Breaking Bad Character Analysis

Rising to the top of Netflix in 2009, Breaking Bad, produced by Vince Gilligan, engages its viewers with spine-chilling excitement throughout the dark metamorphosis of Dr. Walter H. White. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Walter is an overqualified high school chemistry teacher with a PhD in chemistry. In the first episode of Breaking Bad, Walter defines chemistry as a change in “growth, decay, then transformation” in front of students that are uninterested to learn in the chemistry department. In episode one of Breaking Bad, Walt discovers that he has stage II lung cancer that is inoperable. Secondly, the doctors have given him a prognosis of two years before his illness takes him away from a son who has cerebral palsy and a wife who is pregnant
Recognizing Walter’s transition from protagonist to “antagonist” becomes difficult to understand through the content and storyline due to a flood of information and the lack of common knowledge about the process of cooking and selling methamphetamine. Furthermore, Vince Gilligan’s portrayal of the protagonist, Walter White, takes on the role of being an “antagonist” being perceived as a character that gets lost in greed, but Gilligan throws in phrases in episode 6 like “I am doing this for my family” or in episode seven when Walter states how “he only needed enough for his family.” But while nothing seems to go on plan, an antagonist rises out of Walter White as his initial goals derail from his initial moral values. Typically, films and television shows in the 20th and 21st century give a clear depiction of good and evil that provides the audience with a side to choose from. However, in Breaking Bad, the story’s sympathetic portrayal of Walter White uses the audience’s knowledge of his tragic situation in the beginning of the series to influence the pardoning of his crimes. This shows that our moral compass can become secondary towards our initial moral and social benchmark, and going on our own path to accomplish a goal, whether we have to become the antagonist
Beyond the first episode of Breaking Bad, we learn that Walter White is 50 years old who has a PhD in chemistry, but has not achieved anything great throughout the duration of his life. After leaving a multibillion dollar company, Gray Matter, Walter lacks societal placement as well as friendships that have been broken throughout the configuration of his story. Fatal cancer has brought financial chaos, affecting his actions and plans on how he will pursue the next 2 years. While struggling to provide for his family with a teacher's salary, he is perceived as a similar man that wishes things could be so much better for him and his family. He could have the fancy lifestyle and instead of following the rules, he could be like that person that everyone wanted to be like. In addition, Vince Gilligan introduces a co-worker from Skyler's work named Ted Beneke; a well-crafted character that makes it easy to despise. Being a man that has been sleeping with Walter White wife, he has wealth, power, and even charm looks that embody him to take on the appearance that Walter wishes to have. Due to the first perspective of Walter White, the information is not hidden, but if viewed through another character’s