Week Six
In the article "CSI and moral authority" the authors state that CSI and it's spin offs employ specific plot devices. The first is gender,CSI's main characters or ideal cops are shown less as being macho tough guys and more intelligent and tech savvy, the authors call this techno-masculinity. I agree with this. Though some shows like Law and Order SVU still have the macho bone breaking guys many others now don't. Look at Jane in the Mentalist or Reid in Criminal minds. These shows portray them as ideal characters that the rest of the cast depends on for their superior knowledge. Women in CSI are shown as being just as competent as men but when they find a key piece of evidence its because of thing like maternal instincts. The article also says that men are always in charge like a father figure but in the newest season of CSI Catherine is in charge and in orginal Law and Order the Captain was a woman too. CSI also uses emotional hooks by developing characters home life and the is exceptionally clear with Catherine. Almost every episode mentions Catherine's daughter Lindsay (you can tell just how often she's mentioned by the fact I knew her name off the top of my head) and every time the crime involves a stripper it comes out that Catherine used to be one. CSI also makes themselves racially neutral by having a black cast number but not making race a main theme of the episodes. CSI also focuses on the fact that the evidence can't lie and that science is the final word on guilt. This has led to the idea of the "CSI Effect".This is an effect when audience of programs like CSI begin to think they completely understand forensics. It gives the unrealistic expectations about scientific technology and if less than is expected is presented it gives jurors reasonable doubt. I agree with this I think that if I was on a jury and there was no physical evidence I would not feel right convicting.
Week Five
In Kasinsky's article she argues that police and media are interdependent. This is something I agree with, the police depend on the media for reporting crimes and giving the police a good reputation and the media relies on police for information. What I don't agree with is when she starts talking about how journalists construct stories. She implies that all journalists are biased and construct stories to match their own beliefs and frequently only report one side of the story. In reality reporters have to give the opposing side the right to reply. Kasinsky also says that reporters blindly take information from the police and rarely report updates. Has she ever heard of investigative reporting?
In the Rafter chapter she discusses the evolution of cop films. She says cops have gone from western hero to urban cop. This is evident in Dirty Harry, in fact in this movie I still see left overs of westerns primarily in the wild west style shootouts and draws that are modified to be only a tad plausible in the urban setting. Personally I am not a Clint Eastwood fan so his over all cheese and over dramatizing made this movie hard to watch along with the awful fake blood.
In the Rafter chapter she discusses the evolution of cop films. She says cops have gone from western hero to urban cop. This is evident in Dirty Harry, in fact in this movie I still see left overs of westerns primarily in the wild west style shootouts and draws that are modified to be only a tad plausible in the urban setting. Personally I am not a Clint Eastwood fan so his over all cheese and over dramatizing made this movie hard to watch along with the awful fake blood.
Week Four
Surette views the evolution of the criminal as going from romantic or heroic to animalistic, irrational, and predatory. Today's media focuses on the rare crimes of these criminals and underplays more common crimes. By doing this the media has portrayed criminals as evil, abnormal people whose victims are vulnerable and innocent. Because media loves to report these types of crime it seems as if they are a huge problem and are happening everyday. While in reality these crimes are rare and some people carry more risk of being victimized than others. Further more serial killers only account for 2-3% of American homicides though media leads us to believe it is more. Also the idea of the roaming serial killer is even rarer because serial killers are regional not national. So in Criminal Minds, the character Frank who drives around the country towing a RV/torture room and abducting random people would almost certainly not exist in real life. America loves the predator criminal and shows like Criminal Minds because it allows us to view criminals as a separate breed and different from us. Because of this all criminals are seen as predators on society regardless of their crime.This also effects police work making the job seen as dangerous, stressful, exciting, and full of glory. Recruits come in expecting an exciting job chasing down and nabbing the worst criminals daily, when really there is a lot of paperwork and routine disturbances. I happen to agree with everything Surette says, but it won't stop me from loving criminal minds or my sister from checking every door and window in the house before bed. The damage to society has been done regardless of how little these crimes actually happen.
Chapter two of the Rafter reading talks about the three different causes of crime
Chapter two of the Rafter reading talks about the three different causes of crime
Week Three
Chermak's article discusses crime reported through the media. I'll start this off by saying there's not a lot I agree with in it. While Chermak is writing from a outside viewer stand point, I have seen the other side working for a student paper and taking journalism classes here. When he speaks about why the media cites sources he talks about objectivity like its a bad thing. A newspapers main goal is to report the facts not personal opinions. So reporters have to be unbiased and objective. People don't want to read random opinions from someone who isn't involved in the event so reports get quotes from those who are so people get a first hand view. Next he talks about news organizations selectively choosing the source organization's version of truth. This is waaay off base, one of the primary parts of journalism ethics is, as stated above, remaining unbiased. Reporters do this by getting BOTH sides of the story, not just their sources. He also talks about ordinary crimes not being news. To that I say it depends where you are first of all. Small towns will probably report every crime committed. Second a newspapers goal is to sell papers and do that by writing about what people want to buy and read. Nobody wants to read about a 14 year old kid stealing a shirt, or someone jay walking on a quiet street. I do however agree with his explanations for the prevalence for crime news.
In the Rafter reading she argues that crime movies have included 2 themes at once. The good-bad guy who challenges the system and the character who restores order in the end. Mainly this is before 1970, since then movies have had less happy endings and focused more on a delight in violence. She also speaks of cultural criminology as a resource that generates images of crime causation and control. She argues that crime films are not a genre but a category focusing on crimes and their consequences. She also says crime films are a pleasure for viewers.
In the Rafter reading she argues that crime movies have included 2 themes at once. The good-bad guy who challenges the system and the character who restores order in the end. Mainly this is before 1970, since then movies have had less happy endings and focused more on a delight in violence. She also speaks of cultural criminology as a resource that generates images of crime causation and control. She argues that crime films are not a genre but a category focusing on crimes and their consequences. She also says crime films are a pleasure for viewers.
Week Two
The article by Yar gives examples of three theories sociologists use to explain and analyze crime in movies. The first is content analysis which from my understanding dissects movies into quantitative parts and analyzes occurrences of certain words, phrases, and images. The example my group used was making a list of the victims in shows like criminal minds and analyzing them. The next is the Marxist theory which says that media conveys a set of truths and values to reinforce the beliefs of the ruling class. My groups example was cop shows portraying the cop as the good guy who can never be wrong such as in Law and Order SVU. The last theory is postmodernism which to the best of my understanding means that nothing in media is symbolic of anything and there are multiple meanings to every word and image used in media. I find content analysis useful for quantitative research but what I really agree with is the Marxist theory. While I think some elements of media have no meaning other than entertainment I can see a lot of belief reinforcement in many forms of media. I think Law and Order SVU is a great example of this. In every case the bad guy is this horrendous person who commits a crime that we have been programmed to believe is "the most heinous" and the cops are the good guys who are never wrong and are there for the good of the people. Often times also the perpetrators are stereotyped, a black man mugs someone, a white guy commits incest, a crazy white lady kidnaps a kid.
In Young's article she focuses on two main concepts- affect and a scenographic method. She describes affect using a quote from Massumi who says affect is the ways in which the body can connect with itself and with the world. She goes on to say that crime connects people through images that interrupt our sense of proper, reinforce ideas about the "state of society", or exhilarate. Her next concept is the scenographic method in which she deconstructs key scenes and discusses details of their construction. For this she deconstructed rape scenes form Kill Bill and The Accused and compared the use of actual and implied rape. She says both methods get the desired effect using action, character, music, cinematography, editing, sound, etc. Using these elements both scenes affect us by binding our beliefs about sexual violence, justice, and crime. For me reading about this article and watching the actual scene were two totally different things. I personally have never scene Kill Bill and reading this article I couldn't really grasp the effect she was describing. Once we viewed it in class I saw how all the elements were used to convey acts not necessarily shown and also disturb viewers in a strong way.
In Young's article she focuses on two main concepts- affect and a scenographic method. She describes affect using a quote from Massumi who says affect is the ways in which the body can connect with itself and with the world. She goes on to say that crime connects people through images that interrupt our sense of proper, reinforce ideas about the "state of society", or exhilarate. Her next concept is the scenographic method in which she deconstructs key scenes and discusses details of their construction. For this she deconstructed rape scenes form Kill Bill and The Accused and compared the use of actual and implied rape. She says both methods get the desired effect using action, character, music, cinematography, editing, sound, etc. Using these elements both scenes affect us by binding our beliefs about sexual violence, justice, and crime. For me reading about this article and watching the actual scene were two totally different things. I personally have never scene Kill Bill and reading this article I couldn't really grasp the effect she was describing. Once we viewed it in class I saw how all the elements were used to convey acts not necessarily shown and also disturb viewers in a strong way.
A little about myself and my media consumption
My name is Amanda, I'm a Sophomore. I'm majoring in Advertising and minoring in Art and Sociology. The focus of my Soc minor is going to be in criminology type classes because I am obsessed with shows such as criminal minds and other crime shows. Also when I took Soc in high school the sections on crime and deviance interested me the most so I'm trying to learn more about those topics.
During this week I have watched my boyfriend and his friends play hours of Assassins Creed on Xbox, which is a heart warming game about killing authoritarians and trying to avenge the wrongful deaths of family members while overthrowing the establishment. We also watched Super Troopers which portrays highway patrol as the goofball under dogs who are always right in the end and shows the local police as corrupt villains. Then we watched Sweet Home Alabama (we finally got our chick flick in) and according to this film "Felony Melonie" can raise all sorts of hell and go to jail many times and suffer no consequences at all other than having to pick between two very attractive men (which per the rule of romantic comedies the scruffy guy always wins, in this case her husband). Other than that I didn't really have much media consumption other than Facebook.
During this week I have watched my boyfriend and his friends play hours of Assassins Creed on Xbox, which is a heart warming game about killing authoritarians and trying to avenge the wrongful deaths of family members while overthrowing the establishment. We also watched Super Troopers which portrays highway patrol as the goofball under dogs who are always right in the end and shows the local police as corrupt villains. Then we watched Sweet Home Alabama (we finally got our chick flick in) and according to this film "Felony Melonie" can raise all sorts of hell and go to jail many times and suffer no consequences at all other than having to pick between two very attractive men (which per the rule of romantic comedies the scruffy guy always wins, in this case her husband). Other than that I didn't really have much media consumption other than Facebook.
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