Different Characters, Same Deal
Spoiler warning for “Breaking Bad” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
(Cover image by Natalie Hernandez)
My dad and I recently finished watching one of the best American TV shows ever made: the prestige-TV star child “Breaking Bad”. The show lived up to the hype established by its reputation and eternal infamy among internet memes. After finishing this wonderful program, I came up with one thought that remains my main lasting impression, that being:
Jesse Pinkman is Frodo Baggins.
This seemingly outlandish statement is less desperate clinging for the show to not be over, and more a realization about how stories and characters are written. It also comes from my nightly walks with my dad, where we spitball ideas about impossible pitches for the things we’ve watched together. With that said, I want to pay homage to one of those crazy ideas and prove that it's not as bizarre as it may first seem.
When it comes to the realm of creativity, repetition is a constant. This repetition is how different stories (be they from books, movies, or TV shows) have similarities between each other. These can be things like themes, tropes, or even the genre itself. That’s why we have concepts like the “crime drama” and the “fantasy epic”. These labels are what we would respectively categorize “Breaking Bad” and “The Lord of the Rings”, the two pieces of media that I want to use for this post (I will be using the movies for “The Lord of the Rings”). However, we know that these productions are not meant to symbolize their genres in their entirety. Outside of one of these pieces of media, you can find their genre counterparts, both as new as the latest blockbuster and as old as a Greek epic. It would be excessive to list every example that I know, but your own quick internet searches will surely yield more than enough to sate your curiosity. So, while different pieces of media can be their own original creations, they still have inherent similarities that make them recognizable in the wider world.
The reason that we should recognize this when we consume media is because the repetition, once realized, becomes patterns. From these patterns, the audience can begin to expect certain things. Which allows the creators behind the media to create with more stability, as they can rely on their audience’s knowledge of structure and patterns to help them understand the story. This allows us to recognize character archetypes, moral dilemmas and such, without the feeling of what we are seeing as being too foreign.
For example, Jesse and Frodo start off fairly similar. They have a routine that they follow, a group of friends that they trust, and largely exist in a state of complacency when introduced to the audience. Then, a wise and adventurous elder comes into their life, completely upending everything that they knew. Their respective stories see these characters encounter characters and situations that fundamentally change them, pushing their limits and driving the story. However, when we see these characters in their own stories, we don’t see them as the same. This is because the stories are vastly different in tone and setting. When viewing one story at a time, each feels fully unique.
One scene that really supports this idea is Aaron Paul’s original final performance as Jesse during the show’s finale, “Felina”. Without revealing spoilers, Paul was able to perfectly capture an impression of a man driven to his absolute limit. His goal with that moment is to express the tremendous stress that he has experienced, and the sudden realization that his ordeal is over. That performance also reminded me of Elijah Woods’s Frodo during the destruction of the One Ring in “The Return of the King”. From there, it made me think about the similarities between these performances and what they depict. They show finality, a singular feeling created by undergoing a tremendous journey and finally reaching its end. This mixture of emotions is the last thing that we are supposed to see from these characters, leaving the audience with a stronger impact. When we think about these characters after viewing their show or movies, we will always remember this final moment
This depiction is what makes these characters similar, even though they are vastly different in terms of morals or personality. But as the audience, we still get the same impact from them. That is what makes them parallel to each other, and that’s why I claim that “Jesse Pinkman is Frodo Baggins”. This commonality is not unique among them, as we can see this effect produced by other protagonists from other stories. Actually, this effect is what every creative should hope to achieve with their characters. With all the time invested in creating and following a character, it is important to give them a send off that not only represents their journey, but also satisfies the audience that has their own investment in them.
Like I said, this repetition amongst our heroes is intentional, and overall beneficial to the viewer’s experience. It provides the audience with an expectation, and they will feel satisfied when that expectation is met. We all expect the hero to struggle and ultimately succeed. We like this repetition because it is familiar and gives a sense of catharsis. That’s why audiences enjoy stories. A good story might be able to impart something brand new on to its audience, but first it has to follow tradition. So, the next time you read the stories of your favorite characters, make sure to look for the similarities.
Works Cited
“Felina.” Breaking Bad, season 5, episode 16, AMC, 29 Sept. 2013. Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/title/70143836
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Directed by Peter Jackson, performance by Elijah Wood. New Line Cinema, 2003.
