Discuss the title sequence.
- short, non-dramatic (very different to X Factor)
- elements from the periodic table form the title
- smoke alludes to drugs (clearer after episode 1)
- ‘created by’ implies high creative control
- understated music for a more discerning and intelligent audience
- it didn’t need to draw the audience in since the opening did that
Describe the opening of episode 1.
It was 3 minutes long before the title screen in order to get the audience interested straight away. It created a lot of enigmas about how we got to this point making the audience want to keep watching:
- what did he do? sirens?
- what happened in the van? (gas masks and clothes)
- who are the passed out (or dead?) men?
- money and liquid in the van?
- was he arrested? shoot out? get away? killed?
- where are they?
Describe the character of Walter White.
- chemistry teacher with bad pupils
- eats lunch alone
- he has a second job (struggling) and ends up cleaning the troublesome pupils car
- bad car in a horrible colour with a broken glove compartment
- gritted teeth reaction to 50th birthday
- he is a very beige character
Describe the narrative structure of episode 1.
After the opening and title screen we go backwards 2 weeks. This means the audience knows they will have their questions about the opening answered, encouraging them to continue watching. The entire episode comes back on itself (Todorov).
Discuss binary opposites and conflict in episode 1.
- Walter clearly unhappy holding the gun at the party, but held it up confidently in opening (creates enigma)
- keeps his cancer diagnosis from his wife and family, not even letting them call someone when he’s in the ambulance
- money issues with his family (50th not extravagant, hot water heater and car broke, eBay countdown, $15.99 in Staples was a big deal)
Describe Breaking Bad and genre.
Crime:
- unconventionally, it isn’t gritty and dark. There are lots of silly scenes that break the tension and the characters don’t always act serious
- began as a crime drama and developed into a soap opera, focussing on relationships and how the crime effects them
- (unconventional) focusses more on the criminals than the police
Soap opera:
- highly unrealistic (chemistry teacher starts cooking and distributing meth to pay hospital bills instead of accepting an offer from a friend, gets involved with murder despite disliking weapons in the beginning)
- focusses on relationships and the affect events have on them (character led narrative)
- audience positioned omnipotently over relationships (we see Walt and Skylar in the baby scan and see his reaction to realising he won’t see the baby grow up, whereas Skylar is oblivious)
- complex and multi-stranded (flashbacks, different characters, time jumps)
- family is hugely important (Walt named his meth Sky Blue after Skylar)
Black comedy:
- often shown through Walt and Jesse’s relationship
- Jesse escapes (and falls) through window as a semi-nude woman throws clothes at him during a drugs bust
- Walt had acid in his car for body disposal but came across the man he was supposed to be getting rid of in the street. In the background a song is playing with lyrics “I’m gonna knock you down”. The guy runs into a tree trying to get away and falls down
- they fight over $40,000 of meth like schoolboys but Walt can’t run due to his lung cancer
AQT:
- Walt is an antihero (see: Dexter, 24, The Sopranos) These are characters that we can identify with, aspire to and also despise as a villain (turns to crime to pay cancer bills, kills men who would’ve killed him, disposes of body with acid but what else could he do, was going to release Crazy 8 but kills him in self defence)
- “eclipsed the status of critical and commercial success”
- widely accepted as one of the best TV shows ever (Guinness Book 2014, highest rated)
- shot on 35mm and then transferred to video to give filmic connotations and looks like it’s higher quality
- USP (protagonist turned antagonist)
- one central character who is a maverick and makes his own decisions against the perceived wisdom
What enigmas are answered and created episode 1?
Answered:
- They’re only passes out
- Man in front is Jesse, ex-student now drugs partner
- Gas mask being used due to mustard gas
- Sirens were a fire truck due to a grass fire
- They were in a drug deal
- In the Mexican desert
- Removed clothes to avoid smelling like meth when he went home
Created:
- What happened to the men and van?
- Will he tell his wife about the cancer? Drug dealing?
- His wife’s sister’s husband (Hank) is in the drug enforcement administration (DEA)
Discuss the opening of episode 1.
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Discuss morals in Breaking Bad.
- Walter tries to take the moral high ground but due to situations he put himself in he can’t
- Jesse has reservations about Walter saying they should dismember and dissolve the bodies (who should the audience root for?)
- Walter lies to Skylar constantly, starting with small lies and slowly getting worse: when does it become wrong?
- Audience begins to imagine themselves in these situations wondering what they would do, and then wondering if the characters will do the same
Discuss the narrative development in episode 2.
Walt’s white lies keep building up and it quickly snowballs: eventually the truth will come out and it will be worse than if he were honest. We also see Walt attempting to solve the problems only to encounter new ones meaning the plot doesn’t progress much in this episode (still have one alive and one body half dealt with). This shows that the narrative is secondary to the relationships and how they develop, another common aspect in soap operas.
Discuss the main enigma created in episode 2.
A little girl find the gas mask that Walt threw in anger in the desert. Is it going to hurt her, and what will she do with it? Could it lead police to Walt?
Discuss the opening of episode 3.
It opens with the same scene, just slightly after where it was left off. it is also non-linear again and involves flashbacks to Walt’s past work:
- they’re working on the composition of a human body. He’s younger and with a woman who isn’t Skylar (who is she?)
- as they discuss the components it cuts the dissolved body with it literally broken down
Discuss Walt’s significant relationships in these 3 episodes.
Crazy 8:
- told him he has lung cancer before he told anyone else (even his wife)
- cuts his crusts off his sandwiches for him because he saw him ripping them off
Skylar:
- doesn’t tell her about his lung cancer
- lies about taking weed to cover up cooking meth
- suggests that whilst he loves her their relationship is unstable and potentially toxic to one or both of them
Discuss moral ambiguity in episode 3.
It took him a long time to kill Crazy 8 which made it more shocking when it happened. They way it happened created a grey area:
- Crazy 8 was going to kill him with a piece of broken plate after earning Walt’s trust
- the writers let him stab Walter once to show that he was dangerous, justifying Walt’s actions for some people
- more of a coin toss situation (50/50 right and wrong)
What enigmas were answered and created in episode 3?
Answered:
- He finally killed Crazy 8 (the biggest enigmas so far)
- The little girl was okay, but turned the gas mask to the police eventually leading them to Walt’s school
Created:
- Hank found their car in the desert putting him on a case for his brother in law (but he doesn’t know that)
- What will Walt tell (or not tell) Skylar? (cancer, meth, murder, who Jesse really is)
What is Breaking Bad’s main audience?
18-25 ABC1 demographic. It has an ability to target younger and older audiences leading to it’s success.
Discuss Breaking Bad and representation.
Gender:
- mainly through Walter and Skylar
Age:
- through Jesse
Disability:
- through Walter White Jr.
- scene where Walt attacks those kids for making fun of Jr. for needing help
- meth/pot scene with Hank
Ethnicity:
- Tuco Salamanca and his extended family (Mexican) who become their meth distributor
- Jack Walker, the leader of a white supremacist gang
National identity:
- Walt represents the American Dream (becoming someone) in a corrupted way. Lots of the audience puts up with his criminality because of this. He achieves great wealth and power but at a cost
- location shooting and narrative takes place in new Mexico
What is synergy and convergence? Give examples.
Synergy: one media text sells another (Breaking Bad and Netflix)
Convergence: a media form distributed and available on more than one platform
What are filmic connotations?
When a TV show looks like a film, revealing higher production values (Breaking Bad was filmed like this).
What is the USP?
A chemistry teacher with lung cancer turning to drug crime.
