Marc P Valdez

'Breaking Bad' Signs and Symbols Marc P Valdez

"'Breaking Bad' Signs and Symbols," aims to understand some of the symbolism embedded in the backgrounds of "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," in order to decode messages and stories Vince Gilligan and crew have hidden there. A series of tables are used to isolate how certain architectural features are used: Pueblo Deco Arches, Gentle Arches, Bell-Shaped Lamps, Parallel Beams in the Ceiling; Twinned Features; Five-Pointed Stars; Octagons, etc. In particular, daylighting innovations that were pioneered or promoted in Chicago are examined: Glass Block Windows, Luxfer Prismatic Tile Windows, and Plate Glass Windows. Like many cities in America's Great Plains and Mountain West, Albuquerque obtained much of its architecture directly from Chicago via the AT& SF railroad and Highway 66. In "Breaking Bad," Albuquerque is used as a stunt double for the City of Chicago. Certain symbols advance the plot: foreshadowing symbols like Pueblo Deco Arches, or danger symbols like bell shapes and stagger symbols. Other features, like Glass Block Windows or Parallel Beams in the Ceiling, tell stories about the legacies and corruptions of modernity, particularly those deriving from Chicago's "Century of Progress" (1833-1932). Stories told by the architecture, sets, and props of "Breaking Bad" include: The Legacy of El Chapo; Tributes to Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest"; The Badger Comes To Entrap; The Five Apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe; The Legacy of London's Crystal Palace; and an Homage to Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner." The way that the Native-American past is used in "Breaking Bad" suggests modern concerns like surveillance were ancient concerns as well.