Gender Representation In Amc's Breaking Bad

As quality television programming has evolved throughout the years, so has its ability to create and develop female characters who challenge previous stereotypical notions of gender representation. This evolution is perhaps most notable in the depiction of Kim Wexler, portrayed by actress Rhea Seehorn, in AMC’s Breaking Bad (2008-2013) spin-off series, Better Call Saul (2015-2022). I would argue that, in order to effectively investigate the ground-breaking depiction of Kim’s character, a comparison should be drawn between herself and Skyler White from Breaking Bad. The discrepancies in how these characters are represented on screen and the resulting audience reception offers an interesting insight into the representation of gender in quality

In Better Call Saul, Kim is a child-free, heavily career-oriented lawyer succeeding in a typically male-dominated field; contrastingly, in Breaking Bad, Skyler is a housewife and mother of two. The divergence of their roles within society offers some insight into the audiences’ reception of each character. While both women are morally compromised, Skyler is held to a higher standard of ethics as she is “disempower[ed]… through motherhood” (Vosen Callens 55), as societal expectations for how mothers ought to behave— as “ethical barometers” for their children (Chaney as cited by Vosen Callens 55) — influence how the audience perceive her moral failings. Furthermore, Skyler’s confinement within the nuclear family dynamic also significantly reduces her agency within the narrative. Her children are continuously weaponised against her by her husband, Walter. When Skyler threatens to call the police on Walt for his numerous violent and illicit crimes, he in turn coerces her silence by exploiting societal ideals surrounding family, implicating Skyler as the one responsible for ruining the fabric of their family if she doesn’t comply with his demands (Joy 124). Kim, on the other hand, isn’t bound to obligations of family, and is therefore allowed to act independently and her moral ambiguity is given more

Walt’s insistence on fulfilling the role as breadwinner for his family is his main motivation for his foray into drug manufacturing and violent crime, and as Breaking Bad progresses, he seeks Skyler’s submission and compliance through increasingly heinous acts of emotional and physical violence. Perhaps most disturbing is his sexual assault of Skyler in S2e1 (“Seven-Thirty-Seven”), and the implications of marital rape in s5e2 (“Madrigal”). These assaults indicate Walt’s entitlement to his wife’s body and insistence on her remaining in the role of the submissive wife, despite Skyler’s objections. However, as the audience perceives the events of Breaking Bad through Walt’s perspective, these instances of sexual abuse are rarely mentioned after they occur (Joy 123). This lack of engagement with Skyler’s abuse at the hands of Walt gives the audience little motivation to sympathise with her, culminating in her abuse being largely overshadowed by the focus on Walt’s own