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...