Breaking Bad color theory, explained: How wardrobe told the story

Sometimes, the strategy of telling stories attracts people. People admire the television series Breaking Bad for the same reason. Because this is not only known for its excellent storyline and characters, its strategy of telling stories through the color of its clothing is unique.

Each character's mental state, character development, and the course of the story are defined by the colour of their clothing. Below, let's just analyze this color theory.

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Breaking Bad color theory, explained

White: Innocence With New Beginnings

White Color symbolizes purity and new beginnings. This peaceful color is associated with the name Walter White. Initially, he started cooking meth wearing white underwear. This indicated the beginning of his new journey. But over time, the color of Walt's clothing changed, which reflects the change in his character.

Blue: Peace and Confidence

The color blue symbolizes peace, spirituality, and confidence. Skylar White often wears blue clothes, which indicates her conciliatory attitude. In addition, the presence of blue during the manufacture of meth symbolizes the purity of meth and the associated depression.

Red: Signals excitement and danger

Red symbolizes excitement, danger, and power. So, according to this, if we look at the presence of red in Jesse Pinkman's clothing, we will understand that it indicates his excitement and attraction to danger. The presence of red also reflects the dangerous side of the drug trade.

Green: Attraction to greed and money

Green symbolizes greed, money, and growth. And the presence of green in Walt White's clothing indicates his attraction to the drug trade and his so much greed for money. The presence of green in Skylar White's clothing reflects her interest in financial security.

Purple: Royalty and confidence

Purple symbolizes royalty, confidence, and secrecy. Mary Schrader often wears purple, which indicates her confidence and interest in secrecy. In addition, the presence of purple symbolizes her financial security.

Black: Death and Dark Side

The color black symbolizes death, darkness, and power. Walt White's black clothing represents the power and dark side of his Heisenberg character. In addition, the presence of black is a signal of danger and reflects the moral decline of the character.

Brown & Beige: Ordinary Life and Mental State

The colors brown and beige represent ordinary life and mental state. The presence of these colors in Walt White's early life clothing reflects his ordinary life and mental state. But over time, the change in this color indicates the development of his character.

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Color Change and Character Development

The main character's clothing colour changes over time. As an example, Walt White initially wore light-colored clothes such as gray, white, or brown. This symbolized his innocent life as a teacher. But as he transformed into "Heisenberg," his clothing gravitated toward darker colors (especially black and green). This color change also reflected his inner transformation.

Symbolic Conflict Through Color

A symbolic conflict of color in the relationship between Walt and Jesse is already there. Walt uses more solid and heavy colors like green, brown, and black. Jesse's clothing is in more flashy colors like red, yellow, and orange. This colour complexity shows how they are different from each other, how their conflict intensifies.

Representation of Hank and the DEA

Hank often wears khaki, brown, and orange, which indicates the reality of his job and his harsh, realistic outlook. These colors have also been used as symbols of stability and authority.

Pink bear: A color-based symbol

A pink teddy bear appears repeatedly in the series, especially after the plane crash. Half of its face is shown burned. It symbolizes the destruction and consequences of innocent lives as a reaction to Walt's decision. The color pink here symbolizes innocence, and its destruction through burning – a huge symbolic message.

Skylar's color change

Skylar initially wears light blue and white clothes – symbols of peace and trust. But when she gets involved in Walt's crimes and business, her clothes appear in green and dark blue colors – symbols of power, greed, and indecision.

Marie Schrader's purple color

Mary almost always uses purple in her clothes, bags, and even household items. It signifies royalty, certainty, and a desire for some kind of control. This color symbolizes her mental complexity and 'perfectionist' attitude.

Expressing changes in emotions through color

Not only characters, but sometimes emotions are also shown through color in specific scenes. For example, when there is panic or stress in a scene, the lighting of the set, the color of the walls, or the background also becomes dark, gray or red. In this way, the viewer gets a kind of visual indication of the character's mental state.

The absence of color is also a message

Sometimes, characters or scenes are arranged in a way where there is very little or faded color. This can symbolize a huge decision, death, or mental destruction. For example, when Walt completely becomes Heisenberg, his surroundings seem kind of lifeless, colorless.

So, now you know that the color of the clothing in the Breaking Bad series is an important element of the character's mental state. Their development and the course of the story are related to this, too.

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More Television Series Like Breaking Bad

If you liked Breaking Bad, there are other TV series that will give you a taste of the same excitement and psychological depth. First, there is its prequel, Better Call Saul, which shows how Jimmy McGill becomes Saul Goodman with great character analysis and patient storytelling.

The Ozark series shows how a family gets involved with a drug cartel, much like Walter's family.

The Sopranos and The Wire are two classic series that beautifully portray the world of crime, family, and moral conflicts.

These series also feature brutality, moral dilemmas, and how ordinary people get involved in crime