I’m enjoying the show but I can’t help but see it as a western critique of communism. The whole show feels primed to play off of the “socialist country does good thing, but at what cost?” Headlines you see. Individualism vs scary brainwashed collectivism. Breaking Bad was a phenomenal show but it definitely also extolled the virtues of rugged individualism.
I do like your read of it though as a critique of AI and hadn’t considered that before.
Breaking Bad definitely didn’t extol individualism because Walt, the protagonist and Chief Individualist who constantly chafes at being subordinate to others, ruins his life and the lives of everyone around him in his pursuit for rugged individualism. His arc as a drug lord effectively ends with him wasting away in a cabin in the woods, paying the one man who knows he exists hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few more minutes of company
Unfortunately this flies over the head of most young masc viewers of the show. That’s much more an indicator of societal patriarchal brainrot than it is a condemnation of the writing but as I said elsewhere I do think the finale should have been more of a defeat for Walt. Him getting basically everything he wants in the end did not help things lol
Maybe it’s an inescapable problem with the medium of film that even if you show things that suck, there will be a lot of people who think it’s cool. Like how war movies notoriously get people to like war more even if it shows friend and foe alike getting brutally killed.
I can’t help but see it as a western critique of communism
See I think a theme like that is too simple for how Gilligan and co write these shows. Breaking Bad was thematically kinda sloppy and Walt won too much in the end (big reason why BCS is better), but with Plur1bus I feel there’s more to it than a generic individualism-vs-collectivism narrative. To me the show is more about isolation, grief, and exploring what it means to be a person in the modern world. Ofc the season isn’t over yet and there’s plenty of time for them to fuck it up so I might eat my words in a few weeks.
I’m enjoying the show but I can’t help but see it as a western critique of communism. The whole show feels primed to play off of the “socialist country does good thing, but at what cost?” Headlines you see. Individualism vs scary brainwashed collectivism. Breaking Bad was a phenomenal show but it definitely also extolled the virtues of rugged individualism.
I do like your read of it though as a critique of AI and hadn’t considered that before.
Breaking Bad definitely didn’t extol individualism because Walt, the protagonist and Chief Individualist who constantly chafes at being subordinate to others, ruins his life and the lives of everyone around him in his pursuit for rugged individualism. His arc as a drug lord effectively ends with him wasting away in a cabin in the woods, paying the one man who knows he exists hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few more minutes of company
Unfortunately this flies over the head of most young masc viewers of the show. That’s much more an indicator of societal patriarchal brainrot than it is a condemnation of the writing but as I said elsewhere I do think the finale should have been more of a defeat for Walt. Him getting basically everything he wants in the end did not help things lol
Maybe it’s an inescapable problem with the medium of film that even if you show things that suck, there will be a lot of people who think it’s cool. Like how war movies notoriously get people to like war more even if it shows friend and foe alike getting brutally killed.
See I think a theme like that is too simple for how Gilligan and co write these shows. Breaking Bad was thematically kinda sloppy and Walt won too much in the end (big reason why BCS is better), but with Plur1bus I feel there’s more to it than a generic individualism-vs-collectivism narrative. To me the show is more about isolation, grief, and exploring what it means to be a person in the modern world. Ofc the season isn’t over yet and there’s plenty of time for them to fuck it up so I might eat my words in a few weeks.