Femmes Fatal: EW article about new fall shows

[trisha]

Not sure where this should go....

I got my new issue of Entertainment Weekly and flipped past the useless garbage that convinces me that the subscription was a total waste of money and came across this article. It's subheading is, "Graphic violence against women is fall TV's most disturbing trend."

Well, that got my attention.

The shows that prompted the author, Jennifer Armstrong, to write the piece are Criminal Minds and Close to Home on CBS, and Killer Instinct on Fox. The shows all feature story lines that include rape, which seems to be focused on prominently and in gory detail.

When asked what was behind the surge in such story lines, Jeffrey Sconce, an associate professor from Northwestern University replied, "Since the American broadcasting system has more restrictions on sexuality .." (thank you, Janet Jackson) "... you can get away more with amplifying violence than you can with amplifying sexuality. It results in this weird sadistic element. Putting women in these sexual situations is a back door way of getting more flesh in."

Um, gross. And who are these geniuses marketing this shit to? Dear God, the target appears to be women.

"Whaa??" you say? Yes, those in the 18-49 demo are the primary aud for CSI, and that's what they're aiming for.

The piece ends with a quote from none other than Dick Wolf, our hero and godfather of procedural drama, "There's a big difference between playing on actual fears and doing something that's sexploitative. That's just bad story telling."

Amen.

What do you guys think of this trend? Will you tune in to a crime drama whose only sex appeal appeals to rapists and psychopaths?

I'm mortified by this. Where are the bible beaters when you need them? Oh yeah, they're after Penn and Teller for making a movie about the retelling of a dirty joke and making sure that normal and sensual scenes of sexuality are obliterated, causing networks to resort to something much more sinister.

[BegToDiffer]

I have only seen the promo for Close To Home. I don't know the blond star's name, but I enjoyed her in a comedy role. Its hard to imagine her so serious.

I'm not thrilled about the way this trend is going and I don't see anyway to stop it. I have never been comfortable watching scenes where women are being attacked. And with the tread of so much gore and blood, I'm about to give up. I hate seeing people's insides. I've always believed less is more!

If my schedule allows, I try to catch one night for each new show. Since I have to pick and choose anyway, I guess I won't be missing much. TV in general seems to be going to h*ll, and since I don't go to the movies, I guess I'll be reading more.

[Patcat]

I must agree with you--I'm disturbed by the increasing trend of violence not only against women but children as well. The CSI shows seem too often to show violence without consequences. The L&O shows, especially SVU, are not entirely guiltless in this regard, but are a bit more responsible.

Patcat

[romulanavatra3]

disturbing indeed, one of the reasons i never really liked csi(or for that mattter cisi miami) was beacuse it was always to graphic, patcat you right that the L&O shows are not completley guiltless, but the way the in which it is portrayed on the law and orders is not in any means a cheap,crude and rather offensive means of adding sex appeal or just gore for the sake of it, though crimianl intent has had its moments, the one that stuck me the most was the episode where that person got run over but instead of just moving the camera to a diffrent part of the road they had to show the whole thing in graphic detail.
what really incsises me is when they show grpahic violence directed at children( now that is irresponisble and morrly bankrupt, reminds of one law and order episode where a tv excutive convices some kids on a reality tv show to commit murder, to get extra ratings). now svu can be a bit to grpahic but at least the ytend to be careful it how they handle whereas programms like csi are just gross and not careful at all, i mean yeah we get that the bodies in the morgrue do you really have to show us up close views of diffrent body parts.

regards rom.

[trisha]

What upsets me about this "trend" is that rape is being used to give the shows a salaciousness that they can't have otherwise because of new FCC guidelines. I mean, isn't it worse to show rape rather than a sensual, and consensual sexual situation on tv? My fear is that, the way things are going, networks are not only playing to violent and misogynistic attitudes about sex, they could very well propagate them.

[Patcat]

And the role of rape completely baffles me. You can't show two people in love enjoying each other--heck, I don't think you can even show two married people--but rape and violence against women is acceptable!

Patcat

[Metella]

Those old Puritan roots are rearing their hairy little heads. I think shows like CSI are far too graphic to be on early - oh the gore is gore - but the stories that flash back to violent active scenes (not just on this show) do indeed glorify violence as behavior method. Shows too often make the excuse of poverty for the criminals doing this. While I don't think anything should be censored - I do think that time slots, ratings and restricitions should abound.

It is indeed a sad commentary when a net can show nearly every aspect of a rape except penetration & then can't show a married couple rolling around on the bear skin rug and laughing.

[romulanavatra3]

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[Sirenna]

I wonder if it is more or really the same amount but more graphic. In the seventies, the detective dramas like kojak, shaft, starsky and hutch etc showed violence towards women and showed women as the sexual prize or the motivation behind some character's actions. They were rarely if ever the driving force. Their action were rarely the crux that turned the plot. That was always in the actions of the male guest characters. Women then were objectified and de-personalized too and there was a lot of that sort of thing.

Now the way rape is written in cop shows today seems, I agree, Trisha way more disturbing. It's much more prurient and voyeuristic. It seems that tv-as-entertainment is partly achieved by dissecting the brain and the heart of a rape survivor. kind of like saying "let's see right into her, right into the heart and the intensity of her suffering" It's just tv after all and let's gratuitously inhabit her, for much the same reasons as the rapist might have had, for the next hour or so. That is what really disturbs me.

[amnesic]

This shows one of the big differences between UK and US TV. Here in the UK there is a lot of sex on TV even on pre-watershed (9pm) shows that children can watch as opposed to the more lax view to violence but not sex in the US. But violence was always a no-no in the UK, until recently were soap operas have been adding more and more violence to their stories. there has also been an explosion in the last five years of stories about violence (esp sexual) against women in soaps and on dramas. Radio Times, the BBC TV guide, has been moaning for years about the number of plotlines which revolve around a woman being either raped (shown in graphic detail) or raped and murdered. It started with the soaps and spread to drama shows, and god knows what's next. Originally these plots were meant to highlight violence against women, now they show that men repeatedly get away with it

[MelTex]

Even though I watch a lot of the crime procedurals out there, I have to agree with Trisha on this.

The tide is escalating, and women being victimized seems to be the pushing trend. And for the life of me, I can't understand why this is? We've had action series for years. We've even had semi-horror series that boomed in the market of the 18-49 yrs olds ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel can be thanked).

But now the "in" thing is Forensic Crime procedurals. It's like all the prime networks are saying ,
"Oh, lets see how much we can saturate the market with shows doing nearly the exact same thing...and oh yeah, gotta up the 'skin' ration in them to bring in the young adults!"

Ugh. SVU isn't totally white-as-the-driven-snow in this either, but at least, like Wolf said, "they may be playing on fears of the public", the aberrations of society - but I wouldn't say it was sexploitation.

These new shows, Criminal Minds (uhm...we already have Criminal Intent, thank you. Don't need another Profiler) and yes, even the CSI's seem to think the only way to get higher ratings is to up the gratuitous "skin, T&A-gore" ratio.
Why?

What happened to complex plots with twisting mysteries and intriguing guest characters? Did they all migrate to Wisteria Lane with the Housewives...or get, heh...Lost?

I'm a fan of CSI. I like the show (liked the early seasons better, though) I like SVU and watch it all the time, but even some of its episode content has driven me to change the channel.

But this trend of finding more disgusting, more dehumanizing ways to victimize women, in order to raise the "Shock" value...is grating on my nerves, and sickening me.

I can take a lot of the forensic body-shots, but its getting to be too much...even for a fan like me. That's saying a lot.

How about challenging my mystery skills with a case -

- not turning my stomach with another raped/mutilated woman.

[Observer2]

trisha said:

...My fear is that, the way things are going, networks are not only playing to violent and misogynistic attitudes about sex, they could very well propagate them.

Exactly. And not just misogynistic attitudes.

Vicarious experiences, such as television, can, under some conditions, affect the brain in ways that are almost indistinguishable from personal experiences/memories. And vivid, emotionally intense experiences that link sex with power/control and violence can affect young males in ways that increase their risk of committing such violence against women.

With the amount of information available on the potentially tragic effects, there is no excuse for any show to deliberately, vividly portray, play on, and emphasize those aspects of rape and murder.

They are increasing it in shows because they believe it increases viewership; and, in the absence of the kind of ethics Mr. Wolf has demonstrated, anything that is believed to increase viewership is likely to be increased in television shows.

The solution is to convince them – or, more importantly, their advertisers – that in fact, it decreases viewership, and is so offensive as to taint viewers’ attititudes towards those companies that sponsor it.

In other words, if you want to do something about it, watch the shows, make note of specific offensive scenes, and what companies bought ads in that show. Email lots of friends with that information, and ask them all to write to the production office, the network, and all the advertisers, expressing how offensive such exploitation of sadistic violence against women/children is, and assuring them that you will stop watching the show and/or network, and are considering boycotting (and asking all your friends to boycott) the companies who sponsor such shows.

In the business world, the last I heard, one letter weighs as ten people. That is, they figure that if one person cared enough to write, at least nine other people felt the same way, but didn’t write about it. With advertisers, I suspect that 25 letters from people offended enough to consider boycotting them (and asking all their friends to boycott them) would have a huge impact. And anything that makes their advertisers unhappy has a huge impact on networks. Which have a huge impact on what TV producers can, and can’t, do in their shows.

I’ve got too much going on right now to do the research (watching shows I don’t like, getting addresses, etc.); but if someone got the info, I’d be glad to write letters, and could probably get some of my friends to write letters, as well. And some of us old radicals can write a pretty forceful letter, when we put our minds to it...

[Beaglebabes]

I would sign a petition or write a letter.

[MelTex]

Thats a good idea, Observer.

I may have to start taking notes...since most of the shows I watch, seem to be following this trend lately.

[Metella]

If you gather the info - I'll gladly send off my 2cents worth. This is just lower on my list than other things - but I DO think it important & would join in your writing campaign - Sorry I don't have enough time to help on the front end of it.