‘Breaking Bad’ College Course Offered At SUNY Buffalo

When Breaking Bad was still airing on AMC, it was the topic of many water cooler discussions. Controversial in its subject manner, Breaking Bad stood the test of time as terrific television, and was the subject of many essays from various outlets. We even took a stab at analyzing the development of one of the show’s most interesting characters — Jesse Pinkman.

Now, it looks like students will have an opportunity to study the complex themes of Breaking Bad in the class room. Just from checking on The State University of New York at Buffalo’s site, it’s revealed that they will be offering up a course that’s related to Breaking Bad.

Titled “Breaking Down ‘Breaking Bad,” the seminar will be available in the spring of 2014 semester. The class will be taught by the SUNY’s esteemed English Professor Bruce Jackson. The professor is without a doubt going to be everyone’s favorite just for his course on Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. Interestingly enough, the course is labeled as a “visual studies” course that’s available to media studies and theater departments, as well as the Buffalo law school.

Professor Jackson made a public statement in the University’s press release announcing the Breaking Bad course:

“This is not just an interesting TV program. Breaking Bad’ goes into narrative and human and social complexity as no TV program has before. It is not like ‘The Sopranos,’ which was episodic; it is not like ‘The Wire,’ which was segmented. And it is not like ‘Homeland,’ which has had to direct itself into a new narrative. It is one epic narrative 60 hours long. We’ve never had that before, in any medium.”

Surely, there are many areas to delve into, from the study of the drug world to socioeconomic studies. According to the release, Buffalo’s Breaking Bad course will mostly examine the show’s story arc, the development of the plot, and feature guest speakers such as law professors and reps from the DEA.

Would you take a class on Breaking Bad?