“Say my name”: an analysis of the character Walter White based on the concepts of narratology

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of character development that will portray the protagonist of the North American TV show “Breaking Bad”. Walter White, who is also the inspiration for the title of this work, is an emblematic character in his own way, and, as such, the question inevitably rises: why is this character successful and how is such success represented on the screen, through the narrative. The series comprises five seasons, and aired in the United States for five years (from 2008 to 2013). From the corpus composed of 62 episodes, for the analysis we will choose five selected and representative scenes, one from each season, seeking for answers found in the theoretical framework provided by narratology (BAL, 1999; GOMES, 1970; EAGLETON, 2013) to observe Walter White’s strength as a character and how he is built.