstream
materials but must be understood as themselves open to appropriation and reworking by the media
industries”.19
The growing cultural interest and Moe’s relations with some of the show’s actors activated a
topology that exposes the canon to the plastic intervention of forces previously excluded by the
media system. Her involvement with the aesthetic texture of the show introduces a discontinuity
that doesn’t interrupt but enriches and increases its affective impact. By endorsing a strategy for

16
Cfr. Ivan D. Askwith, “Television 2.0: Reconceptualizing Television as an Engagement Medium”, thesis
submitted to the Program in Comparative Media Studies on August 10, 2007 for the Degree of Master of
Science in Comparative and Media Studies.
17
Email correspondence.
18
Jenkins, Convergence Culture, p. 148.
19
Ivi. Moe’s illustrated set bears no copyright mark and has been reproduced, manipulated and even
considered for possible incorporation into the show’s official merchandise. “Feel free to download and use
any of [my works] as wallpapers or write in your blog or website about them. I give everyone blanket
permission to do so”. “On Moe”

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possible engagement, Moe materializes the dynamic potential of media interaction in the shapes of
her bidimensional figures. Her work falls out of the spectrum of resistant viewers and fans, to point
toward new integrated strategies of media interaction.
This shift demands a critical approach to audience research that needs to take into account a
complex architecture of relations, institutional trappings, affective flows of collaboration and
resistance that decompose and recompose the stability of media relations. [And I would love to
conclude with a last quote from Jenkins where he aptly states that “we need to move from a politics
based on culture-jamming – that is disrupting the flow of media from an outside position – towards
one based on blogging – that is, actively shaping the flow of media”.20]

20
Jenkins, “Cultural Logic”, p. 36.