Breaking Bad: I Am The One Who Knocks (Kauneckas)

## Breaking Bad

As Douglas Rushkoff said “Just when it appears that a new medium is going to replace its predecessor, we tend to figure out the true value of the older”. Just as art can be entertainment, entertainment can be great art. As technology has become a larger part of our everyday lives, the term “literature” and “art” seem to have taken on a new meaning. In the early 1900’s the customary form of obtaining literature/entertainment was through local newspapers and over radio broadcasts—people enjoyed newspaper detective serials and radio serial programs.  As technology has progressed, the usual way of enjoying any form of literature in the year 2015 is through the TV, computer, or other electrical device.  A book is still a book even if it’s viewed on a Nook tablet.  A computer game can have graphics that can “wow” an audience just as much as art hanging in a museum can. Many people argue that  TV programs can’t be a form of art.  But from this statement it is obvious that they have never seen the series *Breaking Bad*.  *Breaking Bad* is an extraordinary well written, directed and delivered work of art. It is the serial of my generation and the legions of fans, web-sites and forums have proven that its writing, directing and ability to capture the world’s attention make it an undeniable modern day piece of art.

Among the reasons that *Breaking Bad* resonated with audiences were the numerous techniques that the writers employed to make situations in the show appear “ambiguous” or “open for interpretation”.  Everyone likes to think that their view is the “right” one and that their interpretation is what the “director” wanted.  Because of this, many on-line venues developed for devoted fans to discuss and argue some of the “more memorable” plot twists and turns.  The on-line community of Reddit has a wildly popular subreddit called r/BreakingBad and exploring discussions in this community helps to gauge the popularity, and entertainment value of Breaking Bad.

In our modern era, watching a new TV series gives viewers the advantage of being able to see or listen to interviews with the creators of the show and to find out what was behind developmental ideas.  Modern venues like Comic Con put actors and creators in front of audiences so devote fans can directly ask questions and can get a true feel for how a show was created and what actors truly felt about different roles.  Instead of reading “The True Secrets of behind the Scenes of The Andy Griffith Show” fifty years later, fan are treated to an immediate Q&A session to answer their favorite scenes and to interact with the actors and creators of the show.  We will explore some YouTube postings of Comic Con 2013 and an interview with the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan to show how fans can hear how plots were developed, actors hired and various other ideas of the Breaking Bad phenomena.

What makes staying power?  The truly best movies have generated a second and sometimes third sequel—some of which have been successful.  Even great books have a truly good characters appear again and again.  Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie come to mind.  The phenomena of *Breaking Bad* was so good and viewers were so reluctant to let it go, that we will explore the staying power of the series, from a spin-off show to Fan Fiction sites where truly devoted fans still discuss and talk about the series even years after it is over.

*Breaking Bad* was a work of art.  Through modern media, fans of the show were able to discuss and argue likes and dislikes.  Viewers were able to try to predict what they thought would happen and if a shocking event happened they could participate in the “OMG” moments instantly.  Art should change the way things are and *Breaking Bad* did this.  How often have we seen a show reviewed like “It’s no *Breaking Bad*, but it’s a good show”?  *Breaking Bad* is a series where fans will watch and discuss again and again.  It is truly entertainment art.

### Interpretative Disputes:

One reason that *Breaking Bad* was such a phenomenal hit was that the writers made many ambiguous references and often used Flash Forwarding sequences several episodes prior to the resolution of the action.  Every moment of *Breaking Bad* was watchable and intricately tied to other episodes.  So, actions often happened that the viewer might have forgotten what it related to in a previous episode.  The actors would sometimes reveal a fact, that if the viewer wasn’t paying attention, he or she was quickly left in the dark.  The Daily Beast published a recap of 7 plot lines the viewers needed to be reminded of prior to the start of the last season of *Breaking Bad* and the article even added “use it to settle any arguments at the office Monday morning”!

A good example is Season 3, Episode 10 where the storyline is about a Fly.  The fly keeps getting into the equipment and Walter White makes a huge effort to kill the fly, blaming it for contamination.  The entire episode divided many people and discussion centered on the real meaning of the fly.  Was it a metaphor for evil contaminating the relationship between Walt and Jesse?  The TVCritic.org offers an excellent synopsis of each season/episode and also offers a comments section where viewers can post their agreements or disagreements.  Both the subreddits for breakingbad on reddit and the comments section under the episode listing at AMC.com have fans discussing what “The Fly” ackually represented.

Another hotly, discussed topic is when an underling of Gus’, Victor (Season 5/Episode 3) gets killed after cooking his own batch of meth.  Walt is talking about this with Jesse and he remarks “maybe he flew too close to the sun, got his throat cut”.  This remark caused discussion on many forums.  On the *Breaking Bad* subreddit, this one quote was discussed by over 408 people—each offer a different take on what happened and what it meant.  Discussion never got evil or mean, but many people sometimes made fun of people for overanalyzing everything.   The official site on AMC for *Breaking Bad* also has a discussion forum which mentioned this line also.  Most fans related that it was a quote from Greek mythology, where Icarus, who son flew on the wings glued with wax, said the son died because “he flew too close to the sun”.  Other fans said the meaning was something else.

The final episode was discussed across several forums and many viewers seemed to not believe how Walt Jr., couldn’t have had any idea of his father’s deeds.  Over 343 people commented and most were highly skeptical that Walt Jr. could be that naïve.  One commenter said his childhood friend DID have drug dealers as parents and this boy figured it out when he was 13.  The commenter did point out that a sibling of the friend didn’t seem to realize that the parents were dealers, even when working in a “money laundering operation” owned by the parents.  So maybe a child could be that naïve.  A few commenters did agree that perhaps a child could be clueless about a parents activities.

Hank’s character, Walter’s brother-in-law who is also a DEA agent, probably was third in line for forum discussion after Walt and Jesse.  In one forum, the legality of Hank’s taking a tell-tale book from Walt’s home is discussed by over 400 people, several who say they are police or lawyers. Both the commentators who claim to be police and lawyers, talk about how Hank circumvents the law quite often and many other commentators try to predict Hank’s death in the show because of his loose handling of the law.

The most common element crossing all of the forums, is that commenters have been listing spoiler alert at the top of each heading. “Spoiling is empowering in the literal sense in that it helps participants to understand how they may deploy the new kinds of power that are emerging from participation within knowledge communities.”

Each forum or group is letting viewers know that if they don’t want to know what happens next, don’t enter the discussion.  It also allows viewers who can contribute the most to dive into the discussion. This shows that commentators do have empathy for their fellow TV audience and don’t want to spoil the show for others who haven’t watched it yet.

The anonymity and structure of Reddit seems to allow the most thorough and involved debates over *Breaking Bad*.  Topics can be sorted by subject and fans can respond to other fans arguments, even getting off topic.  But even the episode guides on the *Breaking Bad* pages at AMC.com offer a comments section where people can post questions or views.  The Facebook pages for *Breaking Bad* don’t seem to be as “discussion” heavy as Reddit, but maybe that’s because of anonymity.

### Authorial intentions:

Vince Gilligan had no idea how big this show would become.  He is quoted by Wikipedia as saying that he wanted to create a show where the main character underwent a change from a good character to a villain. Vince said he saw many shows where the main character stayed the same for years.   He said "When I realized this, the logical next step was to think, how can I do a show in which the fundamental drive is toward change?" Indeed, at Comic Con 2013, Vince appeared with the cast members to answer questions from the audience and a moderator.  The discussion is available here on YouTube. The most interesting idea that comes out of this presentation, is that in addition to hearing what Vince Gilligan wanted to write about, each actor is asked about their character in the show.  Each actor is allowed to make their own judgements about the motivations of their characters and what they thought about the characters.  This is a revelation, because the actors are sitting next to the author of the show.  He doesn’t interrupt or tell them they are wrong.  The actors were allowed to describe what they felt.  Bryan Cranston talked about how he felt any person could do this behavior of Walter White if all the right buttons were pushed and he believed all of Walt’s buttons were.

The great thing about having an author of a series who is still alive is that there are many forums where people can talk to the author!  On one podcast, from just earlier this year, listeners can hear a recent interview with Vince Gilligan to hear about his new shows and a little about *Breaking Bad*.  One of the best sources of seeing and hearing from Vince Gilligan is on YouTube.  In one interview with Adam Savage (from Mythbusters), Vince and Adam talk just shortly after the final episode of the show aired.  What is totally exciting is that Vince is both the writer, director and creator of the *Breaking Bad* show and Vince tells in this interview how episodes were developed and written, how they got Bryan Cranston to act in the series and other inside details.  The interview was viewed by over 140,000 people and over 234 people have commented.  Being able to hear the background details of how different actors were contacted or approached to appear in this series makes the experience of the series more full to the viewer.  Also, being able to hear Vince Gilligan’s voice and to hear how his ideas developed makes this series much more interactive and enjoyable.  Vince also discusses how a TV series differs greatly from just a two hour movie.  He talks about how involved the actors get in each other’s lives and how over time the actual behaviors of the actors are incorporated in their written lines.  It was interesting to hear how Vince personally wrote the first few episode, but late a team of writers helped.  He talks about how it was important for him to be involved in the writing so whenever episodes were being written, he stopped directing and stayed in the writing room to help write the series.

On YouTube alone, there are at least 20 one hour length interviews with Vince Gilligan about *Breaking Bad*.  Additionally, there are many, many interviews with all of the main characters too where they are allowed to discuss what their thoughts of the show were.

On the *Breaking Bad*, subrebbit Vince Gilligan held an AMA, which is an Ask Me Anything!  He had 3541 comments.  On this forum, the questions are typed in and Vince’s identity was verified by the moderators of the forum.  People could ask what they wished and Vince answered as many questions as he could.  It was a great forum for fans to get a direct line to the author of their favorite show.  In the past this type of discussion wouldn’t have been so easily accomplished.  Vince’s responses are highlighted so readers can scroll through to find his replies.  Also, commenters can talk among each other and post responses to questions and answers.  It’s a great forum because some fans posted video’s or sketches that they wanted Vince to see and he would comment that he’d seen it and liked it, etc.

### Remediation:

One of the most popular form of remediation for the series *Breaking Bad* is the spin off prequel series “Better Call Saul”.  After the *Breaking Bad* series ended, fans wanted more. They were not ready for the series to be over. Vince Gilligan felt that the character who played Saul could stand in a series on his own and he liked the idea of a lawyer who worked like Saul did.  The story line takes place 6 years prior to Saul’s appearance in *Breaking Bad*.  So far the series has gotten good reviews and it has been completed a second series.  Viewer reviews are very favorable and critics have been moderately impressed with the show.  Vince did say that already two years into the *Breaking Bad* series, he had started to think about a stand-alone series for Better call Saul.

Fans of *Breaking Bad* have also been so into *Breaking Bad* that many have wanted to create an alternate ending.  Using the Fan Fiction site, many people have created and posted alternative endings with comments from other views on how well it was done and then discussions on what the deeper meaning of the series was.  The most telling is that many of the postings are in a different language.  Fans from all over the world have enjoyed the Breaking Bad series and have gotten hooked.

Online communities allow someone to be part of a Discussion without having to be physically be with anyone.  If you live alone or just like to watch *Breaking Bad* alone, it allows you to share your thoughts and feelings about certain events that have happened in that days’ episode.

Although the series is over, fans are still crazy over the show.  On Reddit, they have Re-watch Saturdays where they rewatch the series together. There is still get together and events held at Comic Cons and other large events. The actors and actresses are also still active in social media. “What holds a collective intelligence together is not the possession of knowledge, which is relatively static, but the social process of acquiring knowledge, which is dynamic and participatory, continually testing and reaffirming the group’s social ties”. Having such a strong fan base allows the story to never end; fans can always find someone to discuss a part of the series with.

*Breaking Bad* is a very relatable show. Although nearly everyone probably will never cook meth in their life time, there is still a very high likelyhood that someone you know has had cancer, gone through a divorce, or has had fights in their family. For every situation that seemed unrealistic, there was one that was so incredibly relatable that you felt for the characters in it (Trust me--I cried in the end).

The first episode of *Breaking Bad* aired on January 20th 2008, and the final episode aired on November 26th 2013. Over the five years that the show was on the fan base has continued to grow. Now almost three years after the final episode, the fan base is still going strong. With a community of over 226,000, Reddit, has provided a very strong fan base for *Breaking Bad*. The community has a wide range of topics discussed from individual actors and actresses in the series, to different locations and possible endings. Reddit’s *Breaking Bad* subreddit, r/BreakingBad, also has a large amount of AMA’s. AMA’s are Ask me anything, this is a place where the characters actors and actresses’ go to answer the questions that the community puts to them. “Eleven hundred strangers, all contributing to the development of a piece of literature, thanks to the internet”. Having an online community has greatly changed the way any T.V. series is watched. Now there are hundreds of forums and online resources that a fan can use to predict what will occur in the next episode, where the series will go and the deeper meaning of each show. Is entertainment art?  Without a doubt, the T.V. series *Breaking Bad* has answered that question in the affirmative.

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