Tough Guise Analysis
Criminal Minds, the Show that Should Set the Standard
Criminal Minds has captivated me over the course of the last year as I Netflix binge watch. The show was the first thing I thought when this paper, and overall class discussion began. This was because the show both defies the social norms for how some crime shows are depicted, as well as falling victim to some stereotypes, as every show seems to do. For these reasons it was a very interesting show to analyze from the characters, to a couple specific episodes. The show is centered on a group of behavioral analysts, who work for the FBI, and try to catch psychopath serial killers by studying their behavior. The team is constructed of 7 team members, 6 field agents, and 1 technical analysis/hacker. …show more content…
Before I get into the specific episodes, which are full of stereotypes, as seen in numerous crime drama shows, I thought I would discuss the team as a group. The team is comprised of 4 males, and 3 females, and the females actually hold a lot more high profile jobs. The team is made up of a large ethnic diverse group; there are 3 Caucasian members, a French woman, Italian man, and an African-American man. The diversity of the members allows the show to use its cultural diversity to make each episode interesting, as different members show their strengths. Furthermore, a stereotype Criminal Minds avoids is having their technical analysis who is a computer genius, and hacker, is a colorful white woman, not the standard geek looking Asian decent person being depicted in a lot of other shows or movies. This type of diversification, and frankly refreshing new appearance of a computer analyst character allows the show to break into completely new ground. To continue on gender roles, in most crime fighting dramas you see two large males usually as partners, in the field, doing the dangerous field work including participating in the shoot outs, and wrestling with criminals. In criminal minds, there is one large male, but the other field agents are smaller in size, and stature. The most impressive person on the team is a woman agent by the name if J.J. J.J knows atrial arts and can take down criminals by using those abilities. J.J. is also licensed, and frequently uses a firearm, giving a much different role to the attractive blonde in a crime drama. To illustrate J.J’s gender indifference by using a firearm, in season 3, episode 9, titled “Penelope”, the team’s technical analysis, whose name is Penelope Garcia, is being stalked by a criminal named Colby Baylor. Baylor attacks her through her computer by sending her threats, as well as pictures knowing where she is. Baylor in the end enters the FBI building, and comes into the office of the behavior analysts, and begins to attack Penelope. J.J. being one of the only ones in the building sees the attack happening, and takes a perfect shot through a glass wall right through the head of Baylor, saving Penelope.
I believe that having these types of diversified characters gives the show an appealing look to new viewers, as the social norms are broken down.
In contrast, a character who is displayed in a way that you would assume as normal is the large, fit, African-American character of Morgan.
The documentary we viewed in class called, Tough Guise, had the opinion on this stereotype, and expectation of what the male African-American should look like as, “This idea that men of color need to adopt this hyper masculine posture in order to get the respect they’ve been stripped of by the dominant culture is common in many groups of men of color” (Tough Guise). While the women have outside of the norm roles, and jobs in the show, the men fall into the standard gender roles of the large black man, and a skinny, nerdy white young …show more content…
man.
To continue into looking in to other episodes based on who the criminals are, there is an episode in season six, titled “Corazon”. This episode takes place in Miami, and is centered on a Latino neighborhood, and while there are a lot of Latino’s in Miami, this was viewed by me as a stereotype to assume that a crime committed in Miami would be done in a Latino group. To further the stereotyping, the killer is making the killings look like a religious, ritual ceremony, and the team assumes the criminal they’re looking for is from the Afro-Caribbean neighborhood, based on the cultural of those people, and automatically start looking at those people for the killer. In the sense that the show is only 45 minute long, once a group has been narrowed down the show doesn’t usually have the time to send the episode in a whole another direction, so the killer was from that Afro-Caribbean group, making the assumption of the stereotype seem to pay off, but still being a stereotype none the less.
As a finale example I have seen in most episodes, rather than focus on a specific example, is the idea of gender roles in serial killers. Each episode the team delivers a profile of the killer they are looking for, and while they use a lot of statistics to back up their hypothesis, in a lot of violent crimes they begin the profile by saying they’re looking specifically for a male. While the fact is backed up in the documentary Tough Guise when they state, “For example, over 85% of the people who commit murder, are men, and the women that do, often do so as defense against men who are battering them” (Tough Guise). This is a stereotype in the sense that only males are capable of violent crimes, and woman could never do such a thing. Again, I understand a lot of this is based on the limited time the show has for each episode, and the need to limit search pools in an efficient manor, but the words they use to state that a male absolutely committed this crime because of the nature of it is a major stereotype.
I enjoy Criminal Minds, and I believe it has a strong following because of its realism. The show has a fairly easy way of hitting social anxieties, or issues, because they’re shows are all separate, with a small storyline following episode to episode. This allows them to focus on a social issue fairly easily by simply filming an episode about it, rather than forcing it into an already complex, week-to-week storyline the audience is following.
As an example of this, Criminal Minds had a case, surrounded around a LGBT community in their current season with the episode called “A good Husband”. The criminal was from the community, and as the team always do they find out as much as they can about where the criminal came from, allowing the audience to have a window into that type of community as a way to spread knowledge to their viewers.
The target audience of Criminal Minds is extremely broad.
While the rating is not recommended for children under 14 due to the violence, and some drug/language use, anyone interested in crime, and solving crime in an unconventional way would be interested in this show. Having such a large group of potential viewers has allowed Criminal Minds to run for what is now its 12th season. However in more specific terms the show targets an more mature audience, beginning with adults in their 20s. Criminal Minds tends to air at 8pm on a Thursday, or Monday, which are both popular viewing times on CBS. This time slot allows them to reach their preferred audience, while also avoiding children, who tend to be in bed, or preparing for bed by this time.
The final compare and contrast I wanted to focus on was the depiction of the women in the show. The show is rather conservative with its women, which is far different from what we have seen in other prime time shows today. The women are always wearing suits, and at professionally, even in their public relationships. The Killing Us Softly documentary mentions that, “We all grow up in a culture in which women’s bodies are constantly turned into things and objects” (Killing Us Softly
IV). Criminal Minds defies that concept by letting their women look exactly as they do in real life. Penelope is the sunning bright humorous light in an otherwise dark show, and she is a heavyset woman, but her qualities make her a fan favorite, no matter what she looks like. J.J and Prentice, the other woman on the team, are both attractive late 20 women, but the show doesn’t try to gain viewers by exploiting them. This is so much different than a show such as Modern Family, who uses Sofia Vergara as a sex symbol, and exploits her body by making her wear tight, revealing clothing. It is also different than the Killing Us Softly documentary about how much Photoshop goes into magazine, and ad covers.
In conclusion, Criminal Minds does have its stereotyping pitfalls around some of its episodes, and whom they chose to be the criminals in certain places they travel, and the standard strong, masculine, African-American. However, in every other regard, especially equality in gender, and overall gender roles, Criminal Minds is a progressive show in terms of gender equality, and always has been. The show has been successful in adding episodes to discuss, and teach about social issues, especially LGBT issues, and race issues in certain cities.
Criminal Minds has captivated me over the course of the last year as I Netflix binge watch. The show was the first thing I thought when this paper, and overall class discussion began. This was because the show both defies the social norms for how some crime shows are depicted, as well as falling victim to some stereotypes, as every show seems to do. For these reasons it was a very interesting show to analyze from the characters, to a couple specific episodes. The show is centered on a group of behavioral analysts, who work for the FBI, and try to catch psychopath serial killers by studying their behavior. The team is constructed of 7 team members, 6 field agents, and 1 technical analysis/hacker. …show more content…
Before I get into the specific episodes, which are full of stereotypes, as seen in numerous crime drama shows, I thought I would discuss the team as a group. The team is comprised of 4 males, and 3 females, and the females actually hold a lot more high profile jobs. The team is made up of a large ethnic diverse group; there are 3 Caucasian members, a French woman, Italian man, and an African-American man. The diversity of the members allows the show to use its cultural diversity to make each episode interesting, as different members show their strengths. Furthermore, a stereotype Criminal Minds avoids is having their technical analysis who is a computer genius, and hacker, is a colorful white woman, not the standard geek looking Asian decent person being depicted in a lot of other shows or movies. This type of diversification, and frankly refreshing new appearance of a computer analyst character allows the show to break into completely new ground. To continue on gender roles, in most crime fighting dramas you see two large males usually as partners, in the field, doing the dangerous field work including participating in the shoot outs, and wrestling with criminals. In criminal minds, there is one large male, but the other field agents are smaller in size, and stature. The most impressive person on the team is a woman agent by the name if J.J. J.J knows atrial arts and can take down criminals by using those abilities. J.J. is also licensed, and frequently uses a firearm, giving a much different role to the attractive blonde in a crime drama. To illustrate J.J’s gender indifference by using a firearm, in season 3, episode 9, titled “Penelope”, the team’s technical analysis, whose name is Penelope Garcia, is being stalked by a criminal named Colby Baylor. Baylor attacks her through her computer by sending her threats, as well as pictures knowing where she is. Baylor in the end enters the FBI building, and comes into the office of the behavior analysts, and begins to attack Penelope. J.J. being one of the only ones in the building sees the attack happening, and takes a perfect shot through a glass wall right through the head of Baylor, saving Penelope.
I believe that having these types of diversified characters gives the show an appealing look to new viewers, as the social norms are broken down.
In contrast, a character who is displayed in a way that you would assume as normal is the large, fit, African-American character of Morgan.
The documentary we viewed in class called, Tough Guise, had the opinion on this stereotype, and expectation of what the male African-American should look like as, “This idea that men of color need to adopt this hyper masculine posture in order to get the respect they’ve been stripped of by the dominant culture is common in many groups of men of color” (Tough Guise). While the women have outside of the norm roles, and jobs in the show, the men fall into the standard gender roles of the large black man, and a skinny, nerdy white young …show more content…
man.
To continue into looking in to other episodes based on who the criminals are, there is an episode in season six, titled “Corazon”. This episode takes place in Miami, and is centered on a Latino neighborhood, and while there are a lot of Latino’s in Miami, this was viewed by me as a stereotype to assume that a crime committed in Miami would be done in a Latino group. To further the stereotyping, the killer is making the killings look like a religious, ritual ceremony, and the team assumes the criminal they’re looking for is from the Afro-Caribbean neighborhood, based on the cultural of those people, and automatically start looking at those people for the killer. In the sense that the show is only 45 minute long, once a group has been narrowed down the show doesn’t usually have the time to send the episode in a whole another direction, so the killer was from that Afro-Caribbean group, making the assumption of the stereotype seem to pay off, but still being a stereotype none the less.
As a finale example I have seen in most episodes, rather than focus on a specific example, is the idea of gender roles in serial killers. Each episode the team delivers a profile of the killer they are looking for, and while they use a lot of statistics to back up their hypothesis, in a lot of violent crimes they begin the profile by saying they’re looking specifically for a male. While the fact is backed up in the documentary Tough Guise when they state, “For example, over 85% of the people who commit murder, are men, and the women that do, often do so as defense against men who are battering them” (Tough Guise). This is a stereotype in the sense that only males are capable of violent crimes, and woman could never do such a thing. Again, I understand a lot of this is based on the limited time the show has for each episode, and the need to limit search pools in an efficient manor, but the words they use to state that a male absolutely committed this crime because of the nature of it is a major stereotype.
I enjoy Criminal Minds, and I believe it has a strong following because of its realism. The show has a fairly easy way of hitting social anxieties, or issues, because they’re shows are all separate, with a small storyline following episode to episode. This allows them to focus on a social issue fairly easily by simply filming an episode about it, rather than forcing it into an already complex, week-to-week storyline the audience is following.
As an example of this, Criminal Minds had a case, surrounded around a LGBT community in their current season with the episode called “A good Husband”. The criminal was from the community, and as the team always do they find out as much as they can about where the criminal came from, allowing the audience to have a window into that type of community as a way to spread knowledge to their viewers.
The target audience of Criminal Minds is extremely broad.
While the rating is not recommended for children under 14 due to the violence, and some drug/language use, anyone interested in crime, and solving crime in an unconventional way would be interested in this show. Having such a large group of potential viewers has allowed Criminal Minds to run for what is now its 12th season. However in more specific terms the show targets an more mature audience, beginning with adults in their 20s. Criminal Minds tends to air at 8pm on a Thursday, or Monday, which are both popular viewing times on CBS. This time slot allows them to reach their preferred audience, while also avoiding children, who tend to be in bed, or preparing for bed by this time.
The final compare and contrast I wanted to focus on was the depiction of the women in the show. The show is rather conservative with its women, which is far different from what we have seen in other prime time shows today. The women are always wearing suits, and at professionally, even in their public relationships. The Killing Us Softly documentary mentions that, “We all grow up in a culture in which women’s bodies are constantly turned into things and objects” (Killing Us Softly
IV). Criminal Minds defies that concept by letting their women look exactly as they do in real life. Penelope is the sunning bright humorous light in an otherwise dark show, and she is a heavyset woman, but her qualities make her a fan favorite, no matter what she looks like. J.J and Prentice, the other woman on the team, are both attractive late 20 women, but the show doesn’t try to gain viewers by exploiting them. This is so much different than a show such as Modern Family, who uses Sofia Vergara as a sex symbol, and exploits her body by making her wear tight, revealing clothing. It is also different than the Killing Us Softly documentary about how much Photoshop goes into magazine, and ad covers.
In conclusion, Criminal Minds does have its stereotyping pitfalls around some of its episodes, and whom they chose to be the criminals in certain places they travel, and the standard strong, masculine, African-American. However, in every other regard, especially equality in gender, and overall gender roles, Criminal Minds is a progressive show in terms of gender equality, and always has been. The show has been successful in adding episodes to discuss, and teach about social issues, especially LGBT issues, and race issues in certain cities.