The color work of Breaking Bad: narrative excess and its effects on fan interpretation

Abstract

This article discusses the addition of details or excesses in the mises-en-scène of current television programs, from the creative use of colors, centering its analysis on Marie Schrader's character in Breaking Bad (2014) and the web conversations about her association with color purple. The narrative junction between the natural transformations of the plot and the exuberant inventiveness by which it is transmitted to viewers via discourse/style generates what television critics point to as the arrival of golden era in which the glamor once couple with films would migrate to series, an act that authors like Mittell and Johnson nominate as complex television. Such ingenuity in productions encourages, in the general public and on the fans in particular, a greater attempt to observe, share and comment on their interpretations of the story they appreciate.