Breaking Bad is an AMC crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan that aired from 2008 to 2013. It follows Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who turns to manufacturing methamphetamine to secure his family's financial future after he is diagnosed with lung cancer. The show explores themes of family, drugs, money, health issues, and features a diverse cast of characters. It was praised for its realistic portrayal of the drug trade and received widespread critical acclaim.

1. Breaking Bad
Shriya, Shreya, Sophie, Suraj and Mo

2. Breaking Bad - AMC
• AMC – originally stood for ‘American Movie Classics’
• Launched – October 1st 1984
• Part of a conglomerate owned by AMC Networks INC
• Sister channels – IFC, Sundance TV, WE TV, BBC America – horizontal
integration as the channels show similar programmes.
• Ideology – ‘Something More’
• Regulated – Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Netflix in the
UK is regulated through Ofcom
• Social interaction and self promotion through Websites/
trailers/twitter/facebook.

3. Breaking Bad
• Created by Vince Gilligan
• Director & Writer’s – Vince Gilligan, Thomas Schnauz, George Mastras
• Air date- Jan 20th 2008 – 2013
• 5 seasons which all aired in the US and on Netflix in the UK
• Target Audience & demographic – Fans of…crime/thriller genre, contemporary western, Bryan
Cranston, Aaron Paul. Teens and adults, ranging from 15 – 35. Wide age range applies to many people
because of Bryan Cranston’s previous work e.g. Malcolm In The Middle
• Themes – Family, Drugs, Money, Health (cancer) , Infidelity, Greed, Disability
• Gender roles and representations – Skylar – Busty Blonde/ American Mom but didn’t always conform
to a typical stay at home, she tried to take control of Walt to get him on the right path.
• Walter White – Becomes more patriarchal, not part of the subculture that he deals to, not ethical, has
cancer represented to be weak at times, 50 years old/frail.
• Jessie Pinkman – Ex –student, drug dealer and user, is part of the subculture that he deals to,
sometimes like an excited child/puppy.

4. Ethnic Diversity
• Latinos – stereotyped as Drug dealers/ criminals (guns, cars, clothing)/
immigrants (dry cleaners above the lab). Marginalised - only one police officer
(Gomez) and the rest are drug dealers. Reinforced as criminals.
• White people – Superior to other ethnicities, especially Walt trying to undermine
Gus, Hank ordering Gomez about.
• Black People – tokenised as only black person who has a speaking role. Ditsy
bodyguard (Huell) who is hired to help with the money laundering.

5. • Stereotypes – Latinos are into drugs, white people are somewhat
superior, women conform to the American stay-at-home mom.
• Dominant Ideology – Challenges dominant ideology of women as they
are not push overs, can have careers. Challenges the idea of drugs
being bad because Walt starts making Meth to get money to support
his family. Reinforces the idea of drug dealers being Latinos and
criminals e.g Gus, Hector Salamanca, Tio/Tuco Salamanca etc

6. Men and Women in Breaking Bad
• More men than women but both genders have something to do with the drug
cartel.
• Men – usually take the leading roles with the series, strong ,dominant, but can
sometimes be represented as weak. E.g. Walt being depressed, Jessie breaking
down after death of Jane etc these representations can relate to the target
audience because not all men are macho and they do have their downfalls.
• Women – although men take the leading roles the women are there to support
them. They have roles in where they are not reinforcing the dominant
stereotypes of women and are challenging them by taking lead when things go
wrong and trying to double cross the men. E.g Skylar coping with Walt’s lies, and
Lydia with the drug shipments. Marie reinforces the stereotype of women
because she cares about Hank etc. Relates to the target audience to empower
women especially with the rise of feminism.

7. Audience
• Readings – Negotiated readers would use their own cultural experience to
respond to the text, in context to breaking bad the audience would understand
the ideas of breaking bad and how different factors can have an impact on
everyday life.
• Preferred readers would decode the text and it was encoded and would watch
breaking bad for just pure entertainment and escapism. These readers can feel
like they can relate to some of the characters.
• Oppositional readers make decisions on text based on their own life experiences.
So they could oppose the text as they may think that drugs is represented too
positively within the series.
• Through various characters the audience is positioned in many different ways.
The producers would have done this so that the audience can see each characters
view point of different things that are going on. Eg Walt Jr getting bullied fro his
disability.