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Populär Culture Review
beyond” (75). W ithin six month before death, a typical cancer patient can
incur a mean o f $74,212 OOP expenses via both inpatient and outpatient
Services (Chastek et. al. 77). These Undings are congruent with the social
strain illustrated in Breaking Bad. W alter receives his first medical bill in
the mail for “$13,000 and counting” three days after his first treatment,
and he quickly estimates that he will eventually accrue $90,000 OOP
expenditures as a result o f his recent diagnosis (“Breakage”).
W alter’s terminal cancer and OOP expenditures ultimately give
him a grim outlook towards his future and foster negative emotions
towards the social structure. In a pivotal scene in the series, W alter waits
at Oncology Partners New M exico as a receptionist prints out his
extensive bill. W alter, seemingly shocked by the cost o f his treatment,
questions whether his cash payment discounts have been applied.
Emasculated and ashamed, he is quickly told by the receptionist that they
indeed have and that various payment plans are available to reduce the
financial bürden o f treatment. As W alter walks away in disbelief, the
receptionist hands him a button with the phrase, “Hope is the best
m edicine” written across its face. W alter subsequently leaves his
oncologist, looks down at the message, smirks, and tosses the button in
the trash (“Breakage”). This scene is interesting, because Breaking Bad
presents a society depleted o f any hope for conventionally achieving an
individual’s basic needs. Instead, a socially strained individual— as
presented in the series— must cope through criminal channels in an effort
to maintain financial stability.
In addition to economic strain, W alter’s debilitating cancer
treatments greatly contend with his conceptions o f hegemonic
masculinity. As a consequence o f his condition, he perceives his life as
series o f cruel choices that he has not been permitted to make and
worries that the emaciated cancer patient will be the man his family
remembers following his death— a man “too sick to work, enjoy a meal,
make love” (“Gray Matter”). L.M. W enger argues that there are many
intersections between gender strain and illness, and that many male
cancer patients struggle with the transition from independence to a
subordinate role: a man that strives to present him self “as one who is
independent, unrestrained, and strong, as one who does fo r others (as
opposed to with others) contrasts with performance Standards associated
with subordinate masculinities and idealized femininities including
passiveness, dependence, compliance, connectedness, and vulnerability”
(397). W alter’s poor health, in combination with his financial struggles,