Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Wilson_final.pdf (1.16 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Angry White Men: How Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead Predicted the Trumpian Zeitgeist

Wilson, Graeme John
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1551274929080533

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Media and Communication.
The archetypal protagonist of the modern “Golden Age of Television” is a maladjusted, White male struggling with feelings of marginalization. While this description applies to characters such as Breaking Bad’s Walter White, it is also used by political commentators to characterize what is popularly perceived to be the prototypical male supporter of President Donald Trump. When considering the cultural zeitgeist of the angry White man, are there any cultural and rhetorical connections between White, male Trump supporters who exhibit irrational feelings of marginalization and dramas such as Breaking Bad whose protagonists similarly exhibit and are motivated by such feelings? As a theorist and critical scholar of televised rhetoric and discourses, I am interested in analyzing such programming to determine whether these prestige antihero series invited viewers to contribute to the current masculinist movement under Trump and reassert dominance in response to perceived losses to women and minority groups. The specific episodes that will serve as case studies for this research into the relationship between modern prestige television and the cultural zeitgeist of Trump’s America will be drawn from Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, due to their cultural influence and visibility. My research will demonstrate that these series have operated as textual artifacts that contributed to forming the zeitgeist of the masculinized cultural moment which Trump serves as a figurehead of. Such research is relevant to modern American political and social discourse, thus providing a rich opportunity to expand on preexisting research into televisual influence on masculinity within a fresh context.
Ellen Gorsevski, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Swisher Raymond, Ph.D. (Other)
Hanasono Lisa, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Mascaro Tom, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
208 p.
Film Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Mass Media
Breaking Bad; critical discourse analysis; critical historiography; critical race theory; Donald Trump; Hillary Clinton; intersectionality; The Walking Dead; Trumpism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wilson, G. J. (2019). Angry White Men: How Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead Predicted the Trumpian Zeitgeist [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1551274929080533

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wilson, Graeme. Angry White Men: How Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead Predicted the Trumpian Zeitgeist. 2019. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1551274929080533.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wilson, Graeme. "Angry White Men: How Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead Predicted the Trumpian Zeitgeist." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1551274929080533

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1551274929080533
9,670
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.