Summary

  • Marie's love for wearing shades of purple in Breaking Bad was not just a random choice. It symbolized her desire for power, pride, and wisdom, as well as her self-deception and being misled by Walter and Skyler.
  • The constant presence of purple in Marie's wardrobe and home goods suggested that it was more likely Hank's favorite color, and she wore it to please him. After Hank's death, Marie wore black and white to represent her grief and loss of power.
  • Marie's clothing colors in Breaking Bad, particularly her purple, were carefully chosen to reflect her distance from Walt's meth empire and her victimization by it. The color wheel theory also applied to other characters, with yellow symbolizing association with meth, green representing envy and greed, red representing anger, and blue representing loyalty.

Hank Schrader's wife Marie from Breaking Bad was renowned for her habit of wearing shades of purple. However, this wasn't just a random color choice. Betsy Brandt played Marie, the judgmental sister of Skyler White (Anna Gunn) and wife of DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris). As the sister-in-law of the central character, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Marie remained in the dark for much of the series, but she eventually learned the truth. Breaking Bad series creator Vince Gilligan made calculated decisions with every aspect of the show's characters — including color symbolism in their clothing.

For the majority of her time onscreen, Marie wore purple. Whether it was blouses, sweaters, or outerwear, Marie had a stocked closet of purple garments and most of her home furnishings matched her favorite color of clothes, including items in her kitchen. Hank was clearly aware of his wife's fondness for purple because he often got her gifts in the specific shade. Whereas Walter White's Heisenberg transformation changed his clothes primarily to black, Skyler was known for wearing blue. Since purple is next to blue on the color wheel, it was no surprise that it was chosen for Marie.

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The Meaning Behind Marie's Choice Of Purple In Breaking Bad

Marie's Clothes Represent Her Own Desire For Power

When asked about Marie's favorite color in Breaking Bad, creator Vince Gilligan explained (via Vulture) that purple is traditionally linked to royalty and notions of nobility, power, and luxury. It was no secret that Marie put herself up on a pedestal. While ignoring her own problems, she had a habit of acting like she lived a happier life than others, especially when she compared herself to Skyler.

Purple is also used to represent pride, loyalty, and wisdom, which were all traits linked to Marie despite her flaws. Last but not least, purple can be used to symbolize self-deception or being misled. Skyler and Walt lied to Marie repeatedly when it came to Walt's activity in the meth drug trade.

When considering the constant purple sported by Hank's wife, Breaking Bad viewers had theorized that Marie wasn't actually a fan of purple, but instead, Hank loved the color. Considering she loved her husband deeply, she consistently wore the color and purchased various home goods to present purple for Hank to enjoy. Following Hank's tragic death, Marie was shown wearing black and white to symbolize her grief. With her husband gone, she lost her power along with her sense of nobility. With that, her attraction to purple disappeared.

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The Meaning Behind Clothing Colors On Breaking Bad

The Hue Of A Breaking Bad Character's Wardrobe Reveals Key Information About Them

breaking bad

Marie Schrader isn't the only character from Breaking Bad whose clothing colors inform her character, but she does help exemplify how they work. The characters in Breaking Bad most associated with meth are very often shown wearing yellow (such as Walt, Jesse, and Gus Fring), with all other characters positioned either near or far from yellow on the color wheel, depending on how close they are to the illegal drug trade.

Marie's purple is directly opposite yellow, which illustrates her distance from Walt's meth empire despite being a victim of it. Aside from this color wheel theory about the characters' connections or lack thereof to meth, Breaking Bad's colors are also linked to traditional associations, with green representing envy, money, and greed, red representing aggression or anger, and blue loyalty.

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How Better Call Saul Frames Marie's Clothing Colors Through Monochrome

The Noir Scenes In The Spinoff Helped Show Marie's Emotional Journey

Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader speaking next to an attorney in Better Call Saul

Fascinatingly, Marie Schrader was the only Breaking Bad character to appear in Better Call Saul's present-day timeline besides Saul Goodman himself. She made a cameo appearance in the spinoff's series finale, being present at Saul's prosecution hearing to confront him about his role in her husband's death in the Breaking Bad episode "Ozymandias."

Because all the present-day scenes in Jimmy's Better Call Saul Gene timeline are framed in stark black and white, the drainage of color from the scene reflects the revisiting of her grief over Hank, rendering whatever she chose to wear as monochrome. This continues the same color scheme she sported after Hank's death in Breaking Bad, and the monochrome is a powerful way to visually trap Marie in a now-permanent shadow of grief — the audience's lasting impression of the character, robbed of her precious purple by the story itself.

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Why Marie Wasn't Wearing Purple On Better Call Saul

Actress Betsy Brandt Shed Light On The Decision

Betsy Brandt as Marie in Better Call Saul

Following Marie's cameo in the Better Call Saul finale, actor Betsy Brandt confirmed that Marie wasn't wearing purple in the scenes in which she was featured. The black and white look could leave it open for interpretation from the fans, but in Brandt's view (via Variety) it made sense that she had moved on from such things.

Brandt suggested that, "after she experienced the trauma of losing Hank. She had to let go of a lot of her bull****. It seems pointless after something like that." IMarie feels different in Better Call Saul, showing more of that take charge energy she had during the final scenes of Breaking Bad. If purple was a sign of Marie's elevated opinion of herself before, that side of her is gone now.

Breaking Bad TV Poster
Breaking Bad
Crime
Drama
Thriller

Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, follows a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he attempts to provide for his family following a fatal diagnosis. With nothing left to fear, White ascends to power in the world of drugs and crime, transforming the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg.

Release Date
January 20, 2008
Cast
Dean Norris , Bob Odenkirk , Aaron Paul , RJ Mitte , Anna Gunn , Giancarlo Esposito , Betsy Brandt , Bryan Cranston , Jonathan Banks
Seasons
5
Writers
Peter Gould , Gennifer Hutchison , Vince Gilligan , George Mastras , Moira Walley-Beckett , Sam Catlin , Thomas Schnauz
Network
AMC
Streaming Service(s)
Netflix
Showrunner
Vince Gilligan