thescarletpronster said:
I'm afraid I disagree with almost all of this.
Interesting post and you're perfectly entitled to disagree.
I'll nevertheless work to complicate some of your observations. None of this means you'll ultimately change your view. Much of what you say is an expression of preference, with a "realist" filmmaking approach gaining favour over what we might term "classical illusory realism."
These are not perfectly discrete methods, but The Wire adheres more strictly to realist conventions (seemingly natural lighting, eye level camerawork, an absence of non diegetic music, the use of non actors and colloquial language), while Breaking Bad is more stylistically conventional (illusory realism works to smooth over transitions and disguise artifice in a different way).
Viewed objectively, neither approach is innately superior and indeed, at different historical moments, realist and more classical approaches have gained favour with both audiences and critics.
thescarlettpronster said:
I really disliked the way violence was often stylised (using 'cool' music or staging), or played for laughs, and often found this quite objectionable. Idenitical twin assassins in identical shiny suits swinging identical shiny axes in slow-motion with a mariachi soundtrack? The forays into black humour didn't work at all for me, often jarring. Gus Fring straighening his tie in his final scene? And then, like so many other dramas, it lurched from one crisis to another (how many times was one or both of the protagonists moments from death only for another deus to descend ex machina?). I can think of only one moment in The Sopranos, for example, where this happened: when Tony and Johnny Sack were trying to have each other knocked off at the same time.
Viewed through an unremittingly realist lens, Breaking Bad falls short. As we've both said, The Wire sets the televisual standard in this regard. Simon et al. were undoubtedly more ambitious and The Wire is unlike any other show I've seen.
At the same time, Gilligan et al. weren't striving for a realist aesthetic or attempting to reproduce The Wire. Breaking Bad is a different show. At a surface level at least Breaking Bad is more addictive and the writers, producers, cast, etc. worked tirelessly to maintain a sense of psychological realism, even when events turned toward the fantastic and coincidental. This requirement was balanced against a desire to entertain; to keep audiences invested in a show that, in funding terms, almost stalled at the pilot. And Breaking Bad is entertaining.
Nobody lambasts Tarantino for not making realist films and filmmaking approaches can happily coexist. I can enjoy Jackie Brown and La Terra Trema, while taking in Stan Brakhage's Mothlight, without expressing a preference for illusory realist, realist, or experimetal methods. Each can be enjoyed on their own terms.
I'd also argue (as below) that's there's greater nuance in Breaking Bad than you suggest.
thescarlettpronster said:
It was done as 'BIG DRAMA' and laid on too thickly for me, without the sublety that I find truly satisfying in drama. There were one or two good moments, such as what ensues when Walter finds Jessie and his girlfriend monged out in bed, but they were too few and far between, and filled with two many bits I found objectionable, for me to think the series is really any good. But I know I'm in the minority, and most people love this kind of thing. The series I consider the best television drama I have ever seen is Tremé, and most people find that boring. Horses for courses, and I'm afraid I thought Breaking Bad was pretty bad, whatever anyone else says. But we can still be friends!
In many ways I'd agree; but I enjoy big drama as much as I appreciate realist film and TV.
The Wire is an angry statement of the union address that unpacks, in explicit detail, a corrupt system that operates through every level of the politcial hierarchy, while taking in issues as wide ranging yet connected as the education system, the dismantling of the unions, and the media (and now that I've seen season five, I concur that it's hugely disappointing). In The Wire, "all the pieces matter," as we're often reminded.
Gilligan et al. could never replicate this kind of social critique, especially on a network such as AMC, which is different from HBO. Nor did they attempt such painstaking sociological excavation. Breaking Bad nevertheless offers social criticism and character nuance, albeit more obliquely.
Walt's very existence as a screwed over chemistry genuis forced to work two jobs feels pertinent in a post-crash economic milieu, while links between the drug trade and corporate sector (not only Los Pollos Hermanos but also Madrigal) posit questions about the morailty of neoliberal capitalism.
Remember Lydia covering her eyes ("I don't want to see") when exiting the bunker and Gus's "hiding in plain sight" mantra. Each highlights sociopathic capitalist tendencies, while complicating moral and legal distinctions. Does Breaking Bad connect the dots as clearly as as The Wire? Certainly not; but it engages with many of the same issues while compelling a wider audience to pay attention.
As for character nuance, Walt's call to Skyler in "Ozymandias" was remarkable. The mix of emotions and motivations bound up in that scene and its performances paid off five seasons of investment in full. One of the main criticisms of Breaking Bad (and I'd generally agree) is that female characters are underwritten. Again, The Wire bests Breaking Bad on issues of gender and racial representation, by some margin. However, I identified more with Skyler as the show went on (which is strange when so many fans hated the character). Her decisions felt entirely rational to me; and as I say, psychological consistency was central to Breaking Bad's success, even when points of narrative became a little too incredible.
I guess I'm saying that Wire/Breaking Bad comparisons are at least somewhat invalid, because each show's creators set out to do different things, using different methods under different circumstances. Both were tremendously succesful on their own established terms, and our views on both shows fall back in many ways on thematic and stylistic preferences. Hey, if pushed, I'd vote for The Wire, but I'd happily take the Breaking Bad box set to a desert island, too.
And of course we can still be friends!
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