Research Catalog

Breaking bad and philosophy : badder living through Chemistry / edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp.

Title
Breaking bad and philosophy : badder living through Chemistry / edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp.
Publication
Chicago : Open Court, 2012.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library PN1992.77.B74 B74 2012Off-site

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Details

Additional Authors
  • Arp, Robert
  • Koepsell, David R. (David Richard)
Description
ix, 242 p. : ill.; 23 cm.
Summary
"Breaking Bad, hailed by Stephen King, Chuck Klosterman, and many others as the best of all TV dramas, tells the story of a man whose life changes because of the medical death sentence of an advanced cancer diagnosis. The show depicts his metamorphosis from inoffensive chemistry teacher to feared drug lord and remorseless killer. Driven at first by the desire to save his family from destitution, he risks losing his family altogether because of his new life of crime. In defiance of the tradition that viewers demand a TV character who never changes, Breaking Bad is all about the process of change, with each scene carrying forward the morphing of Walter White into the terrible Heisenberg. Can a person be transformed as the result of a few key life choices? Does everyone have the potential to be a ruthless criminal? How will we respond to the knowledge that we will be dead in six months? Is human life subject to laws as remorseless as chemical equations? When does injustice validate brutal retaliation? Why are drug addicts unsuitable for operating the illegal drug business? How can TV viewers remain loyal to a series where the hero becomes the villain? Does Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty rule our destinies? In Breaking Bad and Philosophy, a hand-picked squad of professional thinkers investigate the crimes of Walter White, showing how this story relates to the major themes of philosophy and the major life decisions facing all of us"--
Series Statement
Popular culture and philosophy ; v. 67
Uniform Title
Popular culture and philosophy ; v. 67.
Subject
  • Breaking bad (Television program : 2008- )
  • PHILOSOPHY / Essays
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Processing Action (note)
  • committed to retain
Contents
Walt's rap sheet / David R. Koepsell and Vanessa Gonzalez -- Heisenberg's uncertain confession / Darryl J. Murphy -- Was Skyler's intervention ethical? Hell, it shouldn't even be legal! / Dan Miori -- Finding happiness in a black hat / Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray -- Hurtling towards death / Craig Simpson -- Macbeth on ice / Ray Bossert -- Walter White's will to power / Megan Wright -- Better than human / Stephen Glass -- The riddle of Godfather Gus / Jeffrey A. Hinzmann -- If Walt's breaking bad, maybe we are too / J.C. Donhauser -- I appreciate the strategy / Sara Waller -- What's so bad about meth? / Patricia Brace and Robert Arp -- It's arbitrary? / Adam Barkman -- Does cooking make Walt a bad guy? / Greg Littmann -- Been through the desert on a horse with no name / Oli Mould -- You're supposed to be a scientist / Lisa Kadonaga -- Breaking bonds / Denise Du Vernay -- Walter White's American vice / Jeffrey E. Stephenson -- Meth, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness / Aaron C. Anderson and Justine Lopez.
ISBN
  • 9780812697643 (pbk.)
  • 0812697642 (pbk.)
LCCN
^^2012013078
Owning Institutions
Harvard Library