Writing to Evaluate

In the American television drama series Breaking Bad, we follow main character Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher that becomes a methamphetamine drug lord after he is diagnosed with terminal, stage-three lung cancer and fears for the financial security of his family. The seven-time Emmy award winning television series is a crime thriller meant to keep the audience on the edge of their seats by adding suspense and unexpected 180 degree spirals throughout the plot. Though it touches on a variety of themes and motifs, Breaking Bad uses the social principle that there is an undeniable difference between right and wrong to ask the audience to question whether one’s actions, motives, or conscious decision/control determines whether one is “good” or “bad”.

          

The producer does an effective job of providing the audience with tangible evidence of the moral struggle that Walter White will face throughout the series right from the start. We are introduced immediately to Walt’s working class job and broke lifestyle, pregnant wife, and teenage son living with Cerebral Palsy as Walt receives his diagnosis and the extreme financial liability that comes along with it. It is because of the stressful financial situation that Walt hastily leaves behind the typical constraints of society and takes a step into a life of crime that constantly forces the audience to question whether or not Walt is justified in his actions and risky new lifestyle. Using the common social knowledge of illicit drugs and the lifestyle that follows the use, creation, and distribution of such, the series follows the many dangerous, gruesome, fundamentally immoral decisions that Walt has to make in order to insure the production and distribution of his meth, thus, the insane income which will insure the future of his family. From keeping  a secret, alter identity from his wife, to taking the lives of others, the audience is  effectually reminded of the central question: whether or not Walt is bad, since his motives are genuine out of love and care for his family and their well-being after he is gone, while his actions are socially unacceptable, sometimes criminal, or purely wicked and devastating.

          

Ultimately, Breaking Bad is everything that the producer aimed for it to be in terms of being a crime thriller and an effective media to convey the message that human beings philosophically struggle to understand. As I have not finished the series, I cannot exactly determine if the producer directly provides the audience with a definite answer to this query, however, I can attest that in every single episode Walt makes a shocking, morally questionable decision that makes the audience question whether or not Walt is the protagonist or antagonist - all you know is that he has the control to make the decision. Though the producer may not give us a true answer to the question he poses, his television series forces the audience to constantly question and ponder whether one’s actions, motives, or conscious decision/control determines if one is “good” or “bad”, which ultimately makes the series a success.