The Ankler

๐ŸŽง Murder, But Make It Funny

‘Breaking Bad’ as a comedy? How Hollywood reduces, reuses and recycles ideas

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According to Karl Marx, โ€œhistory repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.โ€ And in the eyes of Rob Long, so, too, does material in the entertainment industry. When something works as a drama, for example, people will try to find a way to jigger it into a comedy (cue the side-splitting version of Breaking Bad). Most films and shows these days are just a retread of something else. But as Rob explains, small tweaks can have a big impact โ€” in the same way a loudmouth in a movie theater can break a poignant moment by uttering a single word.

Transcript here.

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