Elizabeth Arentsen

The Internet Hates Skyler White: Misogyny in the Breaking Bad Fandom

Abstract:

On various forms of social media, including Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram, members of the Breaking Bad fandom express their shared hatred of the character Skyler White. The internet’s hatred of Skyler White is rooted in internalized misogyny, as any feminist ideologies the show presents are rejected in fan’s interpretations. Though the opinions shared through memes, posts, and comments reflect the misogynistic views held by the fans themselves, they reveal the damaging presence of gender roles and sexism throughout society.

Skyler White of Breaking Bad is arguably one of the most hated characters on television. In 2011, Breaking Bad fans created a Facebook group, “The Official I HATE Skyler White Group,” to discuss nothing but their shared hatred of the character. Many viewers relate so strongly to Skyler’s anti-hero husband, Walter White, that they have come to dislike Skyler simply for her presence on the show as a wife and as a woman. Though Skyler is often the only voice of reason within Breaking Bad’s chaotic plot, many viewers reject her characterization as a strong, moral woman. Instead, the fandom hates her for the stereotypical gender roles she embodies. The Breaking Bad fandom provides a destructive misogynistic reading of the television series through the opinions of Skyler White expressed on various forms of media, including Facebook posts, comments on Reddit forums, and memes.

Vince Gilligan is the executive producer, creator, and director of the American television show Breaking Bad, which aired on AMC from January 2008 to September 2013. Gilligan, who is also the head writer, wrote the series alongside Thomas Shnauz, Peter Gould, Sam Catlin, George Mastras, and Moira Walley Beckett. Each Breaking Bad episode cost around $3 million to produce, and the season finale earned the network $7.5 million in advertising revenue (Nathanson). One point four million viewers tuned in to the show’s premiere, and by its final season in 2013, Breaking Bad had amassed an audience of 5.9 million viewers (Nathanson). Eventually, Breaking Bad was released for streaming on Netflix, which continues to boost the show’s popularity and profits even after the final season’s conclusion.

Breaking Bad is a crime drama television show set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, following the journey of Walter White. At the beginning of the series, White is a high school chemistry teacher, a loving father to his son Walt Jr., and a loyal husband to his wife, Skyler. After he is diagnosed with stage three lung cancer, White begins selling and distributing crystal methamphetamine to pay for his treatment and save money for his family in the event of his death. Working alongside his former student, Jesse Pinkman, White quickly amasses a fortune and becomes well-known in the drug trade under the alias “Heisenberg.” Mr. White’s success comes at a cost as he ruthlessly kills innocent people and consistently lies to his family to keep his business a secret. To White, selling and producing crystal meth eventually becomes more about pride and attaining power than ensuring his health and financial security for his family. Though his intentions were pure initially, White admits they became selfish and unrelated to his wife and children’s future: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And, I was really…I was alive” (Breaking Bad). Not only does he lie to his wife Skyler for years, but he repeatedly puts his family in incredibly perilous situations.

Throughout the series, the depiction of Skyler White’s character, played by Anna Gunn, reflects stereotypical gender roles. Though she does have a job, her husband is portrayed as the family’s breadwinner while she is the primary caregiver to their two children. One of Walter’s initial reasons for producing meth was to ensure that Skyler would have enough money to take care of the family if he were to die, which insinuates that she would be incapable of supporting them by herself. So, through Skyler White’s character, Breaking Bad presents the idea that a woman’s role in the family is to be a caretaker and wife.

The show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, and all but one of the writers are men, which is likely a contributing factor to the show’s lack of female protagonists and the portrayal of gender roles. Breaking Bad’s plot is primarily seen through two men’s eyes, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. Though both men act recklessly and selfishly, they remain protagonists. Their actions are often portrayed as courageous and strong, rather than destructive. In this way, Jesse and Walter can be identified as antiheroes. Though they lack morality and good intentions, they are depicted as powerful male figures through the glorification of their wrongdoings.

Skyler White is one of the very few women with a significant role in the plot. Though her husband, Walter White, is the show’s protagonist, Skyler provides a voice of reason that opposes his reckless actions. For instance, in a desperate plea for her husband to behave rationally, she begs, "I want my kids back. I want my life back. Please tell me - how much is enough? How big does this pile have to be?" (Breaking Bad). In an interview with New York magazine, creator Vince Gilligan describes Skyler as “the voice of morality on the show. She was the one telling [Walter], ‘You can’t cook crystal meth” (Gilligan). Though Skyler is one of the only characters to express good sense, Walter almost always disregards her logic. He ignores his wife’s advice and continues to act irresponsibly, regardless of any potential repercussions. Despite her husband’s stubbornness, Skyler White exemplifies a tough, opinionated, and logical woman. Through her character’s actions, Breaking Bad presents the idea that women can be strong and more reasonable than men.

Generally, Skyler is depicted as a supportive and loyal wife. Despite Walter’s unlawful and selfish actions, Skyler tries to help him to the best of her ability, even participating in a money-laundering scheme to hide profits from the authorities. Though she files for divorce at one point, she ultimately decides to stay with Walter for the sake of their family. Walter “is a man who boasts of killing legends, who’s used physical force to establish his dominance over her before” (Rosenberg), but Skyler feels it is her duty to remain strong and protect her children. Skyler White’s willingness to support her husband throughout challenging times illustrates her loyalty and promotes an idea commonly held in American society, which is that family should be valued over morality.

The discourse surrounding Skyler White amongst members of the Breaking Bad fandom is overwhelmingly negative. The show’s audience frequently expresses anti-feminist readings of the series through memes, forum posts, and Facebook pages dedicated to a shared hatred of Skyler. Upon analyzing the plot, most of Skyler’s actions are reasonable, justified, and far more moral than her husband’s. She is a woman trying to do the best she can under incredibly frightening and challenging circumstances. Yet, viewers regard her as the antagonist and nothing but an obstacle for Walter to overcome.

There is an exceptional amount of hatred expressed towards Skyler White on the Reddit forum r/breakingbad, on which fans share opinions and content related to the series. One Reddit user, JamesDickens, shared how he dislikes Skyler’s character simply for her presence on the show, with an argument devoid of any reasoning besides the fact that he finds her annoying: “How about another wife character that doesn’t make you want to punch the screen every 2 seconds? I am not even speaking about her deeper plot, from the first second I saw her on screen with every move she makes, she is extremely annoying” (JamesDickens). The user’s assertion that they dislike most “wife characters” is likely rooted in sexism, rather than derived from the actions or personalities of wives in television. Furthermore, the user states that they adopted their negative opinion of Skyler immediately, and they dislike her regardless of what she says or does. In an interview with the New York Times, Anna Gunn explains why she believes her character receives so much hate: “I finally realized that most people’s hatred of Skyler had little to do with me and a lot to do with their own perception of women and wives” (Gunn). It is clear that this Reddit user’s dislike of Skyler White stems from internalized misogyny. Their hatred is unrelated to her character and is based simply upon her existence as a woman and wife.

Other Reddit users share in further detail their reasons for hating Skyler White. An argument commonly presented on the forum, as user ScreamingGordita states, is how “she cheated in her marriage, thats a bfd [big fucking deal] bigger then lying. By doing that she declared herself a whore, so fuck her” (ScreamingGordita). While infidelity may be a justified reason to dislike a person, it is ironic that Skyler faces so much hatred for making one mistake, while Walter receives little backlash for his selling meth and committing multiple murders.

Similarly hateful sentiments are expressed towards Skyler White on Facebook, in a group titled, “The Official I Hate Skyler White Group.” Facebook user Michael Acosta states, “Skyler really is the worst and fuckin Walt is so faithful to his family. I just wish Walt would just bang a hot chick just to make it even” (Acosta). Acosta praises Walter for his loyalty and disregards the danger he consistently puts his family in, criticizing Skyler instead. These users assess Skyler’s actions without context in order to condemn her character. By ignoring Walter’s many shortcomings while attacking Skyler’s infidelity, these comments present “a classical patriarchal argument, upholding the idea that the integrity of the family needs to be maintained in order not to undercut the community (Hermes and Stoete).” Essentially, viewers are willing to look past Walter’s flaws as they do not pose a threat to his family in the same way as Skyler’s actions. Walter consistently puts his family in danger, but viewers perceive Skyler’s infidelity as much more offensive due to engrained patriarchal values.

The above meme illustrates how viewers perceive Skyler as a nagging, unsupportive wife without addressing the terrifying situation she is in due to her husband’s criminal behavior. The caption, “Oh females, won’t let ish go for ish LOL” (junaebenne), reveals that this fan is applying their preexisting misogynistic views to Skyler’s character, and their criticism reflects how they view women in general, even outside of the show’s context.

Although most members of the Breaking Bad fandom express misogynistic opinions of Skyler White, there are a few instances in which viewers perceive the character from a feminist perspective. For instance, on the reddit forum r/breakingbad, user eva_brauns_team sees Skyler’s flaws as positive characteristics rather than reasons to hate her. In a comment, the user states, “Skyler was one of the best written female roles on television and I loved LOVED that she wasn’t a saint’ (eva_brauns_team). This user’s acceptance of Skyler’s flaws is uncommon in the fandom, as most fans embrace Walter’s faults while condemning Skyler’s. Skyler should not be held to a higher standard than Walter simply because she is a woman. If fans can love Walter despite his many mistakes, they should be able to do the same for female characters. The Reddit user expresses a feminist reading of Skyler’s character by recognizing that she is a human, not just a wife or mother, and she does not have to be perfect to be likeable.

Despite the occasional feminist perspective, most of the Breaking Bad fandom embraces a misogynistic reading of the show through their criticism of Skyler White. In analyzing how the audience views the series according to Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding model, the viewers expressing such intense hatred for Skyler White decode the media from a negotiated position. According to Hall, decoding media from a negotiated position “accords the privileged position to the dominant definitions of events while reserving the right to make a more negotiated application to ‘local conditions’” (Hall). Though Skyler is encoded to represent stereotypical gender roles, the fandom expresses a far more extreme level of misogyny in their shared hatred towards the character. Additionally, the fandom rejects the show’s feminist messages entirely as they do not align with their preconceived sexist views.

Certain ideologies Breaking Bad presents about women, including how they are meant to rely on their husbands while being caretakers and wives, are misogynistic. As previously mentioned, members of the fandom decode the show from an anti-feminist perspective consistent with these encoded messages. Fans embrace the sexist ideologies encoded in the series and express additional misogynistic views of women through their interpretations of Skyler. For instance, Skyler is presented as a typical housewife, which is not necessarily a feminist issue on its own. However, the audience interprets this as a reason to hate Skyler by applying their sexist views to the encoded misogyny. Additionally, Breaking Bad fans reject the feminist ideologies the series presents, as they intentionally disregard the portrayal of Skyler as a strong, opinionated woman. Instead, the fandom condemns Skyler’s flaws to reinforce their misogynistic views towards women and wives.

The Breaking Bad fandom’s expressions of hatred towards Skyler White on various social media platforms reveal how problematic misogyny has become in American society. Through a negotiated reading of the ideologies encoded in the series, fans reject the show’s feminist messages and embrace the sexist portrayal of gender roles. In doing so, viewers expose the detrimental effects media’s portrayal of women can have on an already misogynistic society.

Works Cited

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Rosenberg, Alyssa. “Stop Hating the Wives: In Praise of Breaking Bad's Skyler White.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 16 July 2012, slate.com/human-interest/2012/07/skyler-white-and-breaking-bad-stop-hating-tv-wives.ht ml.

Edwards, Matt, et al. “Vince Gilligan Interview: Breaking Bad 10 Years On.” Den of Geek, 3 Sept. 2018, www.denofgeek.com/tv/vince-gilligan-interview-breaking-bad-10-years-on/.

Gunn, Anna. “I Have a Character Issue.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Aug. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html.

Hermes, Joke and Stoete, Leonie. “Hating Skyler White: Audience Engagement, Gender Politics and Celebrity Culture.” Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2019.1630155.

Hall, Stuart. Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse. Univ. of Birmingham, 1973.

Gilligan, Vince, et al. Breaking Bad. Culver City, Calif.: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2013.