The Failed Masculinity of Walter White

hey Siri show me Walter White at his most masculine I would nope I am the one who knocks wrong say my name definitely not then Decay then transformation better that's more like it I am dead serious just so we're clear here let's make sure we're not conflating the terms masculine and badass the two are certainly not mutually exclusive but their ven diagram is absolutely not a single Circle Walter White at least in the last two seasons of Breaking Bad is UN undoubtedly a badass a phenomenal anti-hero and quite frankly one of the best written characters in the history of Television he is also a shining example of failed masculinity that is he demonstrates in his behaviors numerous vices that are not true masculinity but rather a Corruption of it some might call it toxic masculinity and while I don't like to use that term because of its ridiculous and frequently inaccurate overuse in modern society I wouldn't wholly disagree with that label being applied to Mr White speaking of labels I 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I can personally trust them to stay on top of protecting my personal data you can get 20% off of delete me Us customer plans when you go to join delete me.com Samwise and use promo code Samwise checkout that is join delet me.com Samwise code Samwise many thanks to delete me for helping to keep my data safe and for sponsoring this video and now back to Walt in order to be truly masculine one must act virtuously after all what is masculinity if not the essence of a good man and what does a man do a man provides for his family providing is of course a good a very high good A man should absolutely be willing to sacrifice for the well-being of his family and that is exactly what you have right here I'm not saying that Walter having to deal with bored teenagers who don't even bother trying to grasp the beauty of chemistry and being mocked by the fact that he's doing manual labor is glamorous or even that it's not embarrassing my own Pride would certainly be wounded in such a scenario But ultimately if you look at these scenes through an objective moral lens Walt is doing doing absolutely nothing wrong and just about everything right he is instructing as best he can the Youth of his community he is performing a service to others and most importantly he is providing for his family but not as well as he could be a large part of Walt's shame is that he knows his potential is far far beyond his current circumstances but through at least one poor business decision and some bad luck this chemistry genius is teaching adull eyed teenagers and giving out change at a car wash instead and those feelings of Shame aren't to be condemned at least not in their entirety men should absolutely strive to fulfill their potential and push their physical and mental abilities to their limits it is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable change that to say body and mind and I would completely agree though that quote is commonly attributed to Socrates so the goal of attaining strength of Mind was an obvious and foregone conclusion to him I'd like to focus in on one of the first words of that saying shame this is an emotion that we as humans try extremely hard to avoid since the existence of it within us is an indication that we have done something wrong that we are not as we ought to be and that wounds our pride pride is not the opposite of shame but its source true humility is the only antidote to shame shame and pride exist locked in an Ever strengthening cycle where they reinforce each other and our pride pushes us to do things that are rather stupid rash immature in order to avoid future shame in Walt this spiral of Vice manifests itself in his compulsive need to be the winner for so long Walt had been as he might see it kept under another man's boot but as his journey as a meth cook begins and his agency and control over his life increase so too does his pride most if not all of Walt's failings occur due to his huis due to his desperate need to preserve his own self-image as a protector and provider in the very first episode episode he hears some random nobody's mocking his son and does this Walt wants others and himself to know that he's the man of the family that he will stand up for his son which would be a good thing if he didn't escalate from verbal Jabs to physical violence look at how proud of himself he is and look at how Walter Jr Smiles at him that's the worst part of it Walt had the opportunity to teach his son a lesson in humility accepting your own limitations affirming that physical handicap does not make you less of a man and learning to ignore the worthless opinions of morons and yet instead he says through his actions if someone laughs at you kick him in the knee when he's not looking again badass yeah I guess it's a little cowardly to be honest but he doesn't stand up to the guy but masculine absolutely not a true man knows when to be a badass and when not to let's take iro for example when surrounded by di Lee agents he unleashes the dragon of the West in order to provide for his and Zuko's Escape but when Toff instinctively attacks him he doesn't let his pride be as bruised as his tailbone is and instead responds gently and with sympathy offering the lost lonely and scared girl a cup of tea companionship and some words of wisdom Walt's failings as a man occur time and time again due to his inability to properly order his passions and motivations he wants to provide for his family because after all a man provides for his family but he chooses to do so in a way that is grossly immoral and then he continues to do so because well he wants to I'm in the Empire business failures of masculinity such as Walt happen due to a man taking a trait that would be virtuous if properly ordered and turning it into Vice by taking it to extremes there are given virtues that men often express more noticeably than women do and those are the ones that are often seized by men who act as Walt does take for example the virtue of Courage a man can fail in two ways when it comes to this virtue he can either be a coward letting fear control him not acting when he ought to act or he can be fool hearty and rash plunging himself into dangerous situations that suggests he's really quite terrible at risk benefit analysis both of these are failures of masculinity but since courage is seen more as a masculine virtue that is its expression by men is done in more noticeable ways we are far quicker to denounced as unmanly cowards then we would be madcaps who walk into a room full of armed drug dealers ERS holding a bomb but Walt was effective he got what he wanted he won yes that's kind of the point Walt's goal was not remotely virtuous evil ends cannot be attained through good means and of course good ends can ultimately not be attained through evil means whoever does evil in the supposed service of good will become evil himself at least in the beginning Walt's intentions were not totally impure he wanted to provide for his family to ensure that they were taken care of after he was gone there's no real sense that he's doing this to leave a legacy or even so he'll be remembered fondly he simply wants to not leave his wife and children destitute hence his calculation of the exact dollar amount needed before he can stop cooking meth $737,000 that's what I need from the very beginning Walt was planning for his death his diagnosis with lung cancer his conversion with Jesse about Jesse's Aunt who suffered the same illness and his uneducated guest at the scary looking glowy bit on his CT scan led him to believe that his end was not far off which gave him an out Walt could cook and sell his meth provide his family with enough to live on and then Shuffle off this Mortal coil knowing he wasn't leaving Skyler drowning in debt and unpayable bills this tells the audience that Walt was not yet fully corrupted he was not yet in the Empire business there was still something decent within him something that wanted to be done with the evil in which he was partaking and he had a plan to that end which of course gets turned upside down when Walt discovers that he is in fact in remission and that his tumor has shrunk far beyond expectations side note Walt's assumption that he was about to die happened because Marie made a comment about her being able to easily read the scan results it's not just a special doctor thing I could take one look at Waltz and tell you immediately how he's doing and clearly Walt thinks himself way smarter than Marie so he assumes he could do the same thing because you know he's kind of arrogant anyhow with his death suddenly not weeks but instead probably years away Walt's plans are ruined just what I trying to get out they pull me back here hence this scene this is what Pride does when it doesn't get its way it causes us to lash out and act quite irrationally this scene is remarkably effective in portraying Walt's pride in a manner quite different than most other scenes in the series The Audience observes Walt acting out of sheer unadulterated hubus time and time again often in more obvious fashion like when he trashes Jesse's meth just because he's spite and possessive but in this bathroom scene we see how Simply Having his plans altered causes Walt to blow a gasket pride is not flexible it does not easily deal with snags and twists in its designs and when those designs get upended Walt becomes rather lost which lasts a good long while the first five whole episodes of the third season are spent without Walt so much as picking up a beaker he's out of the game he's trying to get his family back after his second cell phone faux paw he's trying to not be the bad guy I accept who I am I'm the bad guy I am not a criminal again Walt sees himself as Superior to Jessie to Marie to whomever he does not want to be Jesse that is of course until Jesse makes the mistake of showing him the meth he cucked ah poor Jesse he just wants some approval from the man who tutored him in the ways of Blue Rock Candy but of course none is forthcoming because Walt is feeling rather possessive no Small Wonder there since Skyler recently well I [ __ ] Ted not that equating a wife and a meth formula is the right thing to do but the feeling of loss that has been churning within Walt since he learned of his wife's Affair most certainly affects his reaction to seeing Jesse stealing his product this is yet another manifestation of Pride the prideful man believes that he is the source of good that what he has created is due to his own effort and belongs to him and him alone he refuses to acknowledge that he stands on the shoulders of giants and in order to prop up his own image he heedlessly tears down others now this is this is very shoddy work Pinkman I'm actually embarrassed for you this is perhaps the most fascinating part of the character writing of Walter White his chief ice is pride and one might think that a character so dominated by One Singular sin would be rather onedimensional and yet he's not in part because his pride manifests itself in so many different ways as we've already discussed and we'll continue to cover as we progress through Walt's story as you may remember the insult to Walt's ego caused by Jesse Di daring to cook the Master's formula drove him to return to Gus arrogantly telling him that he sees through his little manipulative games but then ultimately to hear his offer once again this time with a little more philosophy behind it what does a man do Walter A man provides for his family according to Gus a man provides no matter what even if he is not appreciated respected or loved by those for whom he provides he simply Bears up and he does it because he's a man the best lies are often not the opposite of the truth they are instead truths taken and twisted to fit our own selfish needs Gus is right A man should provide but what should a man provide food housing safety absolutely Comfort enjoyment if possible but are those ultimate goods are they to be chosen above respect and love should a man pay to provide for his family with his very soul I think not a man should provide for his wife and children yes but above all he should provide them with himself he must be a servant leader an example of virtue to his kids in a Bastion of strength and love for his wife he must be a man worthy of their love one of the most tragic scenes in Breaking Bad follows closely on the heels of Gus's a man provide speech his Skyler is beginning to believe that Walt might just be such a man once again that is a man worthy of respect and love you want to take her despite knowing what Walt did despite her severely damaged trust in him and despite her lawyer telling her the idea that Walt did what he did for the sake of the family was one enormous load of horeshit Skyler now supposes that he has changed that he has set aside his past mistakes that he can be trusted to be a father not knowing that Walt has already made the decision that will ultimately tear their family apart for good she thinks the man she is watching soothe their infant daughter is a changed man and she's right just not about the direction of his change wanted me out I'm out but I will provide for my family but she didn't want you out Walt she wanted you back your son wanted you back too the relationship between Walt and Walter Jr doesn't receive nearly as much Focus as many of the other relationships in the show but it has one particularly poignant scene that occurs after Walt and Jesse demonstrate what I can only describe as the least masculine martial art known to man in his pained State Walt makes the rather poor decision to mix painkillers and alcohol and ends up rather loopy and weepy when his son comes over I'm sorry it's not Walt's finest moment but really breaking bad as a show could be summed up as a collection of Walt's not finest moments but in this moment Walt fails in the opposite direction than he has been just a few episodes earlier we were treated to one of the best known monologues from the show and perhaps the one where Walt hubris reaches its peak let me clue you in I am not in danger Skyler I am the danger those lines were of course utter nonsense as Walt was very much in danger of getting offed and was almost completely powerless but that's Pride for you now instead of puffing up his chest like a silver back in Mating Season Walt cries and moans about how it's all his fault how he's made so many mistakes coming not a great image to project to your son not that there's anything wrong with being vulnerable and honest with your children but a man should have a little more control of himself and when he wakes up Walt realizes that his behavior the night before was less than ideal and goes to apologize to his son except what he really wants is to ensure that Walter Jr has the quote unquote right mental image of his father you you really you can't think of me like Walt because he's Walt then goes on to tell a rather lengthy anecdote about how the only real memory he has of his own father is from when he visited him on his deathbed and people pretty famously do not look so great when they're about to die but the only thing I could remember is him breathing this rattling sound like if you were shaking an empty spray paint can I don't want you to think of me the way I was last night this is just pure unadulterated Pride the need to control how people remember you is absurdly narcissistic Walt wants it all he wants to be the provider and to be remembered as such he wants no he needs his son to know him as a strong capable man who kept him fed clothed and housed even though it cost him everything else in that Walt goes beyond Gus's expressed provider philosophy he doesn't really accept that he can be a provider and not be respected by his family even in death which is absurd because who cares what people say about you after you die a man shouldn't worry about the Legacy that he leaves behind that's foolishness thinking about such things is a complete waste of time and energy energy that would be better spent St to love one's family as they ought to be loved your legacy your True Legacy is your chosen course of action not what people think of you you could be the most virtuous man in the world and some people would still hate you perhaps even your own family members so be it what matters is not what they think of you what matters is that you loved them as best you could and that is ultimately Walt's failure he chooses Pride over love he chooses himself over others I'm in the Empire business that is to say I want as much power as I can get my hands on I want control over how people think and speak of me I want to die knowing that I will be remembered long after my death even in ignominy at least he admits as much before the end I did it for me I liked it I was good at it there's not much else I feel the need to say about Walt in season 5 by the time he uses Hector to blow up Gus at the end of season 4 Walt is pretty much already gone full villain mode sure he descends further into the hole that he dug himself always always grasping for more money power and Renown no matter how he can get them but he was already too far down to pull himself back up at least from a storytelling perspective dramatic changes of heart and Redemption are certainly possible but sudden and unexplained ones don't come across super well in a TV show especially when your story is about how a man's hubis destroyed everything of value in his life and while there are a thousand other examples of Walt arrogance that one could examine for example him thinking he could kill Gus by knocking on a man's front door with a revolver in hand go home water him getting pissed off when Skyler has him Express regret over his fake gambling weak I'm out of control I mean this whole thing makes me look like crap to him moving back into the house and calling Skylar's Bluff with the police I haven't been the most attentive husband lately it's hardly necessary to list them all I think I've painted a pretty full picture of the man's failings Walter White was eventually very good at being a badass but he was terrible at being a man masculinity does not mean being confident forceful and aggressive without condition or restraint it means knowing how to properly order such traits it means providing an example of Selfless Love To The Next Generation not because you want to be remembered fondly but because you want your children to grow up to be better than you were it means putting others before yourself providing protecting and guiding for their sake not for the sake of your own image in all these things Walt failed his story is still one that really matters clearly not because of his character Arc being uplifting or inspiring but rather because it explores a darker part of the human psyche it sheds light on the pride that exists within all of us that drives us to act as we ought not to act day in and day out it doesn't so much make us look up and say I aspire to be like him but rather to look down and think yeah I'd better get my act together if you somehow haven't seen Breaking Bad yet I apologize for spoiling lots of it not all of it I left out quite a few big moments but also you should watch it if you've already watched it you should watch it again there is so much depth to the characters to the point that when I watch a few scenes I get the urge to write a mini essay just on the characterization presented in those 5 to 10 minutes of story I didn't because this video would end up being multiple hours long and that's just not necessary in fact this video has gone on long enough as it

Channel: Master Samwise

Views: 13,987

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Id: 31HS0bGKPEQ

Length: 20min 13sec (1213 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 05 2024