Breaking Bad: Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is widely considered one of the best TV shows of all time and for a good reason. It has one particular plot that resonates with Hamlet, tragedy. The hook of this TV show is it’s brilliant deviation from a basic storyline and hero to one where it makes the viewer make judgement calls. Walter White is debated heavily as being either a hero, an anti-hero, or just a faulty hero. To set the scene, he is a high school chemistry teacher who just found out he has terminal cancer. Pretty heavy. And like all other people, he cares the most for his family and their financial security after his inevitable and fast-moving death. Involving himself into drug distribution is where everyone has to find out what’s morally right. Walter is very

Though many story arcs are used to work with each other, the one that sticks out is the telling of a tragic hero. Walter White is a modern day Hamlet, Oedipus, and Macbeth. And I think that is one of the reasons that I am attracted to this type of story. In the comparison to those characters, I can see the qualities that made Walter White who he is. From the traits of hubris and hamartia all the way down to catharsis, everything is there working together. As a filmmaker, it’s interesting to put it all into context and see that Breaking Bad is not something brand spanking new. It made me realized what made a story bad and not relatable. It’s no reason Breaking Bad is used a ton in storytelling classes and as a Bible for writers. It also leaves a lot of questions for the audience and how they choose to relate to Walter White. For me, I felt pity and sadness and would consider him a tragic hero. However, other people would disagree and say that his sidekick is the hero and Walter is a complete psycho. And no one would be wrong. That’s important in literature and movies. There should be no one right answer and linear path otherwise what are we going to talk