Grimm

Grimm is a new tv series that involves a Detective  that can see fairy tale creatures for what they really are. Nick (the detective) must find all the "bad" fairy tale creatures and take care of them before they kill him. He does this with the help of a creature known from the story of Little Red Riding Hood, a wolf who has turned vegan because he realized killing little girls wearing red got his relatives no where.
I find this crime show pretty interesting because it brings in a new genre of crime media that has yet to be studied to an extreme degree and it's creative in the ways Nick tries to stay within the law to get his "man". I can't wait to see what kind of scholar papers this new show will bring out.

Silence of the Lambs

I had never seen this movie before this class, honestly I was scared to watch it. However, I am now glad that I did. I absolutely LOVE it. Hannibal was portrayed in such a way that I was literally intrigued enough to go and watch the rest of the movies. I have to say the only one I didn't really like was the Rising of Hannibal. I also did not get around to watching the Red Dragon.

I wish they had gotten Jodi Foster to continue in the role Agent Starling, I feel Hannibal would have been a better movie with her.

Enough

I remember watching this film a few years and really liking it then, to me it was a motivation to never let a man get away with abusing me. Watching it again this year, I find that I still like it. It is a bit far fetched but the message still remains the same, if you're put into that type of situation, you don't have to stay there. You can get out, you can get help, and you can fight back.

Because it was mentioned in class, I also watched Sleeping with the Enemy and I think it is a more realistic story of what someone might do to get out of abusive relationship. I also liked how the only one putting any blame on Julia Robert's character is her husband, no one was asking her what she had done to get hit or yelled at.

Jewkes - Surveillance

Jewkes talks about how the advances in technology has allowed monitoring  of others to be much more easier and now it's not just in closed and confined environments where devices are being put up to watch people. How people feel about surveillance is still a big debate and especially with the constant advancements that are being made. Either people think it's a good thing or a bad thing. Surveillance can be used as deterrent to crime being committed but it doesn't always work, people have found ways to work around these kind of systems.

I'm not really a person who cares about the surveillance one way or the other, I think it's good to have the ability to advance such things in case it can help the justice system in some way.

Shawshank Redemption and Rafter Chapter Six

Shawshank was a good movie but not one of my favorites. The exaggeration in the film was a little too much for me, I don't really get why it's considered a classic other than Morgan Freeman is a freaking awesome actor and anything he touches turns gold.

Rafter talks in this chapter about the "classic" prison film, the identification with the "perfect" man, the perfect friendship, the worst criminal you can think of, the happy ending where the good guy who got put away for some stupid reason escapes either by actually escaping or dying in the end.

It's pretty easy to catch these types of characteristics in all genres of films because when a recipes works well, you don't throw it away, you use it again and again. Making a film, is a lot like baking, you want everything to turn out as good as possible so once you or someone else has figured out what brings the best taste to people's mouths, you use it all the time.

Mason - Prison

Mason explains to us the structure of prison films and how they appeal to the audience with things such as the deterrent effect, the extreme graphics and sadism that occurs. Prison films also make sure to show the dehumanizing process that all prisoners have to endure for their crimes. These films also like to constantly remind the audience of the strict routine that continues throughout prison life, lining up for food, going out to the exercise yard when you're told to. The life you lead is the life that the guards allows you to. It's like being a teenager all over again.

Besides, Shawshank Redemption, the most recent experience I've had with prisons in the media involved watching the series Prison Break last year, which fyi, it is a most excellent to watch! If I recall, it does much of what Mason talks about. Dehumanizing process, strict routines, nothing done without permission.Corrupt guards that would sometimes look away when certain things were happening, especially if they had been bribed to. Mistreatment of prisoners was a common occurrence, however, if you were on the Warden's good side, it was rare that you were mistreated and it was rare to get on the Warden's good side

Presumed Innocent and Rafter - Chapter Five

Where a District Attorney is framed for the murder of a fellow coworker and ex-lover by his wife.
I love this film, I felt that it could go either way in the end and found myself guessing every which way.
This is definitely a film I would recommend to other people for a good movie night in.

Rafter is telling us that law films are just like every other type in film in that it produces movies that fit within the changing times of society. It takes what how society currently feels about something and turns it out in an entertaining production. When it first started, films showed the law as a system that worked well with an "impartial process". However, as this image of the justice system faded, the movie system produce the same image that society was feeling.  Mistakes and prejudices in the system that made it unreliable and untrustworthy.

Without going back and watching some of the older movies, it's hard for me to say whether or not Rafter is on the right track but it all sounds good to me, she seems to know what she's talking about. It's really been interesting reading everything about how things in work in the movies and why it seems to be done all the time.

Greenfield and Osborn -Lawyers

Some of the things that Greenfield and Osborn point out in their article include how lawyers are almost always at the center of the law films and not much thought seems to be given to the judges and juries of the case. They also tell us about a recent trend that is happening within the films, "the ethical dilemma or the tension between law and justice that is played out as a battle between right and wrong or the quest for justice".

Out of all the law films I've watched that have focused specifically on a trial or something, I would definitely say that the trend suits most of them, one film I can think that doesn't is Jury Duty with Pauly Shore. Also there are some Law and Order: SVU episodes that do allow to take a glimpse at the Judge's life and some of their background.  It's a very interesting way to let the public see things as such, maybe making the way the trial goes all in the Lawyer's hands instead letting them know how important the Judge and Jury really are to the system.

Cavender and Deutsch - CSI

This article brings to our attention how CSI brings forensic science into the world of media through crime. What CSI does is use the forensics at a crime scene to solve their crimes, mostly murder. The show allows the audience to feel as if they can understand what exactly is going in the scientists heads as they look over the evidence and determine what it all means in the scheme of things. The show also portrays the fact that the perp is always going to be caught and put away without question because science has proven the victor over and over again.

I don't really watch CSI, but I do watch Bones which is another crime show that involves the use of science to get the bad guy, that and the gut of Booth. And much like the article describes, they always catch their guy by the use of science. So I'd have to say that what is being presented to us in this article is simply telling everyone what they know point blank about the show without saying it out loud.

Walking Tall

A soldier returns home to find that the town's biggest source of income has been closed down and in place a casino has been built. When his friends take him to the casino for a night out on the town, he confronts a dealer about loaded dice and ends up in a huge fight with the security, after being knocked out, he is taken to a back room and has his stomach cut up. The law does nothing but allow an in house investigation. The line is finally crossed when drugs that the casino has been dealing out to kids ends up in the hands of the Chris's nephew and  places him in the hospital. When the law again does nothing, he goes into the casino, beats up half the security staff with a plank of wood and ends up in court. After winning the case, he runs for Sheriff and is elected. He then proceeds to fire each and every one of the officers there and brings in his best friend to help him clean up the town in which he succeeds and gets the girl in the end as well.

I love this movie, I've seen it countless times and I think it displays the feelings of society very well when it comes to what they want to happen when a town is full of corruption. Everyone wants a real life hero to come and  save the people when no one else can stand up to the villains.

Dirty Harry

Dirty Harry is a movie designed to show us the good cop who likes to go outside his boundaries in order to get stuff done. Instead of waiting for the laws of the land to work their magic, he performs his own tricks. Going after Scorpio to seek the answer of where the teenage girl lies, however, these tricks do not always work out in the best way because due to Harry's actions, the DA decides they cannot charge Scorpio with the murder and therefore he is let go and is able to kidnap a whole bus full of children which leads Harry to again disobey the orders he has been given to stay away from the case and Scorpio in specific. In the end Harry kills the man and walks away from the Justice department.

I think this movie is trying to show just how slow the justice department is at working everything so that things are going according to the laws we have set up in our country and that sometimes it's necessary to take a step out of the lines in order to get things done.

Kasinsky - Cops and Media

Kasinsky offers us somewhat of an insders view about what actually occurs between the cops and the media people as opposed to what the films and tv shows us. In real life, the police work continuously with the press to come together on some of the stories about crimes that are being released to the public. They also know that if the press displays them in a bad light, everyone is going to think of them in a bad light because people get all of their information today from what the media decides to show us. Whereas in films, either the police use the media to help them solve a crime by "leaking" information or they find them completely annoying, useless, and hindering to any police work. Cops are placed into a few categories for the use of media. Good cops that use ulterior methods of getting things done. Good cops that follow all the rules. Corrupt cops that abuse their position in the system in order to get ahead, also related to criminals. Or the cops who just cannot get anything done.

Kansinky seems to nail it right on the head about everything involving cops and the media. Almost every film involving cops makes it almost too easy to place what category the cops belong in. For example, we can look at Detective Stabler from Law and Order: SVU, clearly he is one of the good cops that relies on using motives just barely inside his limits. He has no issues with using physical force to get a confession out someone he believes is a perp. Especially if the suspect could be a child molester. Whereas his partner Detective Benson belongs in the good cop category, while she'll go along with lying to the perps, rarely is ever do you see her use physical force unless a life is in immediate danger and even then she's hesitant.

Rafter- Chapter 2

Here Rafter is telling us about how films are giving us stories which allows us to think about everything surrounding a crime. The nature, causes, and consequences of it. Usually there is a theory of crime involved but it is only done so to avoid promoting a specific interpretation. Instead of looking at how movies could possibly cause crime, Rafter wants us to look at how they help us prevent crimes in the real world. She actually says the movies provided a bridge to connect the real world and our imaginations.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this article as I'm not entirely sure if movies can really prevent crimes in society. Yeah, a movie can evoke certain feelings but those feelings don't generally last longer than a few minutes. If the movie is good enough, I can see someone taking the time to at least think about how the world is working but it is a rare person indeed that seems to be moved enough to actually change their lifestyles after watching one movie.

Menace II Society

A film about growing up in a life full of crime, it tells us the story of several young man and their struggles in the streets, although there is some hope given that maybe just maybe Caine can get out of his life in the urban area, all these hopes are dashed in the end of the film where Caine is shot and the screen blacks out.

I wasn't really a big fan of this film, I felt it was too dark, while I understand that the point of the film was to try and get something done about everything that was currently going in the world at that time,  I didn't really see this film taking things anywhere but making people afraid of the urban life style or even encouraging some to continue their lives in the same manner.

Surette - Predator Criminals

What Surette is telling us that media likes to use the predator criminal to create fear, weaken social networks, increase dependence on the media while encouraging social isolation and polarization. In times of uncertainty we turn towards the media to give us the answers that we're seeking. When a criminal doesn't fit into the normal stereotypes, we turn to the media to tell us what is so special about this one guy.

I have to agree here with Surette simply because of what happened at the beginning of the semester with the Assistant Professor, one of the things that kept me interested in the case was the fact that there was something unique about him and why he acted the way he did. Media taps into the natural human curiosity and uses it to their advantage.