Alex LiuCAS 137H Section 001Robin KramerParadigm Shift of Crime and Criminality in Media

People have an innate fascination with criminal activity: from The Godfather in 1972, to the present day version of a crime lord in Breaking Bad, crime has almost been a necessity in entertainment for the masses. Whether they are petty thefts or acts of murder, the presence of crime is evident in television and movies and has become a more integral part of it. The times have changed from when criminal acts were regarded as taboo and those who committed crimes were alienated. Now, crimes are often shrugged off as everyday occurrences and in some cases put on a pedestal. This attitude is reflective of a new social indifference towards crime and its effect on people, all due to a new portrayal by movies and television. Of course, criminal activity is still publicly disapproved of and there have been policies and steps taken to combat it; not to mention crime rates have also been on the decrease for several years now. But movies and television have skewed the perceptions of crime in the eyes of the people and given them a new attitude towards it, and it has changed into something as a source of entertainment. For our entertainment, crime has become a key premise in movies and television where the plotline revolves around some sort of criminal activity and this increasing trend was perpetuated by lax impressions given off by its different representations. Crime is a strong genre independently, although it has branched out into multiple genres. Categorizing the genres for films is difficult due to overlaps, so the numbers are not exact on how many films are crime films but many films incorporate aspects of them. Themes of crime are present in most films, whether the protagonist or antagonist, or both, are involved. But even as a purely independent genre, crime films take up a significant portion of films released. But the extent of crime throughout the history of films is extremely broad and its presence minimal, until the recent decades of the 1970s to the present day. But the genre of crime movies did not really gain prominence until the past couple decades in the 1970s and 80s, even though they were present in the early films of the 1920s. And although present, they were few in number and largely criticized for the negative connotations in their contents: popular culture sought to lift our spirits and encourage what was good, honorable and just in our society. We aspired to what we saw on our screens, and evil was generally given a bad press (Sunday Times 17 Mar. 1996: 12). The fear was that people, and young children especially, would mimic what they saw on these films and result in increased juvenile delinquency and criminal careers. Criminality is restrained by the rules and laws of society, even though those criminal thoughts are always present in the back of human consciousness. The constraints from society inhibit the hidden desires that all people unconsciously have according to Freudian theory, and these types of films help to alleviate these desires. These prohibitions are mainly directed against liberty of enjoyment and against freedom of movement and communication. (Freud, 25) According to Freud, the laws imposed by society and the criminal justice system restrict the unconscious desires that all people have, mainly those involving crime such as theft, rape, and murder. As such, In their unconsciousthere is nothing they would like more than to violate them, but they are afraid to do so; they are afraid precisely because they would like to, and the fear is stronger than the desire. (Freud, 37) The fear of law-breaking and punishment stops people from actually committing crime, even though they would greatly desire to. The concept of crime films help to alleviate this desire: by being able to relate to the characters in films committing crimes, you can live your criminal desires through them instead of out in the real world. Thus, the appeal of crime films lie in the fact that they provide a cultural space for the expression of resistance to authority (Rafter) where the audience can entertain their thoughts of being a criminal or rebel; individuals can live vicariously through the events on the silver screen instead of succumbing to their desires in reality. It encapsulates the things in which we cannot do in reality, and so we indulge in them in the increasingly popular fictitious worlds presented by movies and television. This allure of crime in film steadily grew up through the mid-1900 and has been consistent in standing out as its own genre, largely in part of the release of The Godfather in 1972. The Godfather and its subsequent sequels launched the populace into an infatuation with crime and movies; no longer was crime clearly depicted as evil and there a clear distinction between good and bad. Instead those barriers were being broken down as The Godfather provided a different take on criminals, especially those involved in gang relations where audiences began to feel sympathy for the gang members even though they were criminals. The influence of The Godfather is unequalled. Not just in the new vogue for gangster and mafia pictures, but in the stress on family and the unsentimental attraction to darkness and evilThe old distinction between good guys and bad guys will not pass in an America suddenly aware of its own corruption and compromise. (This is the time of Watergate.) (Thomson) People recognized that crime was all around them, even in their very government, and although still were not accepting of it, they began thinking less critically of it. Accepting that there was crime even within their own government, people softened their views with the If they can do it, so can I. mentality. This marked the time of transition when people began to embrace the criminality on screen instead of condemning it. The result of this change is clear by examining the influx in number of crime films and films that incorporate the premise of crime in present cinema. Recent films have incorporated crime into their plotlines, some satirizing it while others take a more serious tone. For example, many comedy films like Pineapple Express use drug use, which is still illegal, as a mode of comedic value that depreciates the laws in place that prohibit drug use, which contribute to the debate about legalizing marijuana. But many viewers no longer see drug use as a crime anymore and just something as going against societal values and norms, just as did the hippie movement during the Vietnam era. Pop culture has shown audiences a less dangerous side of drug use and therefore pushed viewers to advocate for its legality just by depicting a different type of drug culture. On the other side of the spectrum is a recent film called Taken where a father takes matters into his own hands when his daughter is kidnapped. He does not go to the proper authorities to try to get his daughter back, but instead resorts to violence and murder in order to find her. It raises the question of crime being moral in an extreme case, yet these cases are present in society such as the case over the summer of a father beating his daughters child molester to death. Although the event was treated as a homicide but the father did not go to jail and will not be charged with a crime. (Petersen) The jury had found him not guilty due to a state law that states that deadly force can be used if necessary to stop a sexual assault. Now its hard to say if he was explicitly influenced due to this movie or movies in general, but premise is present: do films that depict crime with good intentions cause people to think crime as less criminal? The amount of films with crime has softened opposition towards their presence and they have seemingly become a staple in the film industry. Crime is even more prevalent in TV programs as it ranks 5th as an independent genre but when seen as parts of other genres, it stands out above the rest. The extent of its influence in television programs in unparalleled with cult followings for shows like Psych as a comedy crime show, Sherlocks crime mystery show, and especially Breaking Bad as a crime drama. Sherlockians on tumblr scream about their fandom and dream about solving crimes with him while fans of the Breaking Bad series jokingly (or not) claim that they want to make meth now. Whatever the case, it is clear to see that film and television have a profound impact on their viewers, and the prevalence of crime in them soften their opinions on it. I can personally remember a time when I was younger when the only TV shows I watched were crime shows. Granted even though I did not have cable, there was still an abundance of crime TV shows I saw that were extremely popular such as the CSI series, NCIS, and Criminal Minds. These shows were, for the most part, adhering to the typical conventions that criminals were bad and should be punished for their wrongdoings. But these shows premiered nearly a decade ago; more recent crime television shows such as Breaking Bad or Arrow have a different outlook on criminality. In both of these shows, the protagonists transform from law abiding citizens into people that resort to less than legal methods to fulfill their goals. Both are good intentioned, yet cannot use conventional means to achieve them and therefore result to illegal activity: manufacturing methamphetamines and vigilantism respectively. This change is reflective of a change in societys thinking in how to deal with things. Legal actions and dependence, or lack thereof, on the authorities is not present, causing people to rely on themselves and what they can do in their own power. It addresses the lack of trust and doubt in the government as compared to the general belief in the power the government had in the past. The result is a less condescending and more lenient view on crime in television that arises from the dissatisfaction with authority figures in reality. However, this is not to say that crime in film and television are only impacted by societal interest in crime, it has a cyclic relationship with one another: they both influence each other in aspects and there is really no set origin as to where one begins and another ends. As with many aspects of pop culture and society, the relationship between the two is complicated, and it in the case of crime and film/television this is especially true. Film and television are often influenced by current events and societal problems and address these issues in their subject matter. Television will sometimes be influenced by current events and address them in their episodes. It often illustrates crime shows as always catching the bad guys in the end, but that is only reflective of the false perception it gives off as well as the small percentage of crimes that actually are solved. Take the TV show Cold Case as an example: it is a show about detectives solving crimes that have gone cold or unsolved for many years. Although the show is like any other crime show and results in these crimes being solved, it reveals a flaw in the current criminal justice system. The beginning and end credits show boxes and boxes of unsolved crimes, inexplicitly saying how the system is not perfect and how criminals get away every day. Statistics from the UCR (Uniform Crime Report) confirm this: last year alone, only 62.5% of all homicides and 28.1% of robberies were cleared by arrests. Even more disturbing is that these are two of the highest rates of clearance, and most people would not think so; yet this TV show brings it to light upon further examination of the faults of the law system. The episodes within the show itself often reveal societal issues of the time such as racism and sexism and the changing views from when the crime was committed to when they were solved in the present day. It reveals these problems to the audience and changes their perceptions about the society around them. But will this change in view on crime result in something greater? The movie, The Purge that came out earlier this year, depicts a time in the future where all crime is legal, albeit for 24 hours, and this strikes a chord with the population. Views towards crime have been numbed down and certain aspects of it have been accepted through constant exposure. Films and television take away and contribute from society, and in the aspect of crime, it has depicted crime as something as fiction and lost the past undertones of morality. No longer is crime regarded with a negative connotation but instead something that is something that can be resorted to if need be and is passable. Such is the consequence that film and television have had on us; as we believe crime to be less immoral and unethical through watching it, we will accept it as part of society. However, that is only if we, the audience, allow it.

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