Breaking Bad

IF 0.2 0 FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION

Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies Pub Date : 2020-09-24 DOI:10.1093/obo/9780199791286-0336

David P. Pierson

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Abstract

Breaking Bad is an American television crime dramatic series created and developed by Vince Gilligan. The series aired on AMC cable channel from 20 January 2008 to 29 September 2013 and reflected American middle-class anxieties during the period of the Great Recession (2007–2009). Many TV critics consider Breaking Bad to be one of the best television series of all time. Breaking Bad tells the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a put-upon, underpaid high school chemistry teacher, who upon learning that he has stage 3 lung cancer decides to begin making and selling crystal methamphetamine with Jesse Pinkman, a former student, to secure his (White’s) family’s financial future. The series title is derived from a southern US colloquialism, “breaking bad,” which signifies a person who has decided to follow a life of crime or immorality. Gilligan has described White’s character transformation as being from the reserved schoolteacher Mr. Chips to the brutal drug lord Scarface. The series is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The program’s recurrent images of wide-open western vistas, deserts, and rugged outlaws have led some critics to label the series a modern neo-western. The show has fostered a strong audience following that has allowed Gilligan and AMC to produce the spin-off, prequel series Better Call Saul in 2015 and a sequel film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, released on Netflix and select theaters in 2019. Sony Entertainment Television produced a Spanish-language version of the series, titled Metástasis, in 2014. Breaking Bad has served as fodder for important scholarship in media studies, cultural studies, and film and television studies. Scholars have focused their work on a range of topics, including Disability and Impairment, Economics and Social Class, Gender, Genre and Narrative, Pedagogy, Production Culture, Race and Ethnicity, and Science.

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《绝命毒师》是一部由文斯·吉利根(Vince Gilligan)创作和开发的美国犯罪电视剧。该系列于2008年1月20日至2013年9月29日在AMC有线频道播出，反映了大衰退时期(2007-2009)美国中产阶级的焦虑。许多电视评论家认为《绝命毒师》是有史以来最好的电视连续剧之一。《绝命毒师》讲述了沃尔特·怀特(布莱恩·克兰斯顿饰)的故事。沃尔特·怀特是一名受人愚弄、薪水过低的高中化学老师，在得知自己身患肺癌3期后，他决定和他以前的学生杰西·平克曼一起开始制作和销售冰毒晶体，以确保他(怀特)家庭的经济未来。该剧的名字来源于美国南部的俗语“绝命毒师”，意思是一个人决定走上犯罪或不道德的生活。吉利根将怀特的角色转变描述为从矜持的老师奇普斯先生到残暴的毒枭疤面煞星。该剧以新墨西哥州的阿尔伯克基为背景。节目中反复出现的开阔的西部景色、沙漠和粗犷的不法之徒的形象，使一些评论家给这部剧贴上了现代新西部电影的标签。这部剧培养了大量的观众，使得吉利根和AMC在2015年制作了衍生剧《风骚律师》的前传，并于2019年在Netflix和部分影院上映了续集《艾尔·卡米诺:绝命毒师大电影》。索尼娱乐电视公司于2014年制作了该系列的西班牙语版本，名为Metástasis。《绝命毒师》为媒体研究、文化研究、影视研究等领域的重要学术研究提供了素材。学者们的工作集中在一系列主题上，包括残疾和缺陷、经济和社会阶层、性别、体裁和叙事、教育学、生产文化、种族和民族以及科学。

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来源期刊

Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

50.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies is an English-language forum for theoretical, methodological and critical debate on Italian film and media production, reception and consumption. It provides a platform for dialogue between academics, filmmakers, cinema and media professionals. This peer-reviewed journal invites submissions of scholarly articles relating to the artistic features, cultural themes, international influence and history of Italian film and media. Furthermore, the journal intends to revive a critical discussion on the auteurs, revisit the historiography of Italian cinema and celebrate the dynamic role played by new directors. The journal includes a book and film review section as well as notes on Italian film festivals abroad and international conference reports. The profound transformation undergone by the rapidly expanding media environment under the impact of digital technology, has lead scholars in the field of media studies to elaborate new theoretical paradigms and methodological approaches to account for the complexities of a changing landscape of convergence and hybridization. The boundaries between cinema and media as art forms and fields of inquiry are increasingly hybridized too. Taking into account this evolving scenario, the JICMS provides an international arena for critical engagement with a wider range of issues related to the current media environment. The journal welcomes in particular contributions that discuss any aspects of Italian media production, distribution and consumption within national and transnational, social, political, economic and historical contexts.