American crime drama Breaking Bad (Essay Sample)

Breaking Bad
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”Breaking bad”, an American crime drama TV series created and produced by Vince Gillian ran form the January of 2008 and 2013. The main character Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher is diagnosed with lung cancer. To secure his family financial future, he starts producing synthetic drug methamphetamine and together with his former student Jesse Pinkman forms a syndicate to distribute the drugs before he dies.
His family consists of his wife and his children. Also featured are the sister to his wife and her husband who is a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Walter is later to be introduced to a private investigator and a fixing agent to the drug bigwig Gus Fring. “Breaking Bad” was one of the greatest TV shows and the most watched on American cable television. The series scooped more than 30 awards. It was recognized as the greatest show of all time by the Guinness Book of Records (Wikipedia par 2).
Crime drama is a subgenre of the major drama genre. It usually involves committing of crimes and solving them. Crime dramas are usually fictional based on real life stories. They usually target to make the audience believe in the fictional world they create and the expertise of the characters in either solving or committing the crime.
The crime drama though a subgenre has various ways of approach to its storyline. Main characters are usually the ones who shape the entire film. Their actions are a definitive factor of the type of the film. Common characteristics include:
Outlandish protagonist: very unusual and unprecedented investigation techniques.
Flawed protagonist: Usually have personal problems or past history that haunts them.
The protagonist may be in conflict with the authority
At times, the protagonists may exist as a team with different and conflicting characters.
The audience connect with the characters that at times, they can even anticipate their actions.
Crime drama subgenre affects may aspects of social life ranging from watching of TV to the perceptions people hold for similar real life events. In this paper, we will discuss some of the influences the subgenre has in real normal life of the viewers and others involved alike.
Today, there are as many as hundreds of crime drama TV series and films. Some are very popular while others do not gain much traction and end up stopping after a few episodes. The proliferation of crime drama films has not only become a fascination with the film makers but has also changed the focus of the dramas. Some are based on real life stories while others are based on fictitious characters and stories with high semblance to reality. Reality shows and fiction films have begun to blur with some films shooting real life events then ultimately editing them to a considerable short time say one hour. Such levels of distortion usually confuse the audience and they may not tell fiction from reality. Most of these films are motivated by the use of technology to solve crimes (Shelton, 2013).
The value of fiction crime drama films cannot be underestimated in the entertainment industry. Some fiction is purely based on the entertainment aspect driven by the viewer’s pleasure for a more intriguing story. Due to such high expectations from the audience, the shows tend to have very bent rules of reality for entertainment purpose. For instance, some will employ the use of forensic methods and sophisticated technology to solve crime with absolute certainty for the evidence pointing to the offender. In reality, even sophisticated technologies are not infallible. Much of what is constituted in the films is fiction (Georgette, 2010).
Albeit of their effect on the justice system and reality, crime drama is a rich subgenre that brings people’s imaginations close to real. For this reason, there is the question of morality on the basis of entertainment. Numerous researches have been conducted to determine the moral, psychological and societal effects of the crime dramas on their audiences. Television is considered as the chief instrument of enculturation and controls much of what is considered normal. Frequent television viewing influences an individual’s perception of reality. It is through television that some cultures are mainstreamed ultimately becoming the order of the day. Some studies have shown that heavier viewers believed real life to be much more like the television world than it was, regarding for instance the frequency of violent crime, the prevalence of law enforcement officer Some studies have shown that heavier viewers believed real life to be much more like the television world than it was, regarding for instance the frequency of violent crime, the prevalence of law enforcement officer (Georgette, 2010).
Basically, crime drama TV series are usually not a reflection of the society but a highly fictitious story based on real life stories. This is aspect elicits questions on the perception of justice by the viewers of these TV series. Evaluation of the justice system is dependent on two types of input: audience and message. These inputs involve a variety of factors that impact the evaluation of the sequence as a whole. Ultimately though, it is predicted that the interaction and the products of that interaction will impact enjoyment (Cavender, & Deutsch, 2007). In most cases, viewers are able to identify with the characters in a particular show and as a result, will offer justice sequences that are influenced by the events in a specific show. Evaluation of the characters by the audience largely depends on the disposition of the audience towards the character. Mostly, enjoyment for the film is normally high when characters who are liked exhibit positive behavior and characters that are disliked exhibit negative behavior.
However in other cases, a film can have a flawed protagonist. At the beginning of such series, the characters are normal people with a normal life within the work of fiction until something happens to them. Abrupt change of behavior to depravation is in most cases a personal experience either in history or at present. Their experience may haunt them leading to a very flawed and sometimes violent character. “Breaking Bad” show falls in this category of a flawed protagonist. Voted as one of the best show of all time and ending after only five seasons.
Why “Breaking Bad” is a good show
The show starts with Walter H. White working as a high school chemistry teacher and a father to a son suffering from cerebral palsy. His wife is pregnant and in addition to that he is an introvert. He learns that he has inoperable lung cancer and will die in less than two years. Owing to the fact that he is underpaid and overqualified as a high school teacher, he realizes that his family financial status is bleak and will soon be depleted in the treatment of the disease.
With his expertise in chemistry he begins producing the best of crystal methamphetamine assisted by his former student Jesse Pinkman who apparently is good in the drugs business. Together, they collaborate with White inputting his expertise in the manufacture and Jesse his marketing skills to dominate the market with the best crystal meth. The series is based on the impacts of fatal diagnosis on a hardworking citizen, eventually corrupting his morals and converting him into a vicious drug trader.
The show gained popularity as one of the best shows for a number of reasons. First of all, Vince Gillian attention to details gave the show a new and highly realistic semblance to real life events. As a result, Vice and his crew created a deeply flawed and charismatic genius. In addition, they depicted a family’s financial future that almost drove him (White) crazy due to his diagnosis. In that way, a new life was created a new life for White that is close to what most people can relate to. This was one way to appeal to the audience and connect the audience to the events and the reality in the show. Majority of the audiences evaluate a sequence to be more enjoyable if the crime committed seems more “justifiable” given the motivation for the crime (Cavender, & Deutsch, 2007).
White’s appeal to the audience for his actions was mainly based on the audience empathy for his ailment and owing to the fact that he was underpaid. Moreover, he still did not want to leave his family in desperation once he dies especially because his son was incapable of working under any employment. Crime drama shows draws a very thin line between fiction and reality. “Breaking Bad” had managed to appeal to the viewer’s perception of reality. The process of ascribing enjoyment to a crime drama is dependent upon the relative degree of correspondence between the viewer’s sense of justice and the statement about justice made in the drama (Cavender, & Deutsch, 2007). White had already gained the needed empathy to sway the public on their liking of the show.
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