Television as an Agent of Socialization

The AMC series Breaking Bad is a study of one man’s descent into evil. Sociologically speaking, our topic is deviance. Motivated to crime as a means to an end, the show’s lead character breaks every social norm he’s ever known. Yet, he’s our hero. Breaking Bad enjoys rabid fandom and fans enjoy watching his brilliant machinations week after week. We don’t want to be like him, but it’s such fun to watch him. We are drawn to the deviant behavior perhaps because we couldn’t imagine trying it ourselves. As the layers of his secrets and deceit peel away, even for those closest to him, we watch. Will he get away with it? Could we?

To summarize the show as succinctly as I can, our hero is Walter White: a middle-aged married high school chemistry teacher with a teenage son, a baby on the way, a second job at a car wash who learns that he has inoperable lung cancer. Presented this death sentence, he decides to use his chemistry knowledge to cook – and with help, deal – crystal meth in order to create financial stability for his family long after he’s gone. Talk about breaking norms!

As the series progresses, writers pile deviant behavior on top of deviant behavior. His extended disappearances (cooking meth in the desert) are explained first to his wife as blackout episodes brought on by cancer treatment, then marijuana addiction brought on by cancer treatment. Once his wife learns the truth, the cover to his extended family is a gambling problem – which also explains the loads of cash the family suddenly has its hands on. Like any of the covering addictions are any less deviant! Such a brilliant device to draw us in – not-so-small deviances are made to seem that way, and cover a much darker truth.

In the Season 4 episode, “Cornered,” Walt is exactly that. I think this is an excellent moment in the show’s arc that captures the deviance both at its height and at its breaking point (pun intended). Walt’s developed superiority and greed is challenged at nearly every turn.

Walt’s son tries to analyze his father’s behavior. He goes through elaborate face-saving for his dad, telling him that gambling (one of the deviant lies-on-top-of-lies) isn’t his fault and that he knows he’s had a hard time. Walt doesn’t let himself off the hook because he knows his deviant behavior has nothing to do with circumstance. “What’s going on with me is not about a disease, it’s about choices. Choices that I have made. Choices I stand by.”

The Whites purchase the car wash where Walt used to work. Bogdan, the previous owner, gives him a lecture about being in charge. The Romanian smugly explains: “Being in charge is not easy. It takes hard work. The real important thing is to be tough. Boss has to be tough. Can you be tough, Walter? I’m sure you can handle. And if not, you can always call your wife.” Seriously? Walt’s killed plenty of men by now and makes millions of dollars a year. This insult spurs Walt to take Bogdan’s framed first dollar, smash it, and buy himself a soda. The once-feared Bogdan has been overtaken and remains nothing more than a joke.

Walt’s business partner, Jesse, is distracted by the Meth Proprietor, and Walt believes it’s a ruse. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. This whole thing – it’s all about me.” Paranoid much, Walt?

A tipsy Walt lays out a case to his DEA brother-in-law Hank that he doesn’t think Hank has captured his meth “kingpin” after all. The following morning, Walt’s wife accuses him of self-sabotage – a cry for help. “I think some part of you wants Hank to catch you.” Walt denies her accusation: “Who is it you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it. You clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in: I am not IN danger, I AM the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks.” Wow – pretty cocky stuff, and Walt knows it, too, because he justifies: “Everything I do – everything – I do it to protect this family.” His wife, however, knows his deviant greed has spiraled a level too far, and retorts, “Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family.”

Yet we want to like this fellow, Walter White. Somehow he is relatable, and it draws us back each week. Season after season, he “breaks bad” more deeply, but the viewer keeps watching. Show creator Vince Gilligan, in an interview, put it this way: “We’re taking the protagonist and over time turning him into the antagonist. We take him darker with every episode.” I find myself cheering each beating, poisoning, explosion, intentional car accident, murder. TV’s powers of socialization are tremendous. Rooting for the bad guy = great entertainment for the viewer and great ratings for the network.

It was said in class just today: there wouldn’t be conflict if there weren’t both good guys and bad guys. Socialization is the process by which we acquire necessary skills to perform as functioning members of society. It’s safe to sit on our sofas and root for the bad guy, and I think one of the ways we learn to behave well is by watching the fictionalized versions of those who deviate from our norms. We stand at the coffee machine the following morning and chat with our fellow fans about just how bad Walt was, and how much more bad he can potentially be next week. Tick-tock, Walt: this is your last season.