An Essay on Liberation: Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is presented as a story of liberation under late-capitalist conditions, in which freedom is a process of becoming rather than a given property. Walter White's struggle starts when a televised image of seized money fascinates him, breaking his routine as a teacher and father, and when a terminal lung cancer diagnosis shocks him into acting. His first deed, leaving his job, is treated as his first act of freedom. The excerpt breaks off before the series' ending, which is read as successful.