Wakeman, SJ (2018) The ‘one who knocks’ and the ‘one who waits’: Gendered violence in Breaking Bad. Crime, Media, Culture, 14 (2). pp. 213-228. ISSN 1741-6604

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Abstract

This article provides a cultural criminological analysis of the acclaimed US television series, Breaking Bad. It is argued here that – as a cultural text – Breaking Bad is emblematic of an agenda for change surrounding criminological theories of peoples’ propensity to do harm to one another. To exemplify this, the show’s central (male) protagonist is revealed to undergo a complete biosocial transformation into a violent offender and, as such, to demonstrate the need for criminological theory to recognise and further reflect upon this process. However, at the same time, the (re)presented inability of the show’s female characters to do the same is indicative of a number of gender-related questions that progressive criminological theories of violence need to answer. In considering these two fields in tandem, the show’s criminological significance is established; it is symbolic of the need for criminology to afford greater recognition to the nuanced intersections of both biological and sociological factors in the genesis and evolution of violent human subjectivities.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	16 Studies In Human Society, 20 Language, Communication And Culture
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions:	Humanities & Social Science
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2017 12:00
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 12:06
DOI or ID number:	10.1177/1741659016684897
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5241

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