Postmodern re-readings of Don Quixote in Breaking Bad. Mass culture and aesthetic democratization in serial fiction

Abstract

TV series, of global reach and mass consumption, have widened the limits of the current cultural field, introducing a new category of audiovisual narration. The screening of The Sopranos, The Wireor Losthas transcended the local framework to become worldwide reference products. The digital universe has made possible the rapid circulation of these series and modified the relationship between market, producer and consumption, due to the incidence of Video On Demand (VOD) platforms, the generalisation of ultralight devices and the expansion of social networks.

This article seeks to analyze how these serial fictions have internalized literary tradition to build a product that transcends entertainment into the social, philosophical and political concerns of today's societies. To this end, and with the aim of pointing out intermediate convergences, from the point of view of the reception of Breaking Bad,we will focus on the analysis of this series, as a postmodern rereading of Don Quixote.