The Transformation of Walter White: A Case Study in Bad Faith

Abstract

This chapter investigates one of the most intriguing and complex concepts of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy—his theory of bad faith. Sartre defines bad faith as the ultimate self-deception whereby people are able to scrupulously convert themselves into what they are not. In Breaking Bad, Walter White’s terminal diagnosis propels him to confront his own frailness and vulnerability as he comes face to face with his mortality. At the age of 50 years, he has led an unremarkable life, and plummets into a bleak existential crisis. In this, we may recognize Sartre’s philosophical theory that claims that the nature of human existence is revealed in the immanence of one’s own death. White finds incredible new vitality as Heisenberg. His metamorphosis into a ruthless, power-mongering drug lord is his escape from the pitiful predicament named Walter White. And here we find a stellar case study of Jean-Paul Sartre’s bad faith.