Masculinity in Breaking bad : critical perspectives / edited by Bridget Roussell Cowlishaw ; foreword by Robert G. Weiner.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Cowlishaw, Bridget Roussell, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Breaking bad (Television program : 2008-2013).

Masculinity on television.

Physical Description:

v, 227 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2015]

Summary:

Following on author Peter Rollins' motto "If it isn't popular, it isn't culture," this collection of new essays considers Vince Gilligan's award-winning television series Breaking Bad as a landmark of Western culture-comparable to the works of Shakespeare and Dickens in their time-that merits scholarly attention from those who would understand early 21st century zeitgeist. The essayists explore the series as a critique of American concepts of masculinity, with Walter White discussed as a father archetype-provider, protector, author of a legacy-and as a Machiavellian warrior on the capitalist battleground. Other topics include the mutual exclusivity of intellect and masculinity in American culture, and the dramatic irony as White's rationales for his criminal life are gradually revealed as a lie. In "round table" chapters, contributors discuss the show's reception, fans who root for "Team Walt," "Skyler-hating" and Breaking Bad as a feminist text. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Family man: Walter White and the failure of fatherhood / Susan Johnston

Western men: Breaking bad's outlaws and family men / Ian Dawe

Round-table discussion: The phenomenon of "bad fans" and "team walt"

Intellectual men: masculinity versus intelligence / Brian Cowlishaw

Business men: Breaking bad's best business practices / R. Nicholas Gerlich and Lori Smith Westermann

Machiavellian men: how Walter White learns "not to be good" / Stephanie Stringer Gross

Round-table discussion: Skyler-hating online

Men of legacy: Breaking bad's solutions to mortality / Ian Dawe

Men in control: panopticism and performance / Jeffrey Reid Pettis

Round-table discussion: is Breaking bad a feminist text?

Episode list.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780786497218

0786497211

OCLC:

895338314