tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4371563906056793020.post3094434082658885855..comments2022-06-27T08:24:47.010-07:00Comments on Ethicist For Hire: In Nihilism We TrustAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16976202121496293980noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4371563906056793020.post-32712725084741073552013-11-01T06:46:46.968-07:002013-11-01T06:46:46.968-07:00Thanks for your thoughtful response. While I certa...Thanks for your thoughtful response. While I certainly can see why you and I'm sure many others would approach the show in the way that you discuss, I just don't buy that the cancer was revelatory so much as excusatory or that Walt in any way suffered for his monstrosities or even developed as a character. I think in fact that the flashbacks are often meant to reveal just how Heisenberg-like Walt always was, and how he just needed an excuse to let him out. I also take this to be the point of his discussion with Jesse in S5 about feeling that he lost his empire with the company he started. So while I certainly agree with you that other shows are also nihilistic, I do not agree that Breaking Bad is not.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16976202121496293980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4371563906056793020.post-72768825431008547552013-10-30T10:23:00.308-07:002013-10-30T10:23:00.308-07:00I'm not sure that I agree with you that the ca...I'm not sure that I agree with you that the cancer was merely a red herring. It happened. It was a fact that led White to discovering something about himself, something unsavory, that he repressed for all the years where he was the world's greatest dad and dutiful husband and teacher. It commented, perhaps, on something that may be universal in the human character, given the chance to develop. And was it really nihilist porn. The condemnation of White's monstrosities were explicit, whether a portion of the viewers got that point or missed it. No, what we have here is a crime story told from a point of view of the criminal, something that American television really lacks, what with all of the sappy cop shows. Those shows, I might add, do more to create mistrust than Breaking Bad ever did. Always told from the point of view of the "good guy," the world is full of creeps and criminals. Even the mildest deviation from the norm of behavior probably signifies that the character is suspect. One episode of Law & Order portrayed a mycologist. His character was offbeat, therefore was viewed as nonconformist. Those shows do more to warp our collective sense of right and wrong than Breaking Bad ever did. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com