Review
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cj2200lecturecrimeandhollywoodPT21.pptSocial Science and the American Crime Problem
Crime & Hollywood
Consequences of Hollywood?
1) Glorifies crime in the eyes of the public
2) Encourages disrespect for CJ authorities
3) Desensitizes citizens to crime
4) Encourages copycat acts
5) Generates fear of victimization
6) Fuels harsh crime-related ideology
Crime as Entertainment
- 3 Main Genres in Hollywood
1) Police dramas
2) Reality-based shows
3) Feature films
6 Variations of the Police Drama
- 1) Cops as action heroes
Hip crime fighting duos
Starsky & Hutch → Miami Vice → Hawaii Five-O
- 2) Cops as social workers
Officer friendly model
Mod Squad →1 Adam 12 → Cold Case → CSI: Miami
- 3) Private eye as cops
Bright entrepreneur or ex-cop on the outside
Barnaby Jones → Charlie’s Angels → Magnum PI→ Monk
6 Variations of the Police Drama
- 4) Civilian sleuth
Brilliant civilian do-gooder
Hardy boys → Quincy → Murder She Wrote → Bones
- 5) Cop show as sitcoms
Satire of the force
Barney Miller → Reno 911 → Brooklyn 99
- 6) Cop show as soap operas
Personal lives & their characters
Hill Street Blues → NYPD Blue → NCIS → The Wire
2 Central Themes of Cop Dramas
1) Vigilante police
Must rely on extralegal actions to get around courts
Must get their man (know who did it & must get them)
Need & usefulness of the aggressive actions
Appeals to American individual & authority complex
2) Moral complexity of the cop
Hill Street Blues starts era of complex job role
Nothing in black & white
Dirty cop can be good (The Shield)
Mean criminals can be righteous (Huggy Bear)
Have begun to let the viewers form their own opinions
Reality-Based Cop Shows
- Began in the 1980s after embedded reporters on drug stories
- Show dramatic footage of cops in action
- Appeal of the format to producers
Steady market share
Cheap to produce
Rerun potential
- Appeal of the content to viewers
Voyeurism
Identification w/ authority
Civic duty function
- Content differential versus reality of crime
1) Disproportionate minority perpetrators
2) Paint cops in positive light (PR model w/ cop narrator)
3) Perpetrators framed as dangerous & unremorseful people
4) One-sided portrayal of the crime problem
Crime Films
- Evolution of the genre has mirrored police dramas
- Like a dog w/ a bone on content themes (serial killers, police corruption, drugs)
- Excessive body count
- Super-cops vs. brilliant criminals
Types of Media Studies
Content analysis
Identify themes in the content
Reel world vs. real world
Cultivation studies
Impact on viewer ideology
Impact on policy makers and practitioners
Experimental studies
Audience response models
Impact that content has on episodic vs. thematic lens of the viewer
Content Analysis Studies
- 20% of films since 1950s revolve around crime plot
- Volume of violence on film is way up
- 3 ideologically-loaded content themes
1) Offenders as pros
2) Judges as liberals
3) Cops as hard working do-gooders
4 Major Historical Themes
1) Sterile good guys & bad guys of the post WWII era (1945-1965)
Police professionalism era
Expansion of crime fighting role
Officer friendly days
2) Rebellious era (1965-1975)
Desperate cops & perpetrators
Crusaders of justice vs. rebellious youth & minorities
Offender rights era
4 Major Historical Themes
3) Conservative era (1975-1990)
Law & order theme
Reagan’s get tough on crime
War on drugs
4) New Democrat era (1990-)
Crime as a complex social problem
Still get tough but consider implications
Race, poverty, class as impetus
Police vs. citizens & all that follows
Complexity of the issues
Cultivation Studies
- Heavy crime show television viewers compared to light viewers tend to be:
More distrusting
More alienated and gloomy
Overestimate the nature & extent of crime
More fearful
More supportive of police
More punitive
- Young viewers are particularly impressionable
- Crime-related shows may be attractive to the already fearful & vindictive people
O’Reilley Factor, Nancy Grace, Geraldo Rivera effect
