Breaking Bad

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Recommended: Easy history of television

In many ways the inception of television has been a growing phenomenon in our history, cultivating many moments that changed the view of how we preserve what influences us. Television has since become so important in people’s lives showcasing films, news, shows, commercials, etc. estimating a whopping 96% universal presence in U.S. households (Croteau, 2014) one can wonder if what is shown on television is a product of the environment or the product of the viewer. This brings me to two major themes in media, women and violence, and how it might have a connection towards what viewers seem to relate to. For the purpose of my research I’ll concentrate on the critically acclaimed show Breaking Bad. In particular its protagonist Walter White and his wife Skyler White and how the show deals with the issue of violence and gender.
When delving into Breaking Bad one must ask him/herself, what is ideology? According to Croteau and Hoynes, ideology is “basically a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world” although as much as ideologies reflect the world, most of the time it shows it in a distorted way. So what is the position of contemporary media? Well for the most part in order to understand the ideology of media you must look into its history. Older media such as the television programs of the 1950s and early 1960s, which were primarily focused on white casts and male leads (Croteau, 2014). For example the shows Gunsmoke and Bonanza, which ran from 1955 to 1975 and 1959 to 1973 respectively, both shows, were western programs and both shows used to have white casts with male leads. Also both shows featured woman as side characters. Viewing a past time now is pretty easy to see how things have changed in terms of the dive...

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...man among her two children puts her on edge. The study showed that woman in dangerous relationships tended to participate in crimes just to appease and reduce the danger they are in (Gelles, 2012).
At this point we are left wondering why we subject ourselves to watching such a violent and misogynistic show. The writing, acting, directing, cinematography, etc. are fantastic but we end up rooting for evil characters and signing off an even bigger evil man so our protagonist can win. An all the while innocents are left in ruins and begs the question as to why we as the viewers are so enthralled to the experience that it gives us. Breaking Bad simply poses the question of morality amongst its viewers on violence and how we view woman; whether we are held responsible or not. So the observation leaves us asking the question does art imitates life or does life imitate art?

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