Drama TV - Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is an American TV Drama which was created by Vince Gilligan. The series follows the story of Walter White, a struggling chemistry at the local high school who develops inoperable lung cancer at the beginning of the series. Knowing this, he turns to a life of crime, hoping that the money he earns by producing and selling drugs would help secure his family's future before his death.

I decided to research this, because I enjoy the show, and also the twist on conventional drama. This show sees the protagonist, Walter White, change completely, and become the antagonist.

Gilligan stated 'Television is historically good at keeping its characters in a self-imposed stasis so that shows can go on for years or even decades. When I realised this, the logical next step was to think, how can I do a show in which fundamental drive is toward change?' - and with his used the character Walter White to almost create a Mr. Chips from Scarface.

The character's personality at the beginning of the show, made us as an audience sympathetic. A struggling teacher develops cancer and just wants to do right for his family - just chooses the wrong path to do so, so the audience feel sympathetic and want him to change and make the right decision that this isn't the right way to fix things. However this doesn't occur, the character digs a deeper hole, creating more trouble for himself, even when his cancer goes into remission, he continues his  drug abuse (dealing and producing), which causes his family to leave him - but at this point, you don't necessarily feel bad for him as an audience member. You may feel he deserves it, he's hidden all the criminal activity from his family, of which he was supposed to protect but ended up pushing away with all his lies. You feel sorry for his family, more than him, as well as others he's worked with.

I love that the show has a twist, where the audience are taken away from the convention of the protagonist being the good person who becomes the antagonist. It's completely different and risky, but I think it works. You don't necessarily support the character, but the fact he's becoming the 'evil' one, the audience are enticed to see if he fixes it, becomes good again or just what happens next in the story. It's strong idea to think about when creating a creative narrative for our piece.