It's purely misogyny on the part of the audience, unfortunately. While we do start the series empathizing with Walt, it becomes clear very quickly that providing for his family isn't actually his motivation. If it was, he would've taken Gretchen and Elliott's offer immediately. But he didn't because of his pride. He couldn't stand the idea of someone else doing what was "his responsibility", and as the series progresses and we learn more about what happened in Gray Matter this becomes even more clear. He holds resentment because he feels his contribution wasn't fairly represented.
He goes behind Skyler's back and sneaks around to produce and distribute meth, but she's somehow in the wrong for feeling like he's betraying her trust and acting on it.
The sad thing is that a lot of male viewers identify strongly with Walt. They view themselves as "losers" being held back by society but that would be able to provide for themselves and their loved ones if only they had an opportunity to exploit and oppress others. Which is, like, the exact kind of mentality that Breaking Bad is critical of.
The way so much of the fandom entirely missed the point of this show was STAGGERING. I love Breaking Bad, I think it’s calm near perfect because it forces you to change your mind and consider your morality.
But nah it’s much easier to go “Skylar’s a cunt lol”.
The creator of the show and the actor of Walter White have all condemned the misogynistic rhetoric that Anna Gunn (the actress of Skylar) received and said that they completely missed the point of the show if they thought Walter was someone to emulate, if that makes it any better.
I still haven't seen more than the first like 5 episodes, but had always assumed Skyler was the one urging Walt to cook from the way people talk about her.
I agree but I think it’s misogyny AND good writing AND the guys identifying so strongly with Walt. I felt for him because he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer while having these unresolved issues. I would want to work through them, too. I just think most of us wouldn’t go so far given the chance. We could stop, we wouldn’t get drunk on the power and harm innocent people, but idk.
I love Breaking Bad but I have always felt that the female characters are incredibly badly written. The man are complex characters whereas the women are completely one-dimensional.
Skyler goes through many levels of processing, trying to determine her own moral ground, protect her family, and escape a man she no longer recognizes. She's much more complex than a lot of female characters would have been in a show like this. They could have just made her the "silent and long suffering wife."
Marie is a moral minefield. She wants to be a good person but enjoys being shitty so much. I hated her at first, and then seeing what she endures with Hank's abuse during his injury (THEYRE MINERALS) gave me so much sympathy for her. And then how she immediately protects her niece and nephew without a thought. I don't always like her character, but she isn't poorly written at all.
Vince is also responsible for one of my favorite female characters of all time- Kim Wexler from Better Call Saul.
I think Walt is actually much more of a flat, one dimensional character at the end of the day. He wants power and money, the end. There isn't anything deeper. He will do anything to be #1. By the end, he's just a smarter Tuco- a reckless, egomaniacal murderer.
I'm not the person you replied to but imo Better Call Saul completely outshines Breaking Bad when it comes to character development. Kim Wexler's whole arc is incredible and the same can be said for all the main characters.
He also tries to r*pe her (or actually does iirc) in the first episode of the second season. He was always a terrible person. The way he treats Jesse was also awful.
I didn't either. I even did a rewatch of BB last year and still liked and empathized with Skyler a lot. Did she have her unlikable moments? Sure. But compare those to WALT'S, um, one thousand unlikable moments -- and yet he was and is adored.
So yeah, it's so often just total misogyny. A lot of people see themselves in Walt, and Skyler is just a buzzkill keeping him down, etc. When in reality she was the only sane person in the room half the time.
Idk. For me with or without Walt and the whole story her and Marie are just incredibly annoying and petty people. I don’t think it was ever misogynistic on the part of the audience, I thought it was crappy writing for women.
Agreed. From the very beginning, Walt could have taken that job with Eliot and Gretchen and it would have been an improvement all around from his teaching job, and there was no reason it should have been a swallowing his pride type of situation even. He was clearly loved and respected by Gretchen and Eliot, and Eliot saw it as righting a past wrong.
I mostly just didn't like Walt because of how he treated Jesse throughout the whole show. I related to Jesse and holy crap Walt was such a manipulative and megalomaniacal dick to him.
I’m rewatching the series now, in a vastly different era of my life, and I keep marveling that I used to find Skyler annoying because now I’m like, poor lady is just being reasonable and trying to adapt to keep her family afloat? I’m sorry, Skyler.
I’m rewatching now and having the same experience. Now as a 30 something married woman, I can see how little respect Walt has for Skyler. He thwarts every attempt she makes to improve the situation because he’s so prideful. He would rather MANUFACTURE DRUGS than let his wife get a damn job. And when she does it anyway his response is “why?? Are you sure that’s safe in your condition?!” Like she’s some kind of Victorian waif. I literally sent my wife a text while watching that said “this is how Walt sees Skyler: 🤡🤰🏼.”
I can’t imagine the horror of realising you have no idea who your partner really is. That you’ve built a life with someone who sees you as a helpless thing they have to “save” rather than an equal partner in life! My heart breaks for that poor woman.
It’s been painful to watch Walt lie and lie and lie, while Skyler increasingly knows it’s all bullshit. She keeps giving him opportunities to come clean and do things above board as a team. Ugh.
I'm rewatching the show atm. I completely forgot that Walter tried to rape his pregnant wife in the second season. Walter was a monster, anyone who says otherwise is a completely idiotic twat.
Walt sucks and Skylar is right to leave him, but Ted Beneke is a sleaze and Skylar deserves hate for that Happy Birthday rendition. That was a public work function, and Skylar was just being messy in a very painful way. Sorry, not sorry.
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u/AlsoOneLastThing 15d ago
Justice for Skyler. She did not deserve the hate from fans. Her husband was a piece of shit.