How Breaking Bad Brilliantly Uses Color to Tell a Story

Breaking Bad is celebrated for its sharply defined characters, symbolism, and exquisite writing. But this is also a story that is told with color.

Nothing you see in Breaking Bad is an accident. Every piece of clothing, the colors of the backgrounds, the props--all of them work together to tell a single, cohesive story. Every color in the show has a symbolic meaning, every character is associated with a color, and their relationships in the show are even defined by their position on the color wheel.

Edited by Wallace Truesdale with Ryan Arey
Research by Wallace Truesdale

#BreakingBad #Color #VideoEssay

Works Cited:

[ScreenCrush]

What's your favorite moment from Breaking Bad?

[CB-lhph]

When walt dies there is red blood on the floor. The red is a subtle nod to the fact that he is bleeding out and dying.

[Michael-McCollum]

When Tuco says “blue, pink, yellow, whatever man” it’s actually a subtle nod to the fact that he would be okay with blue, pink, and yellow

[numberonehater]

Easy to crack jokes about analysing colour etc but it really is impressive to me how thought out every single little thing was on this show, it’s amazing

[LeoCalibre]

Narrator: Next up is purple.
Marie: It’s showtime

[scipio]

7:39 ‘Blue can also symbolise escape’
Missed a big chance to talk about the final scene of the entire show where Jessie escapes the prison and Walt escapes his life while the song ‘Baby Blue’ plays over in the background.

[xanderlowe]

I remember reading a comment about the color thing: Marie no longer wearing purple, or having purple in her house after Hank's died, literally represents the "color" in her life has been taken away (Hank's death). It added such a tragedy on rewatches of the last two episodes.

[joshmciver]

interesting that Saul Goodman doesn't have a primary color... he is ALL the colors because he's involved in pretty much every aspect.

[QuantumTap]

English Teachers: What did the Author mean to say when he said the curtains were blue
Breaking Bad: Hold My Meth

[jonl]

Loved this. Just one potential addition: Jesse until he got clean would often wear mismatching colors, showing he was in inner conflict by selling drugs but also using them. His clothes were also too big for his size, which was just a baggy trend but also to show that the life didn’t fit him.

[vivianransom]

Saul is always wearing different colors, usually several at once. This could symbolize how you never really know what his motivations are, and it's his job to appeal to anyone no matter what they need (as a lawyer). He doesn't want anyone to read into him

[RickyRisha]

Blue, yellow, pink whatever man! Just keep bringing me that

[NONOOBZEVR]

When Walter White dies at the end of Season Five during Episode "Felina", the song "Baby Blue" by Badfinger starts playing; a subtle yet tasteful reference to the kid named Finger

[nezartarekk]

I love how it's been 7 years and people are still talking about this masterpiece

[gtoger]

When Walt wears an undershirt or underwear, it's usually white. Which is a subtle nod to his surname, White.

[PlutoniumSlums]

I’m impressed how someone took the time out of their day to create a chronological order of every characters clothing hues in different episodes and seasons, now that’s pretty damn cool.

[liamina]

I was actually saddened by who Walt became and how his relation with his family ended on such a bitter note, yet I love the complexity of the character development at the same time.

[paramjani]

The only outfit caught my eyes throughout the whole series is Walt wearing pink sweater

[Zephirite.]

Saul wears every color, and as we see in Better Call Saul, he’s represented by the rainbow. His methods are described as “colorful”, he paints a rainbow on his office wall. And when you mix all colors together, you get the monster Saul made possible—Walter White.

[Web-Slinger]

When Hank is sitting on the toilet reading the Walt Whitman book his poop is color brown. The brown is a subtle nod to the fact that shit is about to go down.
Edit: I didn't think this comment would blow up so much 😅