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Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD

The Myth of Breaking Bad

Brittany Delacruz Dr. Hugh Curnutt Montclair State University

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD

ABSTRACT BREAKING BAD AND NORMALCY

In this paper I will examine the outcome that two characters from AMC's Breaking Bad have on society. I will be using support by Roland Barthes “Myth Today” and his mythology theory, as well as Stuart Hall's Encoding Decoding model, distinctly using technical infrastructure and frameworks of knowledge. Linking these theories together with this hit televised series, it will become apparent on how Barthe's “myth today” is seen in society. Breaking Bad as a TV show has a unique approach to how the characters solves their issues. This is one way the show gains popularity for how relatable and intriguing these issues truly are. AMC which is quite a successful network with popular shows such as The Walking Dead really took big recognition for Breaking Bad and how innovative and risky this show truly was. This network took amazing limelight by keeping fans hung by their chairs episode after episode. Season after season, unlike some shows, Breaking Bad got even better. The main character from Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston who, prior to this role was better known as the father Hal on Malcom in the Middle, became known as a powerful and influential actor after taking on and succeeding the role as Walter White. Looking into this paper in detail, I will be discussing the two of the main characters of Breaking Bad which are Walter White,and Walter's business partner Jesse Pinkman. In addition, I will be analyzing their lifestyles and approaches to their lives and the effect this series has on its viewers.

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD

Breaking bad describes and analyzes the characters and their struggles that involve health, financial security, and drug dealing. The pilot that was premiered on AMC on January 20, 2008 had quite the stir up of reviews. The whole first season itself only hit 1.2 million viewers. Though those ratings are mediocre, Charlie Collier, AMC channel's president and general manager knew he was creating something different. However, it was a challenge for everyone to believe him which was seen when he had to pitch this show to advertisers. AMC is an ad invested network,and like any network, the first season of a show is always hard to pitch. Breaking Bad was therefore even more of the challenge for advertisers because of the risque material. Adding on, there were also other obstacles within the channel during the first season. There was the writer's strike in 2008 that only allowed creator Vince Gulligan to get to a full 7 episodes. In addition, there was also the transition and reputation that AMC wanted to change; they wanted to go from a basic movie channel to creating their own original series. This was accomplished in Charlie Colliers perspective, in an interview with Buzzfeed, he states that, “when Bryan Cranston won the Emmy for Breaking Bad’s first season, he said, “Now we’re a network.” (buzzfeed.com) Collier knew what Breaking Bad was going to become and he was slightly put at ease once Bryan Cranston won this Emmy with the show being on air for such a short time frame. He knew AMC had a reputation to mold and it was only becoming stronger from there. AMC then teamed up with Netflix in September 2011 that helped viewers at their leisure binge watch episode after episode and at their convenience of their own speed. Netflix then helped boost viewers for Breaking Bad after the popularity for the next season to premiere was intense. Although you cannot watch AMC like HBO as in the way of viewing it on your phone or your laptob, AMC prides itself as being something more then just a TV channel. AMC's motto is “something more,” with a mission statement of, “Whether it's your favorite films or acclaimed original programming, AMC always brings

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD you Something More.” (amctv.com) When Breaking Bad debuted, this did just that, it brought something more to tv; Christian Collier and Vince Gulligan knew there were making an incomparable show that is relatable to all viewers, regardless of its content. Viewers sympathize for Walter White who is a soon to be dying man that is just trying to hold onto his life. AMC is a network that first was known for airing films but now has a lot of popular shows including, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and of course Breaking Bad. These shows all bring something different to TV, and most importantly basic cable, which as a network that is their mission. These shows are rather racy and explicit in comparison with other series on the air. They are very graphic and straightforward. Breaking Bad likes to pride themselves on this because this is one of the characteristics that make the show feel so real. It shows characters at their worst and at their best but still with real emotions. Comparing to other shows and networks on basic cable, they give the character an intense situation and they still appear to seem okay, making it unrealistic. In contrast, Breaking Bad and the other shows on AMC, we see the characters at their prime and then at rock bottom. This makes it easy for viewers to feel interconnected with their favorite characters and feel empathetic for them consistently season after season. Breaking Bad is about Walter White and his life. He is a middle aged family oriented man,extremely close with his wife Skyler White, his son Walter White Jr, and his brother and sister in law, Hank Schradder and Marie Schradder. Walter White is your average middle classed American living in New Mexico with a career as a high school chemistry teacher. It is an average lifestyle until Walter White gets diagnosed with lung cancer right on his 50th birthday, and ironically he was never a smoker in his life. As being diagnosed with cancer, this can be considered to be every American's worst nightmare. “The naturalization of the concept is the essential function of myth...This is why myth is experienced as innocent speech: not because its intentions are hidden if they were hidden, they could not be efficacious— but because they are naturalized. (Barthes, 1973, p. 268). This

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD helps viewers relate to Walter White when he takes extreme circumstances to stay alive by paying for his cancer treatments and provide financially for his family. Breaking Bad's main message is about Survival of the Fittest. This is exhibited by Walter being a financial restraint man that is willing to do whatever it takes to help increase his income for health purposes and leave his family with money. History has it in America that we are supposed to work as hard as we can, to make the most money we can, to leave our family, once we go, with the most money we can. Walter, as any loving parent would, wants to leave a college fund for his kids when he dies. As an employed teacher he has a hard time making ends meet financially as it is. Things seem to get worst in Walter's eyes when he realizes he has inadequate health benefits that he knows from the start of his diagnosis is not going to cover the costs of all his treatments. He also knows that when he dies, presently he will not be able to leave anything for his family. In the first season he tries to hide the fact that he has cancer from his family until he eventually squirms at the thought of this and confesses about his illness. His family creates a bond over trying to help Walter White develop a plan to beat cancer but Walter privately wants to deal with these issues by himself. He starts to ponder about how he is going to pay for these health expenses and his family after death and with time, creates the idea to reach out to a former troubled student of his. Aaron Paul who plays Jesse Pinkman, was a rebel in high school and Walter assumes that with time, Jesse has only become worst. When Walter first goes to visit Jesse he realizes he has come to the right person, this is Walter's go to guy to learn the ropes to the drug dealing game. Walter confesses to Jesse that he has cancer and he needs his help to cook and sell meth. “Life is survival of the fittest, and sometimes life’s demands of success aren’t always in range. Vince Gilligan’s ability to create a story of emotionally relatable elements: cancer, financial crisis, a physical disability, then shock us with a “solution,” is a roller coaster of emotion, but one you’re willing to ride over again.” (theadventoftheantihero.wordpress.com) The situations seen in Breaking Bad are not your typical story lines in basic cable. They are unconventional but the viewer and society comprehend it to be “survival

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD of the fittest” which is normal. This supports Ronald Barthe's thought of the mythology at work. Breaking Bad makes the witty material of the show almost seem normal and acceptable, helping viewers sympathize with Walter and the sins he commits. This show is uncensored and explicit but yet they still get viewers to comprehend the content as being normal, no matter how climatic and unreserved the episode was. Barthes myth theory continues to help support this when Barthe mentions that pictorial messages are looked at and consumed with out it really being heavily interpreted. Breaking Bad's message is very similar to that, viewers allow the material to be comprehended easily. In Barthes excerpt he supports this when he states that, “Mythical speech is made of a material which has already been worked on so as to make it suitable for communication: it is because all the materials of myth (whether pictorial or written) presuppose a signifying consciousness, that one can reason about them while discounting their substance. This substance is not unimportant: pictures, to be sure, are more imperative than writing, they impose meaning at one stoke, without analyzing or diluting it. But this is no longer a constitutive difference.” (262) There are two parts of myth that make up the sign. There is the signifier and the signified. The signifier being what is exactly being seen and the signified is what it means to us as a society. The signifier sees an ill man who is trying to get by and does not have another way so he drug deals and by doing this he helps himself and his family. The signified which is what society observes is that Walter White is a family oriented man that will do whatever it takes for him to continue stay alive by paying for his cancer costs and leave his family with some money once he is wiped off the earth. The financial desperation becomes even more full throttle once Walter loses his job due to his illness and does not have another way of financial income, he then begins to cook meth full time. The signified is the love he has for his family and the strong family bond. Society witnesses Walter take whatever risks it takes

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD to support them financially and to protect them from his double life, regardless of the desperate and dangerous measures he takes for them. This is also seen on Skyler's part, she tries to help maintain the family bond by protecting Walter from going to jail and starts to participate in his illegal activities. In Stuart Hall's Encoding and Decoding model he makes a statement of how frameworks of knowledge is effective in creating a susceptible outlook on what viewers should expect. Viewers are assisted in this by the shows familiarized with Breaking Bad, the network it is on, and the visual aspect the show carries. All of these qualities contribute to what viewers will anticipate. The AMC network that has progressed from a dull movie channel to a mesh of both movies and series network, has had two hit series prior to Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Mad Men. Though it is not as convenient to access as series on premier channels such as HBO, there are comfort levels viewers get from AMC. The network makes the viewers at ease with airing time that was appropriate for all who watched. With an audience of adults and older teens, the airing time for new episodes were 10pm on Sundays. As society knows, Sundays are a day for comfort and leisure, where most Americans are home and usually watching TV at night. Viewers also similar to HBO, have high expectations for new shows because AMC is different. When Breaking Bad premiered its first season, important journalists and heavy TV critics were creating hysteria about it. After 2 seasons, Breaking Bad was the best show of the network catching in more viewers than both Mad Men and Walking Dead. In the introduction to the show of Breaking Bad, it appears to seem about chemistry with the credits of the characters names being elements of the periodic table. After the credits it introduces each episode with smoke appearing as though it is coming from a scientific experiment. This introduction is genius as it reveals to viewers that this show deals with chemistry and cooking of something scientific. As all fans are aware, the master cook and scientist is Heisenburg, which is Walter White's street identity. It is a self explanatory introduction to the show that is appropriate within the content. Prior to airing, Breaking Bad was being compared to Weeds. Weeds is a show about a single mom in California selling weed to support her

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD family. Again, another character we witness looking for an extra income and has no other means to go about it, so she starts selling a drug, marijuana. The technical infrastructure of Breaking Bad was intense. Sony who teamed up with AMC to create the show, had a unique cinematographer to help execute their goals, Michael Slovis. He shot the whole series on a 35 mm film, which in contrary most shows are now captured on video. The reason why AMC specifically does this is because AMC considers themselves “filmmakers,” known for their acronym, America's Movie Classics. Slovis mentions in a Forbes interview that “I think that was a wise choice for Breaking Bad. There are certain advantages that film has for certain kind of storytelling, the cameras are autonomous, they don’t have any cables, and the cameras are robust and sturdy, when you’re shooting out in the desert.” (forbes.com) He also mentions that there was a limited amount of film per day, specifically 11,000 feet. Because of this, him and other directors were meticulous threw every detail and states that nothing was random about shooting. He also mentions that it is not like most shows where they edit it into something, and states that “The show was shot with loving concern for every single frame.” (forbes.com) Taking place in New Mexico, the location alone was appropriate, the lighting worked in the show's favor. The natural light brought a pure New Mexican and desert feel that came across the screen for viewers. This exhibited Slovis's goal which was he wanted to make the show as realistic and so he simplified it as much as possible. He did not want to overdo the scenes so he limited what a lot of cinematographers use in excess today, POV shots. This technical infrastructure from Hall's encoding, decoding model, is put into the scenes intensely to help encode and decode the message in a way that makes the show more comprehensible. They literally have the viewers feel like they are watching the show take place coming out of a perspective from a human's eyes instead of a camera. Slovis really exceeded his abilities within this series. Looking at Breaking Bad, there are two characters that occur simultaneously with mythology and encoding and decoding. Walter White who is the brains behind the meth operation and the

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD aggressive drug dealer but loving dad and husband, and Jessie Pinkman who is Walter's business partner but yet a massive drug addict which tends to effect Walter's business continuously. Bryan Cranston who plays Walter White, a 50 year old man who just wants to be “the man of the family,” does whatever it takes to make money. As society puts it, the man should want to provide for his family, and ofcourse the money maker should always leave money for their family after they die;Walter wants to do exactly that. The measures he takes to do so are desperate and impulsive. Selling meth to gangsters and thugs and getting involved with people that without drugs, he has absolutely nothing in common with. Season after season Walter begins to slowly lose his rationality with things and starts to murder people to get to the top of the drug chain. As he gets on top, he starts to slowly lose everything. Ironically the more money Walter White consumes, the more his life becomes to unravel. When Walter acts out for money and tries to play the bread winner father character it coincides with Barthe's theory. Mythology is connected to history. It relies on simple and recognizable meanings which strengthens rather than challenges social meanings. America's society is known to have the men be the bread winners for the family,men are always supposed to be financial providers.That is how mythology is working in society and why Walter White gets such sympathy from the viewers, he is just trying to be a “good dad” and a “good husband.”Mythology is also effective in society as it is also seen for men to participate in drug dealing versus women. If the show was based on Skyler White acting in all the illegal activities Walter did, the perceptions of the show surely would have changed. It is not appropriate for society and therefore, viewers would not have been so empathetic with her character. Walter White is a caring, loving, and ill man that we as society want him to succeed to his goals, we also want him to live. Walter White at one point of the series finds out his cancer is in remission, fans are relieved and happy. Alot of Americans have cancer, and sick or not it can be assumed that viewers watching Walter's actions would say, “i'd do that too,” making it consistently and undoubtedly acceptable. It is a norm to want Walter, the loving father to survive to be with his family and to help

Running Head: THE MYTH OF BREAKING BAD raise his new born baby. Barthe puts it into clearer light in the class text, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture about mythology. “Semiology has taught us that myth has the task of giving an historical intention a natural justification, and making contingency appear eternal. Now this process is exactly that of bourgeois ideology. If our society is objectively the privileged field of mythical significations, it is because formally myth is the most appropriate instrument for the ideological inversion which defines this society: at all levels of human communication, myth operates the inversion of anti-physis into pseudo-physis” (Barthes, 1973 p. 268). Even though Walter makes terrible choices for himself and his family, it would be unusual to root for Walter to die. Reason being, Walter repeatedly says through out the series that he does it for them. Jesse Pinkman which is played by Aaron Paul, is a troubled 26 year old who means well but is heavily addicted to meth. Teaming up with Walter White they consider themselves to be “business partners,” yet the whole series Walter is giving Jesse commands and if he doesn't do, he mentions little threats here and there that he'll turn him into his brother-in-law, a DEA agent. Jesse in some viewers eyes can be considered to be scared of Walter. He is intimidated by his intelligence but however, Jesse also pities him. Throughout the series they are constantly having problems, whether it's them getting robbed, or them plotting someone else to kill, these two characters rarely seem to get along. Jesse at one point wants to stop cooking meth but he feels bad for Walter and knows that cooking is his only source of income, especially after Walter stops teaching. The two continue down this ugly road that they both know is all about money. In the series finale Walter is found familyless and financially broke, two places you would not have thought he'd end up. He goes to the nazi's clubhouse where Jesse is a meth slave and in summarization they have a big shoot out leaving Jesse and Walter s...