Breaking Down Breaking Bad: Unpeeling the Layers of Television's Greatest Drama


Book Description

Few television shows have won critical acclaim on the level of Breaking Bad, perhaps because few series are as worth deep examination as Breaking Bad. Something about Walter White's struggle with his inner demons resonated with us. The idea that his foray into meth production was not merely a dalliance with darkness, but was actually a full-blown awakening intrigued us. And most of all, the idea that we came to have no respect for the protagonist of our favorite show utterly fascinated us.Breaking Down Breaking Bad attempts to poke into the dark corners of Walter White's mind, explore the traits that make this show special, and revels in the joy of what is arguably the best drama ever to appear on television.Because the show may be gone, but the conversation about it certainly isn't.




Philosophy and Breaking Bad


Book Description

This volume considers the numerous philosophical ideas and arguments found in and inspired by the critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad. This show garnered both critical and popular attention for its portrayal of a cancer-stricken, middle-aged, middle-class, high school chemistry teacher’s drift into the dark world of selling methamphetamine to support his family. Its characters, situations, and aesthetic raise serious and familiar philosophical issues, especially related to ethics and morality. The show provokes a bevy of rich questions and discussion points, such as: What are the ethical issues surrounding drugs? What lessons about existentialism and fatalism does the show present? How does the show grapple with the concept of the end ‘justifying’ the means? Is Walt really free not to ‘break bad’? Can he be redeemed? What is the definition and nature of badness (or evil) itself? Contributors address these and other questions as they dissect the legacy of the show and discuss its contributions to philosophical conversations.




Political Pathologies from The Sopranos to Succession


Book Description

Political Pathologies from The Sopranos to Succession argues that highly praised prestige TV shows reveal the underlying fantasies and contradictions of uppermiddle-class political centrists. Through a psychoanalytic interpretation of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire, House of Cards, Dexter, Game of Thrones, and Succession, Robert Samuels uncovers how moderate “liberals” have helped to produce and maintain the libertarian Right. Samuels’ analysis explores the difference between contemporary centrists and the foundations of liberal democracy, exposing the myth of the “liberal media” and considers the consequences of these celebrated series, including the undermining of trust in modern liberal democratic institutions. Political Pathologies from The Sopranos to Succession contributes to a greater understanding of the ways media and political ideology can circulate on a global level through the psychopathology of class consciousness. This book will be of great interest to academics and scholars considering intersections of psychoanalytic studies, television studies, and politics.




Masculinity in Breaking Bad


Book Description

Following on author Peter Rollins' motto "If it isn't popular, it isn't culture," this collection of new essays considers Vince Gilligan's award-winning television series Breaking Bad as a landmark of Western culture--comparable to the works of Shakespeare and Dickens in their time--that merits scholarly attention from those who would understand early the 21st century zeitgeist. The essayists explore the series as a critique of American concepts of masculinity, with Walter White discussed as a father archetype--provider, protector, author of a legacy--and as a Machiavellian warrior on the capitalist battleground. Other topics include the mutual exclusivity of intellect and masculinity in American culture, and the dramatic irony as White's rationales for his criminal life are gradually revealed as a lie. In "round table" chapters, contributors discuss the show's reception, fans who root for "Team Walt," "Skyler-hating" and Breaking Bad as a feminist text.




Breaking Bad and Philosophy


Book Description

Breaking Bad, hailed by Stephen King, Chuck Klosterman, and many others as the best of all TV dramas, tells the story of a man whose life changes because of the medical death sentence of an advanced cancer diagnosis. The show depicts his metamorphosis from inoffensive chemistry teacher to feared drug lord and remorseless killer. Driven at first by the desire to save his family from destitution, he risks losing his family altogether because of his new life of crime. In defiance of the tradition that viewers demand a TV character who never changes, Breaking Bad is all about the process of change, with each scene carrying forward the morphing of Walter White into the terrible Heisenberg. Can a person be transformed as the result of a few key life choices? Does everyone have the potential to be a ruthless criminal? How will we respond to the knowledge that we will be dead in six months? Is human life subject to laws as remorseless as chemical equations? When does injustice validate brutal retaliation? Why are drug addicts unsuitable for operating the illegal drug business? How can TV viewers remain loyal to a series where the hero becomes the villain? Does Heisenberg’s Principle of Uncertainty rule our destinies? In Breaking Bad and Philosophy, a hand-picked squad of professional thinkers investigate the crimes of Walter White, showing how this story relates to the major themes of philosophy and the major life decisions facing all of us.




Wanna Cook?


Book Description

An accessible and in-depth guide to all five seasons of Breaking Bad "I am not in danger . . . I am the danger." With those words, Breaking Bad's Walter White solidified himself as TV's greatest antihero. Wanna Cook? explores the most critically lauded series on television with analyses of the individual episodes and ongoing storylines. From details like stark settings, intricate camerawork, and jarring music to the larger themes, including the roles of violence, place, self-change, legal ethics, and fan reactions, this companion book is perfect for those diehards who have watched the Emmy Award-winning series multiple times as well as for new viewers. Wanna Cook? elucidates without spoiling, and illuminates without nit-picking. A must-have for any fanÕs collection.




Breaking Bad


Book Description

The ultimate official guide to Breaking Bad--one of the most critically acclaimed series ever produced. Adapted and expanded from an interactive e-book available only on the iPad, it's filled with insider secrets, interpretations of the show's iconography, a series timeline, exclusive interviews with creator Vince Gilligan, and much more. Bad fans will enjoy the many new images, and insightful commentary by world-renowned film critic David Thomson.




Breaking Bad


Book Description

Releasing to coincide with the completion of the final season of AMC's critically-acclaimed drama series Breaking Bad, this officially-licensed book features the most volatile and exciting moments from all five seasons of this ground-breaking television show. Breaking Bad: I Am the Danger is a compilation of full-color photographs and memorable quotes from the all of this drama's most unforgettable characters, including Walt, Jesse, Skyler, Hank, Gus, Mike, Saul, Tuco, and more.




Bad Behavior


Book Description

National Book Award finalist Mary Gaitskill’s debut collection, Bad Behavior—powerful stories about dislocation, longing, and desire which depict a disenchanted and rebellious urban fringe generation that is searching for human connection. Now a classic, Bad Behavior made critical waves when it first published, heralding Gaitskill’s arrival on the literary scene and her establishment as one of the sharpest, erotically charged, and audaciously funny writing talents of contemporary literature. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times called it “Pinteresque,” saying, “Ms. Gaitskill writes with such authority, such radar-perfect detail, that she is able to make even the most extreme situations seem real…her reportorial candor, uncompromised by sentimentality or voyeuristic charm…underscores the strength of her debut.”




Sophie's World


Book Description

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.