TELEVISION AND CULTURE
GENRE - CRIME DRAMA
All institutions within society that facilitate communication such as television, film, radio, newspapers, compact discs, magazines, computers, and the Internet play a very important role in culture building activities. However, in the twentieth century it has been the television which has soared to new heights in connecting, educating and informing the public. It has been a catalyst in creating the global society experienced today as people are connected to a world beyond their immediate community and has had an incredible impact on society and basically revolutionized the way people see themselves and the world around them. It has also been able to shape popular culture and often influence public opinion. As it is also accessible to people in every aspect of their daily lives, it has also had a strong hold on modern society. It has not only changed everything in our culture, politics, and teaching, but it has also changed the way we look at the world, the way we act, the way we think and what we wear.
Of all the media distribution channels the most influential on culture today has been the television. Even though television gives people access to some of the finest aspects of our culture, great plays, movies and music, and a wide variety of intellectually stimulating programs it is also harmful to society in many ways. It is not only influencing how we reality but also the time that used to be spent reading, or working around the house, or socializing and interacting with other people is now spent in an endless search for more titillating, more vulgar, ever stupider "entertainment.” Harry Walters in the essay “Life According to TV” summarizes the research done by George Gerbner, a noted cultural critic and communications scholar, about how the world of television matches up to “reality” and to people’s perception of reality. Also, how "the world of television directly influences how people see the "real" world around them (Waters 2007)."
Today television is our principal means of storytelling.The television shows people watch today shape how they see the world. People today live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do their daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships and traveling. However, instead of using their own internal value system to shape their decisions people are seeking outside advice from media like television and its shows to arrive at their decisions. Although some of the television programs like news and documentaries provide useful information, the majority of programs on television are there to provide entertainment. However, the subtle but frequent accumulation of consistent and formulaic information that is conveyed by television programs like crime dramas may perhaps be the most powerful aspect of television. These crime television programs are created through human activity and therefore reflect and further extend the cultural perspectives of their creators. Today there are more crime dramas on TV than ever before, as one of the most prevalent genres since television’s inception has been the crime drama (Mawby, 2004). As TV dramas reach a much wider audience than most news programs the influence of the crime dramas like CSI, which combines the traditions of the crime genre with a new forensic realism to fuse the police and science with a convergent moral authority, extend deep into the popular culture, affect public perceptions accordingly thereby impacting our society, our family, and our culture.
Crime drama like CSI is a type of drama show which has as its primary focus or people whose main occupation is to investigate a crime or murder. Crime dramas are distinguished by which aspects of law enforcement they focus on, for example a police inspector, a team of detectives or investigators, a psychologist or a lawyer. It is also one of the most enduring, popular genres offering the audiences the pleasure of observing the slow solution to the mystery of murder from the perspective of a comfortable safety zone. CSI follows the mysterious cases of the Crime Scene Investigation units in Las Vegas, Miami and New York. The crime scene unit consists of a smart, good-looking crime lab crew and they use physical evidence, science and technology to solve the city's most gruesome crimes. The key aspects of CSI are the fascinating forensic and logical deduction techniques that the team uses to track down killers. The show is very innovative because the characters use cutting-edge forensic tools to examine the evidence to solve the case. They work various perplexing cases using scientific skills and equipment that are capable of finding valuable clues from the most seemingly unlikely sources. The series mixes deduction, gritty subject matter and popular characters. The cases that are dealt with are full of creativity. Every episode is an hour long, unpredictable and keeps you guessing and tuned. When the series’ first started it captured the attention of American public and has become a very popular show among the prime time crime dramas.
Today crime dramas like CSI are affecting society in such a way that the average person couldn’t even imagine. People are far too easily influenced by shows such as CSI. The article “The CSI effect” in The Economist, which is the weekly magazine of news and opinions founded in 1843 and published in London and generally regarded as one of the world's preeminent journals of its kind, talks about how television dramas that rely on forensic science to solve crimes are affecting the administration of justice. A huge part of television viewing audience today favors police, crime, and/or forensic TV shows and because of watching all these crime dramas, jurors today expect more categorical proof than forensic science is capable of delivering. Jurors think they have a thorough understanding of science they have seen presented on television, when they do not. Also people who commit crimes watch the crime dramas and changing their behavior. They are becoming smarter and more educated. They are leaving fewer traces of themselves behind and a result of all this reality checking, trials are getting longer and more cases that might previously have resulted in quick convictions are now ending in acquittals.
Television crime dramas are also affecting societal beliefs, attitudes, public views and conduct significantly. One fundamental impact that television has had on society is how people spend time. Television takes care of time, which is something people have in surplus and on an average people living in the US watch more than four hours of TV a day, or two full months of TV a year. But how does all this time in front of the television affect us? There is a lot of evidence showing that watching too much television can be unhealthy. Watching too much TV can cut into family time, encourage violence, and lead to unhealthy lifestyles and obesity. However George Gerbner, a noted cultural critic and communications scholar, argues that the prevalence of crime on TV creates a “fear of victimization” in the viewer and this fear will ultimately leads to a “mean-world syndrome” in which viewers come to see their social surroundings as hostile and threatening.
Lisa Kort-Butler in her article “What Your TV Habits May Say About Your Fear of Crime” concludes that “the type of program watched by people does matter when it comes to understanding people's fear of crime and their attitudes about criminal justice.” Also according to a study done by Purdue University, viewers of TV crime shows are more likely to pursue careers in criminal justice and people who watch crime dramas not only are more likely to have a distorted perception of America's criminal justice system they are also more likely to overestimate the frequency of serious crimes, misperceive important facts about crime and misjudge the number of workers in the judicial system. According to Glenn Sparks, a professor of communication who studies mass media effects, “the viewing of crime drama also can shape opinions about the world in general and some people may develop a fear of victimization, and this belief can affect their feelings of comfort and security.” It is so impressive how a simple TV show can gather so many people at the same time and affect everyone’s behaviors at that particular time.
Television crime dramas offer a false picture of society. People who watch lot of crime dramas think that there is a lot more crime than there really is and television makes people violent. The article “TV Crime Facts” from the website of Media Awareness Network, which is a Canadian non-profit organization, talks about some of the important facts about Crime television. Media Awareness Network is focused on helping young people understand how the media work, how the media may affect their lifestyle choices and the extent to which they, as consumers and citizens, are being well informed. Basically this article talks about how the crimes we watch on TV affect our ideas about crime in the real world? For example it is so easy to believe that “All crimes are ultimately solved and perpetrators brought to justice”, but according to this article it is a myth. In real life most crimes are never solved and the chance of people being sent to prison for committing one crime are 1 out of 100.
Television crime dramas are also having a great influence on human development, as far as determining psychological and sociological orientation. Some of the crime dramas are not only quite intelligent, thought-provoking, and even humorous, it also incorporates multiple characters, superb crime-fighting partnerships and teams that really add to the psycho-social enjoyment of watching these shows. People watching crime television today are required to exercise their mental faculties in order to make sense of complex, multilayered plots and characters. Steven Johnson in the article “Watching TV makes you Smarter” says watching some of the television shows gives us a good cognitive workout. He says that over a period of time the television shows have improved a lot and has also become more sophisticated. He especially talks about shows like 24 and other crime dramas in which viewers have the pleasure of solving puzzles and unlocking mysteries. People today are definitely mentally stimulated while watching shows like 24 on TV. As Johnson says that we should look at media as a kind of cognitive workout and not as a series of life lessons. There may be much more negative messages in the media sphere today, but that is not the only way to evaluate whether our television shows are having a positive impact. It is equally important to think the kind of thinking you have to do to make sense of a cultural experience. Beneath all the violence that is happening in the show, viewers have to pay attention, make inferences, and track shifting social relationships. Johnson calls this as Sleeper Curve which is the most debased forms of mass diversion.
Television shows like crime dramas have universal appeal and grabs people’s attention. It can also for some people color their view of the world. Often people who have been watching crime television programs like CSI have high expectations. They get caught up in the emotions of what's happening either consciously or subconsciously. This way to a large extent television today is still responsible for social change and influencing public attitude through popular TV shows like crime dramas. In conclusion media especially television, through their shows like crime dramas, can be a great source of wisdom and knowledge but these shows also has great impact on our society, our family, and our culture.
"Forensic Science: The “CSI Effect” | The Economist." The Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance. 22 Apr. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. http://www.economist.com/node/15949089.
Kort-Butler, Lisa, and Kelly Sittner Hartshorn. "What Your TV Habits May Say about Your Fear of Crime." Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology. ScienceDaily, 8 Feb. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208093256.htm.
Sparks, Glenn, and Susan Huelsing Sarapin. "Researchers Rest Their Case: TV Consumption Predicts Opinions about Criminal Justice System." Purdue University. 28 Oct. 2009. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. http://www.purdue.edu/uns/x/2009b/091028SparksCrime.html.
"TV Crime Facts | Teaching Backgrounder." Media Awareness Network | Réseau éducation Médias. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .
Waters, Harry. (2007). Life According to TV, Common Culture, pg 137-145.
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