4) Those Signature Desert Stand Offs
Of course, discussing Breaking Bad’s impressive desert environments is a natural segueway from the show’s roster of villains. With much of the instrumental drug deals taking place in the Albuquerque outback, Gilligan channels the Western legacy of John Ford in visualising a beautiful yet arid landscape that can almost be considered a character of its own. Even the very first frame, which opens with a still shot of the New Mexico terrain, is visually striking. The relentless glare from the sun; the harsh and bleak environment, these are all elements that complement the show’s unforgiving theme, which in turn inject that extra layer of dramatic tension to the on screen proceedings.
It’s an alien environment that our two central protagonists – namely Walt and Jesse – struggle to cope with more often than not. This is perfectly illustrated when the inspiring drug duo are held captive by the criminally insane Tuco Salamanca out at his crippled Uncle’s shack. It’s a surreal, intense sequence that plays out remarkably well within the confinement of the hostage archetype. This is but one example from Breaking Bad’s extensive catalogue of desert standoffs, and it’s this unforgiving milieu of the North American Southwest that bestows Gilligan’s creation with a unique personality. Wide shots that position the characters as minute and blurry silhouettes, for example, illustrate that the setting is very much a core component of Breaking Bad’s DNA.
Though Albuquerque may have been initially favoured for its appealing tax breaks, in hindsight it’s difficult to imagine the tale of Walter White taking place anywhere else. The show’s creator even stated that the Albuquerque outback was considered “virgin territory for cinematography.” However, after five visually memorable seasons, Gilligan and his VFX team have irrefutably placed their own stamp on the vastness of North America’s Southwest.
Walter White’s story began out on the American frontier, a terrain in which Heisenberg was born, and it could well be that this same locale acts as his ultimate demise.
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