Unfettered Brilliance: Walter White Wednesday 35

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Walter White Wednesday 35

Breaking Bad is an incredibly detailed and nuanced show that sparks strong reactions in its viewers. Many of these viewers feel a compulsion to write about the show (ahem), or Tweet, or create in other ways. One of those ways is through fan art. Like fanfic (oh, yeah - it's out there), some is good, some is less so, and some is just awesome! I've tried to feature some fan-created art here with the weekly "Walter White Wednesday" posts and it's high time I pointed you toward some of the fan creations that deserve a good long look. Some are touching, some are thrilling, and a few are just funny (see top of post - a weakness of mine is my inordinate love for puns).

First, this link takes you to a curated collection titled "Breaking Bad Art Project," which was displayed at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles back in August. The works include both straight up fan art as well as pieces that were commissioned by the event organizer, Paul Scheer. Show creator Vince Gilligan comments on the exhibit, along with Bryan Cranston (Walt), Bob Odenkirk (Saul), Betsy Brandt (Marie), and RJ Mitte (Walt Jr). All proceeds went to the Alzheimer's Association in memory of Barbara Slovis, the mother of Breaking Bad's extremely talented cinematographer Michael Slovis. Great, great stuff.

Buzzfeed collected their "25 Best Pieces of Breaking Bad Fan Art" - lot of focus on Walt here.

Like all good things (and some not-so-good things), Breaking Bad is active on Tumblr, where fans share their artistic creations inspired by the show.

Have you ever thought about taking Breaking Bad and tossing in other characters from other shows? Like Game of Thrones or (heaven forbid) the Muppets? Then this is the site for you!

Honestly, there is some wonderful, highly creative, professionally polished stuff out there - both visual art, writing, and video - that's done by fans out of love (or sometimes done by professionals trying to beef up a portfolio, but hey, it's still unpaid) that is well worth seeking out. Find it, admire it, then let the creator know how much you liked it. This stuff doesn't create itself, you know!

Until next week, chemistry fans!

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Points of Interest

Lurker's Guide - Excellent fan-run resource guide for Babylon 5

Breaking Bad - The official AMC site for news and recaps about the best show on television

Mockingbird's Nest - What I do outside of my day job

Ensley Guffey's Blog - Musings and links worth noticing

Nik At Night's Blog - Most things TV, including the 2011 Rewatch

TV Tropes - What you've seen, over and over and why it matters

Slayage - Whedon given the scholarly treatment

Whedonesque - Clearinghouse of all things Whedon

BuffyWorld - Shooting scripts, screenshots, and more

Who?

K. Dale Koontz may have watched too much television as a child. She learned to count via Sesame Street and first learned that genres could cross-pollinate through M*A*S*H. When she discovered Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the die was cast. In 2008, McFarland published her book Faith and Choice in the Work of Joss Whedon which focused on themes such as redemption, choice, and consequences in Whedon's work up to that point. (She's fairly sure Volume 2 could be written to include Dr. Horrible, Dollhouse, and The Avengers.) She is a founding member of the Whedon Studies Association (a great group of people, but don't mention Twilight. Just sayin'). She has presented original work on the Rossum Corporation in Dollhouse, Kitty Pryde, and Japanese anime. In 2014, she and co-author Ensley F. Guffey worked with ECW Press to publish the critically-acclaimed Wanna Cook? The Complete, Unofficial Companion to Breaking Bad. Her most recent project was to team again with Ensley and ECW to publish A Dream Given Form, which is the only guide to all the canonical works in the Babylon 5 universe. That book is currently available for preorder and will be released in September of 2017. Dale is available for speaking engagements and only occasionally uses puppets in her presentations.

What?

I have long been interested in storytelling - how we do it, why we do it, and what happens when we mix things up. This interest might be the result of being born and raised in the American South, a region that has long celebrated the involved story over the quick answer. Television - the good stuff, anyway - does this brilliantly. Far from being film's red-headed tacky cousin, good TV lets characters and relationships build slowly and often mixes up genres, so horror is next door to humor and fantasy rubs shoulders with procedurals. This blog focuses on both the "good stuff" being broadcast that catches my fancy (with a special emphasis on Babylon 5, since that's the book that's in the process of being written right now) as well as film. The films are usually new releases being watched for TV19's weekly Meet Me at the Movies, although I reserve the right to veer off into classics and under-appreciated gems as well. Older posts cover what my introduction to film class was up to - currently, I'm not teaching that course, but who knows what the future may hold.

Notable Whedon Work