Media representations of crime Flashcards
(9 cards)
In fictional representations, what are the four types of criminals?
in fictional representations of crime, the criminals tend to fit into one of 4 archetypes:
Master Criminals: clever planner/mastermind - Voldemort, Walter White etc
The incompetent: clumsy, comedic relief, known to fail - Minions, Home Alone
The psychopath: emotionally detached, sadistic - Joe from You, Joker
The planner - very smart - Oceans 8
What are police archetypes in fictional media?
Super intelligent - Reid, Bumbling idiot - Hitchcock and Scully, Always get the bad guy
What are victim archetypes in fictional representations?
helpless female, vigilante male, ethnic minority, innocent
Madel statistics:
between 1945 and 1985, 10 billion crime thrillers sold, 25% of tv shows, 20% of movies; gives us a false sense of what criminal activity is like
Surettes - law of opposites
shows the opposite of what is underrepresented in official statistics.
Property crimes are underrepresented, violence, drugs and sex crimes are underrepresented. murder is driven by greed and calculation. sex crimes are committed by psychopathic strangers, villains tend to be white middle aged men of higher status. police always get their man
Portrayal of factual crime:
criminals = under class, ethnic minorities, young, men
victims = missing white woman syndrome, selective reporting i.e. Madeline Mcann
police = corrupt, brutality, racists, incompetent
Factual media distortion: Postman, Kidd-Hewitt and Osborne, Felson
Kidd-Hewitt & Osborne: ‘’Crime is a spectacle’’ - media see reporting as driven by the need for a spectacle, the dramatisation of the even becomes engaged because we are repelled and fascinated by them
Neil Postman: ‘’Infotainment’’ - the media coverage is a mixture of entertainment and sensationalism as well as information leading to infotainment, we don’t just want to be told the news, we want to be entertained by the news
Felson: ‘’dramatic fallacy’’, the drama and all speculation surrounding the crimes is put on to get viewers, rather being told the facts of the case which might be a little bit mundane so create a sense of intrigue, which then can lead to the false view of the crime
How does agenda setting and news values affect what is reported?
selectively choose incidents to reports, Greer and Reiner - stories of sexual and violent excite and capture our attention i.e. negativity, proximity.
dramatisation, violence, risk, novelty
news values lead to an under representation of property crimes, over representation of sex crimes, drugs and violence. exaggerates police success, exaggerates risk of victimization, isolated incidents.
What does Baudrillard argue about the hyper-reality of crime?
Baudrillard = postmodern idea of hyperreality which suggests media do not reflect reality but actively creates it, as most peoples knowledge of crime is through media
