The general public is enamored by crime. It’s an undeniable fact and is reflected in the sheer number of crime on our televisions. I’m not just talking about the news either. I am strictly talking about the unbelievable amount of crime shows on primetime. Crime for entertainment.
In the entertainment realm, the danger is when these over exaggerated dramatizations of crime are associated by viewers as reality. It is extremely important for audiences to remove reality from the hyperboles meant for entertainment.
Crime becomes cool. How so? Well the criminal figures and crimes being committed are often the center of popular shows such as Breaking Bad or Prison Break and thus may read to viewers as “cool”. If the main characters are doing all these big crimes and getting away with it, viewers begin to believe real every day people are huge crime bosses like Walter from Breaking Bad.
Also, crime is further associated with minorities. When watching the crime shows on television, the actors cast tend to resemble minorities in neighborhoods infamous for their high black and Hispanic populations. People of color are then deemed as “the look of a criminal”. Primetime can help push these false stereotypes about minorities that has lead to racial profiling.
In the entertainment realm, the danger is when these over exaggerated dramatizations of crime are associated by viewers as reality. It is extremely important for audiences to remove reality from the hyperboles meant for entertainment.
Crime becomes cool. How so? Well the criminal figures and crimes being committed are often the center of popular shows such as Breaking Bad or Prison Break and thus may read to viewers as “cool”. If the main characters are doing all these big crimes and getting away with it, viewers begin to believe real every day people are huge crime bosses like Walter from Breaking Bad.
Also, crime is further associated with minorities. When watching the crime shows on television, the actors cast tend to resemble minorities in neighborhoods infamous for their high black and Hispanic populations. People of color are then deemed as “the look of a criminal”. Primetime can help push these false stereotypes about minorities that has lead to racial profiling.
WHERE TO NEXT?
photo cred: main cover: http://frugivoremag.com/2012/09/mental-health-true-crime-shows-and-paranoid-living/
in text:http://scrippsmediaethics.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-crime-in-reporting-of-crime-stories.html
linked images: cited on linked site
in text:http://scrippsmediaethics.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-crime-in-reporting-of-crime-stories.html
linked images: cited on linked site