Special Victims Unit Analysis

Krista Flentje

Intro to Television Studies:

Essay One: Narrative

March 2nd 2015

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, commonly referred to as SVU is an American crime television drama series set in New York City, that has been around for 16 seasons. The series follows an episodic narrative, because it has a clearly defined set of characters and the end resolves each episode’s case. The show has various protagonists that make up NYPD’s Special Victim’s Unit and the “narrative problematic” each week is solving new cases of sexually based offences. What makes the show unique is that it’s loosely based on real crimes. Some of the episode’s plots are taken from crimes that have previously received a lot of media attention. The show is created
This allows the viewer closure at the finality of each episode in regards to the crime. Every episode includes a villain, that villain changes almost every episode. There is also a hero, who is usually a detective; frequently it’s Benson, depending on the episode. The show follows a very visualist approach, it tend to be quite dark. A lot of camera shots are in dark places with dim lighting. A lot of the show takes place in the precinct or out on an investigation. It’s also interesting to note that the show’s opening credits are in black and white film, which leads into a black and white shot of the team of police officers/investigators, which eventually turns to color. This is done to show that the heroes of the show are NYPD’s SVU and that they aren’t dark. In order to decipher the various codes used in SVU, viewers have to pay attention to various elements within the show. These elements include how the character is dressed, how their makeup looks and even their gestures. Detectives are normally dressed conservatively and put together nicely, while the criminals tend to look dirty or disheveled. The camera angle, lightening and music during scenes all add to the shows mood. These things can also shape the viewers perceptions of the show and the characters. Music tends to be dark and heavier in nature, during the beginning
For example, in the episode “Father Dearest” the perpetrator is feeling powerless after his ex-girlfriend marries the man who ruined his career as a doctor. So he starts raping the doctor’s donor daughters, by pretending to be their sperm donor father. He does this to regain the power the doctor had stolen from him all those years ago. The motivation of the show is the cast of detectives trying to solve the crime that took place in each episode. For example in “Friending Emily,” the motivation is the detectives try to find out what happened to Madison. She was kidnapped while at a party with her sister and now her kidnapping is being broadcast live on the dark net. Conflict comes in when the detectives are led astray during an episode, sometimes they will run into a dead end or will be missing a piece of the puzzle, that will help solve the crime. For example in the episode “Agent Provocateur” a girl named Madison is found almost dead zipped up in a suit case, but can’t remember how she got there. The conflict for the detectives is that she changes her story multiple times. There are also many cause-effect “acts” in SVU. This is when the detectives think they are onto something and there is a small climax in which they are provided new information that leaves the case unsettled. The final climax is when the