*Minor Spoilers for Breaking Bad Ahead*
I love Breaking Bad, I was lukewarm at first, but once I got far enough in, it grew on me and I was hooked, and now I think it is one of the best shows of all time. At this point I know most Breaking Bad fans want Walt to get his just desserts because of the horrible things he has done, and because of his overall transformation from the nice guy to the villain. But am I the only one who still likes him? Who is rooting for him?
He is such a great character to me because of his journey to the "dark-side" of sorts. He is an anti-hero in the "tragic hero" sort of way because you see his rise and fall, and as the show progresses, you pretty much see his motivation behind his actions and his transformation so it becomes almost relatable, but still very unfortunate. If there was none of that backstory or development, and we just saw him first off as Heisenberg (in the Tuco sort of light) I would hate him, but something about how I've been with him from the beginning is so crucial to me pulling for him. It's almost as if I feel sorry for him in a way, that his transformation was so sad and got so ugly.
I don't know many other types of media that pull off this as particularly well, but in relation to this, I find that my favorite stories are ones that include anti-heroes. But even with a lot of my favorite anti-heroes (I LOVE anti-heroes), the character isn't always portrayed as an especially "great, kind-hearted" person from the beginning despite the inevitable character development. For example, Kratos from God of War was still a hard-ass, angry, violent barbarian sort of dude. Light Yagami from Death Note was a super intelligent, "nice kid," but he had this (though not unrealistic) introverted, high-horse sort of attitude ("all bad people need to be eliminated") that made him eat up the power the book gave him like biscuits and gravy.
*Minor Shadow of the Colossus Spoilers* Some of my other favorite stories/characters with anti-heroes that I feel like are done in a similar way of BB are The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption and Shadow of the Colossus. For SotC, all Wander wants to do is save his one true love, and he is lead to view these colossi as "monsters" that he has to slay in order to save her soul, but he ends up being the bad guy without you realizing it until it is probably too late and you are too far into it to just gracefully bow out, which I see as similar to Walt a little bit. But then there's the obsession and the power and the hubris and everything along with it.
Sorry, I rambled A LOT, but does anyone else still want to see Walt pull through?
I love Breaking Bad, I was lukewarm at first, but once I got far enough in, it grew on me and I was hooked, and now I think it is one of the best shows of all time. At this point I know most Breaking Bad fans want Walt to get his just desserts because of the horrible things he has done, and because of his overall transformation from the nice guy to the villain. But am I the only one who still likes him? Who is rooting for him?
He is such a great character to me because of his journey to the "dark-side" of sorts. He is an anti-hero in the "tragic hero" sort of way because you see his rise and fall, and as the show progresses, you pretty much see his motivation behind his actions and his transformation so it becomes almost relatable, but still very unfortunate. If there was none of that backstory or development, and we just saw him first off as Heisenberg (in the Tuco sort of light) I would hate him, but something about how I've been with him from the beginning is so crucial to me pulling for him. It's almost as if I feel sorry for him in a way, that his transformation was so sad and got so ugly.
I don't know many other types of media that pull off this as particularly well, but in relation to this, I find that my favorite stories are ones that include anti-heroes. But even with a lot of my favorite anti-heroes (I LOVE anti-heroes), the character isn't always portrayed as an especially "great, kind-hearted" person from the beginning despite the inevitable character development. For example, Kratos from God of War was still a hard-ass, angry, violent barbarian sort of dude. Light Yagami from Death Note was a super intelligent, "nice kid," but he had this (though not unrealistic) introverted, high-horse sort of attitude ("all bad people need to be eliminated") that made him eat up the power the book gave him like biscuits and gravy.
*Minor Shadow of the Colossus Spoilers* Some of my other favorite stories/characters with anti-heroes that I feel like are done in a similar way of BB are The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption and Shadow of the Colossus. For SotC, all Wander wants to do is save his one true love, and he is lead to view these colossi as "monsters" that he has to slay in order to save her soul, but he ends up being the bad guy without you realizing it until it is probably too late and you are too far into it to just gracefully bow out, which I see as similar to Walt a little bit. But then there's the obsession and the power and the hubris and everything along with it.
Sorry, I rambled A LOT, but does anyone else still want to see Walt pull through?
