Anna Gunn plays Skyler White in the popular TV series Breaking Bad. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it features Walter White, high school chemistry teacher. When Walter learns of contracting lung cancer, he begins producing and selling Methamphetamine as a means of making money to leave for his family and unborn daughter after he dies. It all begins as a noble cause in the face of desperation, but as the series progresses, Walter’s condition improves, but he does not stop making and selling Meth.
This sparks controversy inside and outside of the show, especially with the recent changes made to laws regarding drugs in the United States. Should Walter be reprimanded for producing and selling such a dangerous drug? Is it acceptable, given his circumstances? His wife, Skyler, certainly doesn’t think so, and brings attention to the problem as soon as she catches word of it. The controversy here lies not within the drug debate, however, but the audience’s reaction to Skyler White’s opposition of her husband. The writer
of the series didn’t want Skyler to be a mere wife, but to be a woman with a “backbone of steel”, a complex character who could make her own decisions and stand against anything. Gunn was prepared to deal with this backlash from fans of the show from the beginning, but it has gone a bit farther than predicted. Gunn writes, “Thousands of people have ‘liked’ the Facebook page “I Hate Skyler White.” Tens of thousands have “liked” a similar Facebook page with a name that cannot be printed here… I knew it was probably best not to 
look, but I wanted to understand what was happening.”
Critics and audience members are aggravated by her character, but have taken it to another level by removing the dissociation between the character and the actress herself. This level of aggression indicates that the audience isn’t necessarily holding the two characters to the same set of standards. Gunn comments that she believes the aggression might stem from her lack of fulfillment as her role as a 
supporting wife.
“I finally realized that most people’s hatred of Skyler had little to do with me and a lot to do with their own perception of women and wives.” Says Gunn, she had become a kind of Rorschach test for society, a measure of our attitudes toward gender.”
Gunn comments that she hasn’t enjoyed the storm of hate generated by audiences, but she is glad that this discussion has come to the forefront. Why are wives held to a different standard in the eyes of audiences? How does that difference in standard translate to standards in real life?