Breaking Bad (2008-2013), a remarkable synthesis of the crime film,
the sitcom, the western, and the family melodrama, is a
foundational example of new television in the early twenty-first
century. Receiving multiple Emmy Awards, it launched the careers of
its creators and stars, most notably Bryan Cranston as high school
teacher turned drug manufacturer Walter White, whose attempt to
grab the American dream results in the destruction of family, home,
community, and himself. In this book, Christopher Sharrett examines
the innovations of Breaking Bad through a study of its main
character, using psychoanalysis, genre study, gender studies,
American studies, and the graphic arts to assist an exploration of
the supreme danger of modern, postindustrial toxic masculinity
embodied in Walter White. Serving as a fresh start for the American
Movie Classics (AMC) cable outlet, Breaking Bad is probably the
most uncompromised rendering of the white American male's rage in
early twenty-first-century fiction. Set against a deindustrialized
American landscape, its conflicted morality can seem less ambiguous
than repugnant when we note the use of humor throughout,
particularly as characters are introduced and killed off. Walter's
relationships with his son, who has cerebral palsy, his former
student turned business partner, his long-suffering wife, and his
DEA brother-in-law are layered on top of the show's reflection of
the very real challenges facing America today, which are not
limited to the opioid epidemic, lax gun laws, and racial violence.
Some critics have accused Breaking Bad of inciting a disturbance
rather than criticizing, as it relies heavily on the audience's
humor. Sharrett's argument for why the show is the canniest
dramatic insight of our times is worth the price of admission for
scholars and students of media studies and superfans alike.
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