Breaking Bad statues at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico

The Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico is a site of great American cultural significance. The first major area of the center, the west complex, was completed in 1972 and set the stage for the future of pop culture celebration in Albuquerque. The center is a multipurpose convention and performing arts center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being the largest convention center in New Mexico, it houses many large cons or events annually. It houses statues of Breaking Bad characters "Walter White" and "Jesse Pinkman" and unites pop culture fans from around the world at the center. They honor the incredible acting performance of TV actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. The statues represent America's rich television history as well as the cultural significance of TV in the country. The statues serve as an icon for the celebration of popular culture in the state of New Mexico and the United States.

The center is widely known for regularly housing Albuquerque Comic-Con, a large-scale celebration of all things pop culture related. On top of celebrating the American nerd or geek culture, it houses the recently erected statues of American television actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. These two actors are known for their work as the main characters "Walter White" and "Jesse Pinkman" in the widely successful American TV drama "Breaking Bad". "The 2008-2013 show and its ongoing prequel “Better Call Saul” helped fuel a renaissance in filmmaking across New Mexico..." (https://nypost.com/2022/07/31/breaking-bad-statues-unveiled-in-albuquerque/).

The statues are erected here since the characters and events in the fictional show take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The show's impact on American popular culture and drug awareness is extremely apparent. Each new episode of the show during its run garnered millions of viewers as it aired live. All of this is present at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico, as "Breaking Bad" influenced television and popular culture all around the world.

According to Marisa Mazart, Breaking Bad immensely impacted its viewers. It heavily impacted the psychology of viewers as well as the media portrayal of drug awareness. While Breaking Bad was on the air, politicians and the average citizen became much more aware of drug-related crime rates in New Mexico. A side effect of this was a decrease in drug use and drug-related crime in New Mexico due to the show's immense popularity, as it brought about stricter enforcement and increased awareness. So while not having the intention of doing so, Breaking Bad, and thus the statues, decreased drug-related crimes in America and had an immense impact on the drug awareness of its citizens.

While the main purpose of the statues is to honor both the actors and the impact of their characters of America's culture, it also serves a secondary purpose of raising drug awareness. As the show's main symbol, these characters embody the drug trade in Albuquerque and America in general. While the show acted as the main way to increase drug awareness in America, these now-erected statues serve as a physical reminder of the negative effect of drugs. In the show, the characters have good intentions when it comes to selling drugs, as Walter White just wants to save his family from a terrible fate. However, getting heavily involved in the drug trade becomes too much to bear and ends up completely detaching him from his once close family. The show eventually ends with his death as well as mostly every main character being worse off than when they started. So these statues serve as a permanent reminder to never sell or do drugs.

Due to the show being one of America's most popular TV series in history, its reputation is widely known and it has a large cultural significance. The statues being one of the main appeals of the center garners many visitors and encourages tourism and the learning of America's rich history of television.

‘Breaking Bad’ statues unveiled in Albuquerque, New York Post. July 31st, 2022. Accessed January 17th, 2023. https://nypost.com/2022/07/31/breaking-bad-statues-unveiled-in-albuquerque/.

Lee, Morgan. “'Breaking Bad' Statues Shine Light on Actors, Albuquerque.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 29 July 2022, https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-new-mexico- albuquerque-bryan-cranston-aaron-paul-4441b54e9730271ea7439be164b781c2.

MacInnes, Paul. Breaking Bad: 10 years on, TV is still in Walter White's shadow, The Guardian. January 20th, 2018. Accessed January 17th, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/20/breaking-bad-10-years-on-tv-is-still-in-walter-whites-shadow.

Mazart, Marisa, "Breaking Bad: On the Western Genre and Audience Reception" (2014). English. 14. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_eng/14

Webb, Alan. “The Sociology of Breaking Bad and Societal Relevance: Methamphetamine ...” JEWLScholar@MTSU, 26 Apr. 2021, https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/334e8882-221f-47c3-82f5-277991053aae/content.