The family structure cannot survive the loss of the father’s ordinary image
Evidence
In the final episode, Walt has to admit that the desire to build his drug empire brought him an intense libidinal satisfaction that had long since become autonomous from the ostensible purpose — providing for his family when he is gone — that provoked him into cooking meth in the first place. But for most of the series Walt clings to the idea that he’s doing all the drug production, the killing, the manipulation and the terror for the sake of his family. Ironically, the one thing that the family could not survive is the course of action Walt ends up pursuing. It could probably survive penury and debt. It could survive the loss of Walt’s physical body. But it cannot survive the loss of the image of Walt as an ordinary father figure, beaten down by life, an underachiever maybe, but still someone who “does the right thing”. It’s as if Walt destroyed the family in the very attempt to save it. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 697
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Post-Fordist work conditions undermine the very family values they increasingly depend on — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 70; The father’s inaction can intensify a child’s suffering. — Dave Pelzer, A Child Called ‘It’, 137; Decline of middle-class ownership eroded the family’s role and paternal authority (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Paternal authority within families diminishes with unemployment
#complicates(0.82) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 690 - Bourgeois flourishing depended on father’s societal role grounding family authority and education
#corroborates(0.78) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 620 - Decline of middle-class ownership eroded the family’s role and paternal authority
#complicates(0.75) - The father’s inaction can intensify a child’s suffering.
#complicates(0.72) — Dave Pelzer, A Child Called ‘It’, 137