Ben Roberts: An Analysis Of Traditional Crime Drama

When the criminal justice system was established, the main objective was to create neutrality and fairness between the sexes. Even though people might believe that there is no such thing as ‘stereotyping’ in the criminal justice system, it is quite obvious that women are constantly being look down upon because of their sex. In general, women tend to be treated like fragile objects that could break at any moment; the truth is that women can be strong and courageous just like men. Society stereotypes women and the criminal justice system is no different.

Criminal Minds is a popular TV show focused on an elite team of FBI profilers that identify and try to take down some of the country’s craziest criminals. The main characters of the show consist of three male characters and three female characters. The gender roles vary throughout the show but generally the men are the ones taking the risks. The woman, on the other hand, are generally gathering intel or trying to be a calming voice to get a criminal to cooperate, but on the rare occasion, they are also at a standoff trying to take down the criminal. When taking a quick glance at the show Criminal Minds you notice that each character generally follows the normal gender roles, but each character has a few traits that go against the normal gender roles.

The aim of this paper is to examine the various aspects of the crime genre in film and television and to illustrate that the artificial image of the ‘Hollywood art thief’ detracts from the understanding of and attitude towards the serious threat that art theft and illegal trafficking pose to the global community. This analysis has been done using research on art cases, crime theory and through the exploration of film and television having to do with crimes involving art.

In 1951, the first television crime drama series, Dragnet significantly influenced our American culture. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the term “dragnet” is a symbol, for, a system of coordinated measures used to apprehend criminals or suspects. Most crime drama series solve a different case each episode. Although, in current pop-culture crime dramas focus on one particular crime, throughout an entire season. Similar, to the show “Homeland,” the HBO crime drama True Detective adds a twist on the conventional series. The show depicts a subject matter that has affected modern society as a whole. Southern Louisiana police detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart, in 2012, are asked to revisit their solving of a ritualistic murder case from 1995. The murder of a former student of the Light of the Way Christian Academy lays the foundation, for detective Cohle’s doubts about the true design of religion. The True Detective storyline portrays the utilization of religion, education, and politics, by men in power who manipulate and control young innocent children.

Female police officers have appeared on television shows since the 1970s with shows like “Policewomen” and “Get Christie Love”. “Policewomen” paved the way for shows like “Honey West”, “NYPD Blue”, “CSI” and many more. As time went by more and more TV shows include female police officers as part of the main cast, shows like “Law and Order: Special Units Victims”, “Charles’s Angels”, “Hawaii 5-0”, etc. Policewomen on TV shows are not portrayed realistically but it is starting to change. In the earlier days, shows like “Charlie’s Angels” had detectives wear tight dress, glamorous body’s, makeup on, etc.

Ultimately, justice is what we are seeking in these entertainment driven TV series and movies. When criminals are held accountable for their misdeeds we as society are able to accept the misdeeds of others who are responsible for bringing the dangerous criminals to justice. A sense of peace and restoration of order is established in our hearts providing a sense of harmony in our

The crime drama genre has persevered through numerous progressions since the times of 'Dickson of Dock Green' (1955-1976) in the UK alongside 'Dick Tracy' (1950-1952) in the USA. The natural progression inside crime genre saw them in the end showing police procedural's. This was a first for TV, the audience not just observed the crime and the apprehension of the criminal, yet out of the blue, the entire crime solving network was opened for the crowd to see. Crime scene investigation and lawful administration where displayed inside the shows. This developed into crime shows that concentrated exclusively on these different components that were beforehand hidden. Shows, for example, 'Cagney and Lacey' (1982-1988), 'Slope Street Blues' (1981-1987),

With producing reality shows comes producing inaccuracies in portrayals in order to reach as many viewers and gain as high ratings as possible every week with each new episode. Every day life is boring, yet people tend to be attracted to the relatable shows that portray real life in eccentric ways – ways that they believe could be imitated by the average person. In many cases, these shows could remain harmless, as it is entertainment. No matter how crude or erroneous, it is just television. However, what happens when these sources of amusement actually start being damaging? Research has shown that crime shows like the ever popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation have started becoming significantly detrimental to criminal

Starting with Ken Dowler, Thomas Fleming, and Stephen Muzzatti, the authors of “Constructing Crime: Media, Crime and Popular Culture” (837-839) one can see how they believe the media impacts the view of crime from a public perspective. In Canada, crime is a main segment of the news and while that source would be considered informational, the subject of crime itself can also be for entertainment. Likely, North America favors the subject of crime and this can be prove true based on television content today through shows such as Chicago P.D., Law and Order: SVU, Killer Couples or Rosewood. While these shows and many others manage to hook an audience through intriguing storytelling of crime the lines between the true crime information and creative

     The role of women in this era was restricted mainly to processing female prisoners and to positions as police matrons. Police department didn't see women as regular police officers until the turn of the century, and by the end of World War I, more than 220 cities employed police women. Women were actually welcomed into the police departments where they were assigned to handle cases involving children and women.

There is also discrimination in the police force. According to Women and the Criminal Justice System, women are discriminated against when seeking a job in the police force (Wormer and Bartollas, 2007). Society and men who are already on the police force believes that women are too weak to carry out law and unable to capture criminals. This is an example of men being the dominant group over women. In society, women are known to be soft-hearted, loving, emotional and supportive. These characteristics make women look weak as a police officer. However, studies have shown that women are just as effective police

Though set in entirely dissimilar countries at different points in history, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’ and Hannah Kent’s ‘Burial Rites’ possess significant comparisons. Both for instance, are fictionalized historical novels following the tribulations of a female protagonist convicted of murder and both have been widely acclaimed for their incredible literary style which merges classic poetry, epigraphs, folklore and historical articles with fiction. The most striking parallel between each novel that can be drawn, however, is the way in which authors masterfully craft the stories of untrustworthy, cunning and deceptive criminals to elicit sympathy from their audiences. Readers of the novel and secondary characters alike are gradually pulled into sympathising with ambiguous and untrustworthy female leads, Grace Marks (Alias Grace) and Agnes Magnusdottir (Burial Rites). Despite the heavy suspicions of others and a lack of evidence to support their claims of innocence, these characters present artfully manipulated features of their defence stories to provoke empathy, sympathy and trust from those within the novel, and those reading it.

Television has become a vital aspect of daily life, within modern society; every aspect of television exhibits, to a certain extent, a reliance on genre (Mittell, 2001). Industries rely on genre to produce programs, and audiences use genres as a means of organizing fan practices (Mittell, 2001). According to a 2006 Nelson Media Research study, ratings confirm that aside from prime time shows such as American Idol and Survivor, part-time crime drama’s have been classified as one of the most favoured genre (DeTardo-Bora, pg. 154, 2009). The relationship between the media and criminal justice system is delicate, where more often than not, crimes are portrayed in a false light (Graveline, pg. 1, 2015). These misconceptions lead to

A very popular 1995 film involving crime is “Bad Boys” directed by Michael Bay. Michael Bay and his team of writers were able to film a highly intense action-comedy based around two detectives fighting organized crime. By examining distortions, crime causation theories, and the image portrayed in “Bad Boys,” the viewer is absorbed into the Hollywood perspective of our justice system.

Cops is known for the Bad Boys theme song. It first aired on March 11, 1989 and it showed on the Fox network. Cops showed pretty much what the police officers, constables and sheriff's deputies patrolling streets go through. They come across car thieves, drug pushers, sex-trade workers, and violent thugs. They put cameras on real officers and send them out. (Wikipedia, 2017) The police image is shown in a positive way. It shows what our officers go through. This show represents the investigation and arrest stage. Yes, I do think that that show represents criminal justice because it’s so realistic and it shows how dumb some criminals are.