Movies and TV shows are a main form of entertainment for a lot of people, especially for Americans. People like to watch anything as a break from school or when done with a long day at work. It is a pleasure time to relax, or it can be background noise for others while getting work done or while trying to fall asleep. There are different genres that people enjoy, just like any other art form, which can be action, comedy, drama, romance, thriller, or horror. Another genre that is a sub-genre to many movies is crime. These movies have plots/themes that center around crime, any type of crime. Some examples of movies and tv shows that center around crime yet are still different genres would be, Wrath of Man and Jack Ryan for action, Game Night and Psych for comedy, and Prisoners and Cleaning Lady for drama. These are only a few examples of crime movies and tv shows that audiences consume, there are so much more. Even movies or tv shows that do not have a sub-genre of crime still have some sort of crime in their plot. When it comes to cinema entertainment, humans are obsessed with crime.
When it comes to the crime in cinema, crime is shown in only two ways, either the heroism of law enforcement or the glorification of criminals and the crime life. For the law enforcement side, the heroes of the story or plot is typically a law enforcement or former officer/agent, or someone who is helping them. They glorify catching criminals, who are seen as crazy, terrible almost inhuman people, and helping others in need or helping their family. These movies/tv shows can be in any genre. Action and drama ones tend to be a bit more seriously, with an officer or agent, while ones that are comedic tend to have anybody solving and catching the criminals. Some examples of serious action/drama cinema entertainment would be the show FBI and/or the movie Knives Out. Some examples of more crime comedy would be the show Psych and/or movie Murder Mystery. The other way that crime is shown in cinema entertainment is the glorification of crime. It means that the audience is viewing crime as something that is fun and exciting rather than something that should be avoided and condemned. Or it makes the audience sympathize with the criminal because of their story and them getting “pushed” into the life of crime and how they are trying to get out. Each perspective puts more emphasis on enjoying life as happy as you can be no matter the social rules and perimeters. Some examples of making the life of crime fun and enjoyable would be like the Ocean series and the Fast and Furious series.
Crime is very much a part of real life, there is no denying that crime and criminals exists, because we are a social group, and every social community has laws and rules. Producers of cinema entertainment seem to push the boundaries of what should and shouldn’t be considered criminal. With the production of these movies as mentioned above, people talk and think more about what crime should be considered criminal, making crime greyer rather than black and white as many people have thought it as, especially the older generations. There is more sympathizing with those who would be considered criminals because people are seeing that people can’t always control their situations and environments and that people make mistakes.
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For a while now, I have been obsessed with shows about crime. “Criminal Minds”, “The Menendez Brothers”, “The Ted Bundy Tapes”, and pretty much any other criminal show, documentary, or movie have all been fixations of mine in the recent past. Before reading this article, I had never taken the time to think about how these shows and movies blur the line between what can be considered criminal and what is just a means to an end to get by in life. I do think the general ideas about crime used to be very black and white, but through representing crime in an entertaining way, it has become greyer and greyer. For example, in the current hit show “The Menendez Brothers” they committed a very real crime and that crime should never be thought of as okay or justifiable. That being said, the show does give insight into the trauma and harm they were enduring that led them to murder their parents, leaving the audience with some sort of empathy and understanding for the brothers. Furthermore, in “Criminal Minds”, the detectives finding the criminals are glorified and made many people (including myself) contemplate a career in FBI profiling. These shows can either romanticize the person catching the criminal or the criminal itself, but in almost every situation, the line between crime and situation continues to be blurred.