Breaking Bad: A Symbolic Sign Of The Times. Excellent Television

Watching television is such a common part of contemporary society, that most Americans adopted it as a part of their daily routine and watch television for at least an hour a day. Stanley Crouch, a poet, music and cultural critic, writes: “Whenever people pretentiously and proudly announce, “I don’t watch television,” they should follow it up with “I don’t look at America either”” (Masciotra 79). Television has become a part of many people’s lives. When the mass population watches the same television shows, movies, etc. they can all relate to each other, and thus unite them as an American. We look to TV shows to see how other people like us act on-screen. Aaron Morales, the author of American Mashup: A Popular Culture Reader states: “We watch movies, visit websites, and scour online profiles, all in an effort to glean from a variety of sources those traits that we feel best suit how we identify ourselves” (Morales 65). Movie characters can change the personalities and point of views in our society. Movies can inspire and motivate a society to change its social norms. For example, The Harry Potter Series is a well-known book that is popularized over the years through television advertisements. The reason Harry Potter is special is because he is like everyone else, but he is dealing with different problems. People can relate to the aspect of the characters and

Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show,

The drug war has caused many problem problem in many countries especially in mexico where the heat of the problem has come to be from raging war between the government of mexico and drug cartels, from many cities not being safe because of the constant violence throughout the country to economic disruption and more. More than 164,000 people had died between 2007 and 2014 because of the drug war in mexico, more than the iraq and afghanistan war zones combine.

Television executive Lauren Zalaznick, gave a presentation called “The conscience of television” for TED Talk which she discussed past five decades of the highest standing shows on air. Zalaznick runs studies which go to great lengths on how the topics of television shows changed from decade to decade and how viewers changed the reason of watching based on what was happening in the world. Television’s conscious effects our emotions, challenges our values, and influences our views on the world by what we choice to watch.

Many people believed the drug problem in America was only an issue for poor people of color. This idea gave white Americans a common cause to fight against and the drug phenonomen in

During 1997-2006, house prices rose 85 percent. This led to an irresponsible consumer spending spree. Millions of people bought a house that they could not afford. Government regulatory agencies and mortgage lenders became less strict with credit restrictions so that people could buy homes without making any down payment. In 2007, however, the home values and sales began to decline. Due to the loss of trillions of dollars in home value, a record number of borrowers defaulted on their mortgage payments. America was put into a recession in 2008 because of the contraction of corporate spending and consumer purchased. The prices of consumer goods spiked, while employment declined. On October 3, 2008, former President Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program; however, the bill did not restore the economy as a whole. By June 2009, America's economic recovery was at its weakest since the end of the Second World War. I chose this event in history because it had a major effect on America’s economy and changed the course of history. Historians need to study the Great Recession because America should learn from their mistakes. The Great Recession was due to different factors; however, if the regulations on credit restrictions were not tampered with, then the severity of the recession could have been

Breaking Bad is a TV show about a science instructor, Walter White, turning to cooking methamphetamine when he finds out that he has terminal cancer, so as to leave some legacy for his family. The show accompanies Walter as he changes from a compliant and empathetic father to a cold, merciless drug kingpin through the wrong decisions he makes in life. Vince Gilligan made the show with a dream of having the hero turn into the adversary as the show advances and to investigate the subject "actions have consequences." In giving Bryan Cranston a part as Walter White, Gilligan picked a performing artist whose livelihood bend dovetails uncannily with his character. As Walt changes from such a family man himself into a force eager executioner,

One profound way of combatting drug usage is to continue educating the youth and public on the fatal risks of utilizing drugs. Another aspect that the film did not touch upon is the drug policies and issues in other countries. Most of the world’s narcotic painkiller market is based in the United States, so there could be stronger laws introduced to limit who is able to access these strong pills. Moreover, countries such as Spain, have legalized most drugs, and have since seen a decrease in the usage of these drugs. These measures could be applied in the United States, and the black market where profit is made on these drugs would dissipate. Furthermore, these substances could be highly taxed like cigarettes, and made limited so that they become less accessible to the public. While recovery is a lifelong process for those already addicted, America can save the lives of tomorrow by getting the drugs out of the hands of first time

However every now-and-again she does start to drift too far into the details of the shows she used as evidence of antiheroes. For example, whilst talking about the characters of the TV show “Breaking Bad” Havrilesky goes into depth about “its gorgeous cinematography, its poetic appreciation of little details... its unerring grasp of dramatic tension, of nuanced dialogue, of escalating stakes…” (466-67) These details would fit perfectly into an overall review of “Breaking Bad”, but that is not what Havrilesky sets up this essay to be about. cinematography and dramatic tensions in a television show may make it a better show, however, it does nothing to help readers understand the concept of an antihero and how Walter White fits that concept. She “drifts” a little off topic when explaining the characters of Mad Men and The Sopranos as well. But to be fair, the author is able to hop back onto the topic fairly quickly, and overall, these little off topic pieces do not take much away from the overarching

Story arcs, or extended narratives, keep the interest of the audience throughout the series. For Breaking Bad, the story focuses on the character of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who then becomes a meth cook and criminal mastermind. To portray this arc in the news article, I interchanged between using Heisenberg and Walter White. I started by stating his death as a criminal than I described his background to show his character arc and so he is more relatable to the readers. The violence of the show is hard to describe by just using text, but I basically stated facts rather than use a more descriptive diction to reflect the nature of a proper news report, or article. The dialogue of the series is also difficult to translate without discussing its context, therefore I decided to not use direct quotes and instead relied on factual interviews to develop

Unique - being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else. To be different is something every individual wishes for. This drive to be unique pushes us to boundaries that we would have never seen and to experience we might’ve never been able to be a part of. The drive to unique helps us achieve our ambitions. But the consequences of achieving our ambitions are graver than we previously thought. Walter White, the main character from Breaking Bad, goes from a mediocre high school chemistry teacher to an international meth manufacturer all in the course of five years. At the very beginning of his tumultuous journey, he finds out he has developed lung cancer. He is

The Meltdown is a PBS special on the events of the financial crisis of 2008, in a timeline format, revealing the thinking behind decisions made during the fateful months before the stock market crash in August of that year. Some financial gurus on Wall Street devised a plan to bundle several mortgages together into a group, and then selling that bundle to another group of investors looking to invest in securities. The lender did not need to earn money from the loans he was giving out, he merely gained enough of a profit from the bundling operation that billions were being made on Wall Street from 2005-2008. The problem is that these bundles were risky, and as credit unworthy individuals defaulted on their mortgages, the entire system crumbled into what is now known as the Stock Market Crash of 2008, and have subsequently lived during the Great Recession.

Once things started to get bad, they got really bad for a lot of families who were given mortgages, who were not properly qualified. There was a major spike in defaults, with

The protagonist of Breaking Bad is a sympathetic meth cook called Walter White. He decides to cook and sell enough meth to get money for his family after he is diagnosed with lung cancer. Before entering this meth world, Walter White was only a high school teacher and he had a pregnant wife and a partially disabled son. Walter’s plan was to manufacture the narcotic and make profits from addicts that wanted to buy the product. Throughout the television series, White start rationalizing his worst acts with logic. Overall, White can be described as a man who believes in his personal exceptionalism. America shares similarities to Walter White. For example, Americans are a self-justifying sort just like White. In other words, Americans see themselves

As stated throughout this essay, Mexico has taken a hit with the outstanding homicide cases due to this drug war.