Drugs, death, denial and cancer care:  using Breaking Bad in the spiritual care of cancer patients

Ewan Bowlby

doi:10.1177/1749602020931009

Drugs, death, denial and cancer care: using Breaking Bad in the spiritual care of cancer patients

Ewan Bowlby

School of Divinity

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article argues that watching Breaking Bad (2008–13) could encourage people affected by cancer to recognise and reconsider damaging reactions to their condition. If viewers are invited to see the series’ antihero, Walter White, as an iconic ‘silhouette’ of a better path not taken, this can provoke them to entertain more honest, constructive attitudes to cancer and death. Using the theological concept of a ‘silhouette of goodness’ and Jung’s theory of the ego-life and true Self, this article suggests that symbolic moments in Walt’s descent into chaotic criminality could help caregivers to meet the ‘need for symbols’ in cancer care.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	223-238
Number of pages	16
Journal	Critical Studies in Television
Volume	15
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1749602020931009
Publication status	Published - 30 Sept 2020

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Breaking Bad
Spiritual care
Cancer care
Television aesthetics
Iconography
Jung

Access to Document

10.1177/1749602020931009Licence: CC BY-NC

Bowlby_2020_CST_drugsdeathdenial_CC
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Final published version, 213 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

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Cite this

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