Thursday, September 29, 2011
Week 6 Blog
This week's topics are on a subject that is not my area of expertise, CSI crime-drama. From the reading and in the discussion I felt as though I was missing out on something the majority of the class knew all about. However also from the reading and discussion and the episode we watched in class ( maybe my first or second ever watched) I do feel like I did get the "gist" of it. As I saw in the episode, discussed in class, and in the reading by Cavender and Deutsch, the show CSI employs many themes of older shows and crime-stories as well as employing their own new style which is in part why it has been so successful. Like any show with the makings of a good story there is a protagonist, conflict...etc. The reading discussed one of these key story elements giving it the term: emotional hooks. This is not a new strategy, another word for it is Pathos or appealing to the viewers emotions, getting them emotionally involved in the story. This was clear in parts of the episode that broke down stereotypes of cold, hard cops and having them more like nice, relateable humans. There were traces of new elements employed in the episode I watched as mentioned in the reading. The show brings about a new kind of masculinity that is not based on traditional views but more of a new age "technical" masculinity that's not badass like Dirty Harry but still cool because they are good at what they do and competent and they "catch the badguy." The main discussion in the reading is really all about the relationship between policing and science, the two main components of CSI. CSI is television, entertainment, but it is not quite treated as such by the viewer. CSI presents these cases and scientific solutions in such a convincing manner to the average American who doesn't know jack about either science, forensics, or policing, that they come under the false notion that they actually know whats going on and how things are done. CSI presents this world in a convincing yet inaccurate manner and it has affected a lot of people and their view on the justice system, courts, and forensics, some of whom serve as jurors and are under false pretenses that everything can be solved by science, the crime scene investigators, they think that blood or DNA is on everything and will lead to the criminal...
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Week 5 blog
To begin this week's blog I will first talk about Kasinksy's article Patrolling the Facts: Media, Cops, Crime. In her article Kasinksy talks explores more deeply the relationship between the media and law enforcement. More focused on news media she discusses the recent changes to law enforcement and the police and their new efforts to control or to manipulate their image in the media. She goes into the different ways that police and law enforcement are portrayed in the media the different ways in which this is done and the ramifications that has for society and how that affects our views of the police and law enforcement. She argues or at least quotes someone that says the media is a tool that the powerful uses to their agenda. However in times where the powerful or the police, law enforcement, or government are under persecution from the majority of the population the media jumps to that side in order to give the story that sells. Therefore the media has a lot of influence on the government because it influences the minds of the people.
The next reading this week was Chapter 4 on Cops and Detective Films in which Rafter focuses on as the title may suggest, cop and detective films. Rafter examines the evolution of these kinds of films and talks about this week's viewing: Dirty Harry. She discusses how this sets the precedent for many movies to follow. She talks about how these display sexism and glorify the ideal masculinity, and where these films may be going these days.
Now, more on Dirty Harry...Awesome movie. The second or third time I've seen it. Dirty Harry Callaghan is the ultimate cowboy, hardcore, straight-shootin, hard-working, blue collar, Irish-American cop. He is everything a cop should be. But for good cops like him the system just slows him down because he doesn't go by the book. He goes by his experience and instinct. "The book" that he doesnt go by was written for idiot cops who were wrong or have bad instinct. Dirty Harry is a badass.
Back to my outside source: The Black Donnellys, as the episodes go on, and the plot thickens, the situations and problems the Donnellys find themselves in become more intense, it is becoming more and more obvious that the mainest of the main characters fits into Rafter's classification of the masculine hero of the show. He faces down Italians, and mob-bosses, and is level headed enough to keep his brothers out of trouble and deal with the police as well.
The next reading this week was Chapter 4 on Cops and Detective Films in which Rafter focuses on as the title may suggest, cop and detective films. Rafter examines the evolution of these kinds of films and talks about this week's viewing: Dirty Harry. She discusses how this sets the precedent for many movies to follow. She talks about how these display sexism and glorify the ideal masculinity, and where these films may be going these days.
Now, more on Dirty Harry...Awesome movie. The second or third time I've seen it. Dirty Harry Callaghan is the ultimate cowboy, hardcore, straight-shootin, hard-working, blue collar, Irish-American cop. He is everything a cop should be. But for good cops like him the system just slows him down because he doesn't go by the book. He goes by his experience and instinct. "The book" that he doesnt go by was written for idiot cops who were wrong or have bad instinct. Dirty Harry is a badass.
Back to my outside source: The Black Donnellys, as the episodes go on, and the plot thickens, the situations and problems the Donnellys find themselves in become more intense, it is becoming more and more obvious that the mainest of the main characters fits into Rafter's classification of the masculine hero of the show. He faces down Italians, and mob-bosses, and is level headed enough to keep his brothers out of trouble and deal with the police as well.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Week 4 Blog
This week's blog starts with a talk about the article, "Predator Criminals as Media Icons" by Ray Surette. Surette explores the prevalence of what he calls "predator criminals" in American media. The bad guys in entertainment media are unproportionately murderers and rapists and cruel, evil, people who commit unthinkable acts. They are basically monsters, inhuman. These are Surette's "predatory criminals" those who prey on others usually committing random acts of violence. Why is this? How does this affect the viewer? Why do the moviemakers make them that way? Why is that what the viewer likes to consume? These are questions that Surette sets out to explain in this article. He speaks on the concepts of individualism but in summary, the point is so that we cannot relate to the antagonist. There is a curiosity in the human mind, a need to ask why? We must rationalize the things we view. How do we rationalize predator criminals? It's quite simple when the answer is just "they're evil." But what if we could relate to these predator criminals? What if they were portrayed as a little more human? Then we may be torn. It would be uncomfortable to us. We don't know what to think. Nobody wants to relate to a serial killer. But really what is worse for your outlook on society? To believe that there are some people who are just plain evil? or to believe that you aren't so different than the murderer behind bars? Either way they hold the same extreme for negative human potential yet slightly different meanings to the viewer...
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Week 3 blog
Hello Im back. By the way the island I was on a few weeks ago was in the San Juans. I took my bike on a huge weekend trip. It was great though.
In the first reading for this week Theories of Crime and the Media Part1: Crime films and Society, the author Rafter explores the relationship between Crime films and Society. She explores how society reacts and relates to a variety of different kinds of Crime films. She discusses how the films affect society and ultimately how society's reaction affects the moviemakers and what kinds of crime films are produced. She mentions films that she fits into a category she calls "happy hypocrisy," in which the protagonist is actually a criminal. Even though they are a criminal the viewer identifies with them and even craves to act out in such ways. This voyeurism is a form of rebellion against the system, though they are glad the system is there. She also mentions another kind called "critical crime film" where again perhaps the main character is a criminal but not a protagonist. In fact there is no protagonist. It may be a form of satire, a view of a harsh reality where everything is corrupt. There are no good guys. No heroes.
Back to my crime show. It's called The Black Donnellys. In the last episode the portrayal of the police stood out to me as interesting. There was one older cop Francis, or Franky who is Irish as well. He is from the neighborhood and is somewhat ostracized because he became a cop in a neighborhood full of crime, with a people with a history of being oppressed by the government, so nobody talks to the cops. Yet Franky still holds ties, he is a friend of the family, was good friends with their father, and watched the main characters grow up. This character is interesting. His partner is the typical negative stereotype, an outsider, newly graduated from the academy, has no respect and no knowledge of how things are done on the street.
In the first reading for this week Theories of Crime and the Media Part1: Crime films and Society, the author Rafter explores the relationship between Crime films and Society. She explores how society reacts and relates to a variety of different kinds of Crime films. She discusses how the films affect society and ultimately how society's reaction affects the moviemakers and what kinds of crime films are produced. She mentions films that she fits into a category she calls "happy hypocrisy," in which the protagonist is actually a criminal. Even though they are a criminal the viewer identifies with them and even craves to act out in such ways. This voyeurism is a form of rebellion against the system, though they are glad the system is there. She also mentions another kind called "critical crime film" where again perhaps the main character is a criminal but not a protagonist. In fact there is no protagonist. It may be a form of satire, a view of a harsh reality where everything is corrupt. There are no good guys. No heroes.
Back to my crime show. It's called The Black Donnellys. In the last episode the portrayal of the police stood out to me as interesting. There was one older cop Francis, or Franky who is Irish as well. He is from the neighborhood and is somewhat ostracized because he became a cop in a neighborhood full of crime, with a people with a history of being oppressed by the government, so nobody talks to the cops. Yet Franky still holds ties, he is a friend of the family, was good friends with their father, and watched the main characters grow up. This character is interesting. His partner is the typical negative stereotype, an outsider, newly graduated from the academy, has no respect and no knowledge of how things are done on the street.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Week 2 blog
This week's blog is not on any certain prompt. This week it is only on the readings and the viewing.
In the first reading, Taking Culteral Crime to the Movies, Yar explores how Crime is represented in the media and in the movies. She looks into what messages are in these representations of criminals and crime and what that says about how society views crime and what the moviemakers are trying to say. She also looks into what this means for the justice system. She gives insight into how this might affect the social views on these topics.
The next article was in very much the same way but looking through out the media for themes of Marxism.
In the show that I chose to watch, the main characters are 4 brothers from a bad neighborhood in New York and petty crimes are a part of daily life to them. Due to circumstance they find themselves getting into deeper stuff and inadvertently work themselves up to the top of the Irish mob.
In the first reading, Taking Culteral Crime to the Movies, Yar explores how Crime is represented in the media and in the movies. She looks into what messages are in these representations of criminals and crime and what that says about how society views crime and what the moviemakers are trying to say. She also looks into what this means for the justice system. She gives insight into how this might affect the social views on these topics.
The next article was in very much the same way but looking through out the media for themes of Marxism.
In the show that I chose to watch, the main characters are 4 brothers from a bad neighborhood in New York and petty crimes are a part of daily life to them. Due to circumstance they find themselves getting into deeper stuff and inadvertently work themselves up to the top of the Irish mob.
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