Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Breaking Bad coming back
- Thread starter rstellar13
- Start date
I have a love/hate relationship with this show. I'm a fan but I'm also worried about the future of our society because life, often times, imitates art. I've seen a cop explain how after Scarface came out that it affected the attitudes of gangs and drug dealers. It blows me away that this topic is on a channel that teenagers can watch, over and over again. Not good because it sensationalizes a devastating drug.
Jookbox, you have the best profile pic I've ever seen !
Jookbox, you have the best profile pic I've ever seen !
Well atleast it encourages them to make a quality product. (joking)
I see what you are saying, but if someone is dumb enough to try to cook meth and start an empire, or become a vigilante serial killer/lumber jack, then their would probably get themselves into trouble anyway.
Breaking Bad portrays meth users as burnout losers, so that is good I suppose. They do however portray the people involved in the business as extremely smart, cunning, masterminds who have the ability to think on their feet. So it is somewhat of a give and take.
I think BB shows how drugs destroy lives. There isn't anything I see that glorifies drug use at all.
There was some season 1 bonus footage somewhere, in which the cast and crew discussed the fact that the show clearly portrays drug use and the drug trade in a negative light. Seems to me that anyone dumb enough to see an appeal to drug use or drug dealing, after watching this show, is not going to make it very far before either destroying their life, or losing it.
On the other hand, you don't ever try to put a limit on stupidity.
On the other hand, you don't ever try to put a limit on stupidity.
Absolutely. It's completely abusive IMHO.
I did the marathon series before the start of this season and I started to cringe and hate every time I heard
"JESSE!"
Come out of Walt's mouth. I could only imagine what a real life Jesse would feel in response to those.
Some perspective:
Scarface (1932)
Antonio "Tony" Camonte (Paul Muni), acting on the orders of John "Johnny" Lovo (Osgood Perkins), kills Big Louis Costillo (Harry J. Vejar), the leading crime boss of the South Side of Chicago. Johnny then takes control of the South Side with Tony as his key lieutenant, selling large amounts of illegal beer to speakeasies and muscling in on bars run by rival outfits. However, Johnny repeatedly warns Tony not to mess with the Irish gangs led by O'Hara who run the North Side. Tony soon starts ignoring these orders, shooting up bars belonging to O'Hara, and attracting the attention of the police and rival gangsters. Johnny starts realizing that Tony is out of control and has ambitions to take his position. Meanwhile, Tony pursues Johnny's girlfriend Poppy (Karen Morley) with increasing confidence. At first, she is dismissive of him but pays him more attention as his reputation rises.
Tony eventually decides to declare war and take over the North Side and sends one of his best men and close friend, the coin flipping Guino Rinaldo (George Raft) to kill O'Hara in a florist's shop that he uses as his base. This brings heavy retaliation from the North Side gangs now led by Gaffney (Boris Karloff) and armed with Thompson submachine guns, a weapon that instantly captures Tony's dark imagination. Tony leads his own forces to virtually destroy the North Side gangs and take over their market, using tactics such as those used on the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. He also kills Gaffney while he makes a strike-out at a bowling alley. This proves too much for Johnny, whose organization has been effectively hijacked by his ambitious deputy, and he arranges for Tony to be assassinated while driving in his car. Tony manages to escape this attack, and he and Guino kill Lovo in revenge, leaving Tony as the undisputed boss of the city.
Tony's actions have provoked a public outcry and the forces of the law are slowly closing in. Tony's problems increase when his sister Francesca "Cesca" (Ann Dvorak), of whom he is overprotective, secretly marries his friend Guino. After discovering the two of them together, Tony kills Guino before either he or Cesca can inform him of their secret marriage. His sister runs out distraught and informs the police of Tony's killing. This provides the police the opportunity for which they had been waiting, and they move to arrest Tony for Guino's murder. Tony holes up in his house and prepares to shoot it out. Cesca comes, planning to kill him, but ends up helping him to fight the police. When a stray bullet kills her, Tony's confidence collapses. As the apartment fills with tear gas, he leaves down the stairs, and the police confront him. Tony pleads in cowardly fashion for his life, but then seems to make a break for it, only for police fire to mow him down, apparently suicide by cop. The camera then shows the sign that has been outside his apartment saying, "The World is Yours."
And sometimes art imitates life...
I'm in fourstringdrums' camp. Sensationalizes? I'm pretty anti-drug...what I noticed very early on: BB was about karma...our actions/poor choices & their consequences.
Agree. Take Wendy...please.
While watching Walt's gyrations-
...a scene form Body Heat popped into mind.
William Hurt is visiting a client (Mickey Rourke) in his jail cell....Hurt is asking Rourke about making a fire bomb. Rourke pooh-poohs the notion sayin' Hurt once counseled him-
"...in any crime, there are 50 ways to **** up. If you're a genius, you can think of 30 of them. Well, you're no genius".
Walt may be a genius but he's been screwing up a lot, too.
Anyone who watches BB and finds it to glorify or glamorize the world of meth is a seriously loose canon and going to find trouble one way or the other. This show is a public service announcement for how dysfunctional and dangerous that lifestyle is.
And I agree with posters who say it is a morality play more than anything, and meth is merely the vehicle.
And I agree with posters who say it is a morality play more than anything, and meth is merely the vehicle.
Breaking Bad is a true work of art. I remember how I got my cousin into the show and she and her husband now watch it religiously. The way seemingly insignificant points in earlier episodes now become important (such as when the Whites paid for Hank's treatment). That totally blew my mind.
In some ways, I do think the show does glamorize the cooking world, but it definitely shows how meth can impact users such as the folks who robbed Skinny Pete. The kid in that family... I felt so bad for him. this is also the first time you see that Jesse isn't really a bad guy at heart, but like all of us he made many mistakes throughout his life, and now at the end I think you can really see he just wants to be washed of the choices he's made in his life and throughout the course of the show. All of us feel that way about the mistakes we've made, but at the same time, we also all have to answer to the choices we've made in life and how those choices impact others we come into contact with whether it's fair to them or not.
Collateral damage isn't fair. But then again, if it's as a result of poor choices you have made, then you must still answer for them.
In some ways, I do think the show does glamorize the cooking world, but it definitely shows how meth can impact users such as the folks who robbed Skinny Pete. The kid in that family... I felt so bad for him. this is also the first time you see that Jesse isn't really a bad guy at heart, but like all of us he made many mistakes throughout his life, and now at the end I think you can really see he just wants to be washed of the choices he's made in his life and throughout the course of the show. All of us feel that way about the mistakes we've made, but at the same time, we also all have to answer to the choices we've made in life and how those choices impact others we come into contact with whether it's fair to them or not.
Collateral damage isn't fair. But then again, if it's as a result of poor choices you have made, then you must still answer for them.
I wouldnt say this show sensationalized crystal meth.
Take a look at any of the users on this show, they are portrayed fairly accurately, and not in a positive light.
I doubt many people have become interested in methamphetemines because of Breaking Bad.
sen·sa·tion·al·ize
/senˈsāSHənlˌīz/
verb
1. (esp. of a newspaper) present information about (something) in a way that provokes public interest and excitement, at the expense of accuracy.
There sure are a lot of commercials for addiction treatment centers during the BB marathon. 
Intelligent juxtapositioning.
.
Intelligent juxtapositioning.
.
No way this show glamorizes drugs.
This show is simply a modern morality play set in our day and age.
I agree with the poster who said it's a work of art, the way the story unfolds, the angles of the camera shots, the hues of the character's clothes, the dark humor, the whole package...indeed a work of art.
Looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up this Sunday.
And I will definitely be asking Santa for the box set this xmas.
This show is simply a modern morality play set in our day and age.
I agree with the poster who said it's a work of art, the way the story unfolds, the angles of the camera shots, the hues of the character's clothes, the dark humor, the whole package...indeed a work of art.
Looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up this Sunday.
And I will definitely be asking Santa for the box set this xmas.
There sure are a lot of commercials for addiction treatment centers during the BB marathon.
Intelligent juxtapositioning.
.
I can dig it. That place in Malibu looks pretty nice.
Agreed. The cinematography, camera work, and attention to detail has been really impressive. Anyone who says it can't be done on TV is dead wrong. With any luck, the age of so-called reality and so-called talent shows will turn the corner someday soon and we'll have more thoughtful quality TV like BB.
I've been watching the marathon and even though I just rewatched the series over again before the new season started up again, I'm still catching things that I missed the first time.
Do people actually dress like that still? Haven't seen that look in years. I guess I don't run in the right circles to meet meth-heads and analyze their fashions.
