Anna Gunn’s portrayal of Skyler White in the AMC drama, breaking Bad was the one who was received with much animosity and reproach. The drama has built itself from the ground up to become one of the most famous and beloved TV shows of all time, and so are its characters. But, while the crime-ridden Walter White was revered, his on-screen partner was reviled for daring to stand in the way.
To read also: “The Rise of Gus – It fits into the puzzle”: breaking Bad Maybe get another prequel after You better call Saul like Giancarlo Esposito wants a Gus Fring spin-off
Anna Gunn recounts defamation of Skyler White
breaking Bad was perhaps one of the best-written television scripts of all time, and not just because of its unusual story. The plot deviated with the story to complete it in the best way possible (e.g. the bizarre comic arc that led to the plane crash atop Albuquerque in Season 2). But of all the incidents, intentional or not, the one story that didn’t sit well with most viewers was the morality of Anna Gunn’s character, Skyler White.
Also read: “Do they have a statue of Scarface in Miami?” : breaking Bad Characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman Get Statues in Albuquerque, Internet Divided to Celebrate Drug Dealers
Throughout her time on the Vince Gilligan AMC series, none of the cast and crew anticipated the crowd to decry Gunn’s portrayal as the wife of the meth king. Skyler White was supposed to be the conscience of Walter White’s otherwise cautionary tale. It was a curious twist that was shocking and offensive to the entire crew of breaking Bad when Gunn’s character suddenly became the villain, the crowd’s anger was directed.
“It was very bizarre and confusing for all of us. It was a combination of sexism, ideas about gender roles, and then honestly, it was the brilliance of the show’s construction. People found a hero in Walt, but they wanted so much to connect with him so viscerally that to see the person who was often his antagonist – so the antagonist of the show in a way – they felt like she was stopping him from doing what whatever he wanted to do, and that he should be allowed to do what he wanted to do.
Also read: “I am not a one trick pony”: breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan has vowed not to return for a spin-off series because he needs to ‘prove himself’
What hate towards Skyler means breaking Bad
For the show itself, the sudden surge of hatred towards a morally righteous character was a sign of the powerful impact that breaking Bad had on his audience. Something as simple as serving as an antagonist would have people relegating Skyler White to true villain status on a show where there’s no shortage of people. Anna Gunn claimed that all of this, for her, was “transformative and amazing…so interesting…extremely important…very powerful…fascinating” but those terms only hide the harsher and hurtful truth that she and her character have been the target of misogynistic backlash.
Also read: ‘So killing a pregnant woman isn’t violent?’: HBO reportedly let it go The Walking Dead and breaking Bad To be too violent, get trolled Dragon House and game of thrones Shameless violence
Gunn also said in a 2013 op-ed that the bashing of Skyler White “had become a sort of Rorschach test for society, a measure of our attitudes towards gender.” And while that fact is still true, the actress goes on to say,
“In the end, I realized it wasn’t about me. It’s not about me, Anna Gunn, and it’s really not about Skyler. It’s about about how people connect to him. It’s also about how people still cling, perhaps, to older ideas of what a woman or wife should be or how she should be. should act or how she should behave. In the end, change is not always comfortable and not always pleasant, but it is good that it has been brought to people’s attention and awareness.
breaking Bad and its consequences, You better call Saul are both currently available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
