Meth, Not Even Once

Their faces are hollow, the eyes are hooded and lifeless. Sores are everywhere and the teeth have rotted to their core. That is at least for meth users. These ads portray the many different ways meth can destroy a life, whether it be physical or morally. "My mom knows I'd never hurt her. Then she got in the way." A middle class mother lies bleeding under the kitchen sink.
The "Meth, Not Even Once" ads follow the pattern of the Faces of Meth campaign by suggesting that this poisonous drug is permeating throughout middle class, white America. The Linnemann and Wall article described the fear that White America has about the destruction of the "purity" of white culture. Each ad shows a different, white face and the damage that meth has done to them. It takes the good little white girl who was the apple of her parents eyes and turn her into a meth crazed prostitute. Meth is the wolf at the door. It is the fear that parents have about their kids, that they might fall off the track and lose themselves forever.
This isn't to say that meth isn't a seriously problematic drug. However, this kind of ad campaign seems to only be directed at a white audience. It feeds on the fear that white families will become a part of the urban ghetto. But, when crack was (and is) a major problem in the urban ghetto, no ads have come to try and raise awareness of what it could do to a person.
These meth ads show how damaging a drug meth can be to White America. These ads support the status quo, that White America will remain clean and intact, but it does nothing to help other problems.
The Linnemann and Wall article will help me view these ads with a kind of distanced observation. It will remind me that, while yes, meth is a problem, it isn't the pervasive virus that these ads claim it is. I will be reminded that meth is only the tip of the iceberg and that we need to work to help not only white people but also the individuals without a voice.

Breaking Bad Analysis

Breaking Bad is considered by many to be one of the greatest television dramas of all time. One of the reasons for this is that Breaking Bad takes a good man, gives him a bad situation and then forces him to make a choice. The show does an incredible job of rationalizing crime and allows the audience to wonder what they would do if they were in that kind of situation. Not only that but it gives criminals a background and makes them more sympathetic. This kind of character building is rare for images of criminals.

            What makes Breaking Bad such a standout show is the way it gets the criminals to seem just like any other person one might meet in life. When Walter sits down with Crazy Eight and talks about their respective lives and why they began to lead a life of crime, this scene allows the audience to see Crazy Eight in the same view as Walt. Not necessarily the same reason for crime, but certainly it shows that they can see each other on the same level. “The paths we take,” said Walt, in reference to how they arrived in the meth business.

            There are two breaking points for Walt in Season One. The first is when Crazy Eight steals a shard of the porcelain plate and prepares to stab Walt. This makes Walt lose faith in humanity in general and causes Walt to commit his first murder. There is immediate remorse for the crime. What this shows is that crime doesn’t always happen because people want it to. There is the premeditated crime and the crimes of necessity. The premeditated would be the cooking of meth and the crimes of necessity were the melting of Emilio’s body and the murder of Crazy Eight.

            The second breaking point for Walt is when he uses fulminated mercury to make a flash bang bomb against Tuco Salamanca. When Walt gets in the car, he screams and yells with the obvious adrenaline rush that he got from the situation. When Walt has sex with Skyler in their car just after this, Skyler asks “Why was it so damn good?” To this Walt replies, “Because it was illegal.” That interaction shows Walt moving into the world of a criminal and his association with criminal activity as a release.

            Due to the cancer, Walt likely is looking for some way to take control of his life, thus showing why he would act out against the man with the “KEN WINS” license plate. It also is shown early on when Walt deals with the bullies who were making fun of Walt Jr.

            The emotional connection initially begins with Walter and his family. The audience feels for Walt and hopes that he succeeds in anything he can to try and help assuage his cancerous situation. Other emotional attachments are to the rest of Walt’s family as they are a constant source of support for Walt. However, as Walt begins to act unusually, Skyler’s suspicions are aroused and she becomes less likeable for the viewer, based entirely on dramatic irony.

            Other emotional attachments are formed when Jesse’s home-life is shown and how desperate his family is to want to help him, but at the same time, how many times he has gotten their help and left them high and dry when he no longer needs them. A particularly interesting exchange is when Jesse’s brother, Jake Pinkman, shares with Jesse that he (Jesse) is the only person that their parents talk about when he isn’t there, or so he perceives. Additionally, when Jesse takes the wrap for Jake’s joint, it shows the goodness in Jesse’s heart and his willingness to help those by sacrificing himself. This makes every older brother in the audience wonder if they would do the same, or if they would pin the joint on Jake to save themselves and to get back in the good graces of the family. Jesse Pinkman is truly the prodigal son.

            Other views of criminals are seen with Jesse’s friends, Skinny Pete and Badger. Skinny Pete and an unnamed person arrive at Jesse’s house to smoke meth, and when Jesse doesn’t want to, they decide to leave. This shows how fickle friends can be in the criminal world. Furthermore, Badger is extremely impatient when making the meth with Jesse. Perhaps before Jesse met Walt, the two might have been compatible, however, there is a transition in Jesse’s character as he moves toward the science side of cooking rather than the artistry.

            During the montage of selling meth to the masses, many different facets of society are shown. From bikers to businessmen to women in laundromats, criminals, as viewed through the eyes of the law, are everywhere. They could be anyone and everyone we encounter on a daily basis. But does their criminality define who they are?

            According to Surette, typical criminals as seen in entertainment media are mature, white and are blessed with high social status. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth in Breaking Bad. Most criminals are Mexican or Caucasian who live in terrible areas. The “Crystal Palace” is a perfect example of a stereotype-breaking aspect. Criminals are split up into two types in the news media, says Surette. There are “violent predators” or there are “professional businessmen and bureaucrats.” What people take away from this is that most criminals are the street criminals. While those criminals are absolutely shown in Breaking Bad, Walter isn’t one. Or at least, he tries to avoid it. In fact, he works to separate himself from that side when making the deal with Jesse to keep cooking. Walt, trapped in his remorse for killing Crazy Eight, originally makes an effort to remain on the science side.

            All of that falls apart when Tuco sends Jesse to the hospital. This causes Walt to put matters into his own hands, (as he did with the “KEN WINS” man) and he uses the fulminated mercury.

            Tuco Salamanca is the aggressive meth distributor who sketches even Jesse out. His penchant for violence is reminiscent of the typical criminal as described by Surette. However, his bodyguards and lair make him a more formidable criminal than just a street junky. Tuco employs many stereotypical street criminals though, which makes the viewer wonder if all street criminals answer to someone. This vein of crime gives the seedy underbelly of society a particularly unnerving aspect.

            U.S. audiences are likely to find this show appealing as it takes a magnifying glass to a part of society that is rarely shown and then it is viewed through the eyes of Mr. Middleclass Everyman. Audiences are going to be rooting for the relatable Walt, as long as he has a rhyme and reason for what he does. However, if he goes off the edge and starts doing crime for fun or for greed, audiences will likely rebel against their hero and demand his head. Audiences would also like this television show, as it doesn’t have necessarily a knight in shining armor for the protagonist. This program makes a gripping anti-hero out of a once-good man.

            For Surette, crime victims in entertainment media are seen as “helpless fodder or as the wronged heroic avengers.” However, with this show, the victims are neither. Crazy Eight was a violent criminal, who died out of necessity. When Jesse is sent to the hospital, it isn’t because he’s helpless fodder, but rather because a psychopath who didn’t follow the rules of business jumped him. Even Walt is no longer helpless fodder. He makes a big impact by using his chemistry knowledge to his advantage. The biggest victims of crime would likely be the Pinkmans. They’ve had to deal with their eldest son lying and stealing from them for so long that their hearts are absolutely crushed. They aren’t killed or even physically injured, but they are emotionally devestated.

            At the moment, the narrative is structured in such a way that most of the characters are being rooted for. Walt and his cancer struggle makes the audience bond to him emotionally. Skyler is just looking out for the best of Walt, just like the rest of the audience. Walter Jr. is a teenager, much like we all were, but with cerebral palsy, giving the audience an emotional attachment to him. Hank and Marie are loving family members, looking out for their sister and brother-in-law. However, Marie is less bondable than Hank as she has a problem with shoplifting. She refuses to take the blame and is easily the most unlikable of the family members. The audience wants Jesse to succeed. He may have made an enormous amount of errors in life, but he has a good heart, deep down. In fact, he may be a more compelling character than Walt.

            By the end of the season, the audience wants Walt to succeed in cooking meth. This startling revelation comes as Walt and Jesse walk away in the junkyard to Gnarls Barkley’s “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul,” a fitting song for such an ending.

Unit 5: American Gangster

In the film, American Gangster, Frank Lucas starts off as just the driver for the gangster, "Bumpy" Johnson. After "Bumpy" dies, Frank takes over the business, and perfects it. Although, Frank is a gangster, he starts off as a relatively normal guy. He wants to make money to support his family, and also to, you know, make money. He sets up a whole operation to sell heroin, by bringing it into the states from Vietnam. From Rafter's perspective, American Gangster would absolutely be a discussion on a rational choice criminal. Unfortunately, the narrative gets away from Lucas as he starts to make decisions that would ultimately cost him his money and his freedom for 15 years, but also much of his family's freedom. When getting his cousins and brothers to join his business, he murders a rival dealer in cold blood, in the middle of the street. This is absolutely a power move to show his family, just how in control he was. One of his biggest mistakes was wearing the mink coat his wife got him. In the beginning of the film, Lucas tells his family member to not wear clothes that make him stand out. One who wears clothes like that are more likely to get caught and arrested. This is ironic because when Lucas finally wears something showy, Ritchie Roberts sees him, takes a photo, and a seemingly aimless investigation finally has someone on its radar.
One of the more powerful scenes is when Lucas' mother confronts Lucas about not killing cops. It's not who he his, she says to him. He's not a cop killer. This simmers him down and he doesn't lose his cool, therefore, he doesn't lose his mother, nor his wife.
This movie shows a man who was given the opportunity to make money, and a lot of it, though not illegally. He took advantage of that to the best of his ability. Additionally, this movie shows many greedy members of the Drug Enforcement Agency of New York, who were eventually taken down by Lucas and Roberts. Thus, this film depicts good cops, bad cops, gangsters who are in it for the money and lose themselves to greed, and petty junkies who are just looking for the next hit.

Unit 4: Dateline, The Root of All Evil

In theater, the first and last person to talk in a play is whom the play belongs to. Though this idea doesn't work all the time, it is food for thought for the director or producer of the show. In 48 Hours' episode, Decades of Deceit, the show belongs to Amy Weidner, through family photos, but in the actual interview process it belongs to Emily Weidner. In framing the narrative, the producers of the show want the viewers to see who Emily has grown up to be, how what transpired affected her and her family and also how the culprit was caught in this 22 year cold case. How the show progresses is in chronological order with analysis and family footage sprinkled in for flavor. The main idea of the frame of this narrative is that a tragedy happened, a family was dramatically changed forever and no one was able to do anything about it for 22 years. That is, until some new eyes perused the evidence.

The people who are interviewed are Amy’s family (mother, sisters, brother, daughter), her teacher, Mrs. Jodie George, Detective Carter and her two friends from high school. The prioritization of interviews moves from mother, to daughter, to teacher, to sister, to friends, to brother. What’s interesting about the big reveal of who committed the crime is that it was one of Amy’s brother’s friends. Even more interesting is that it shouldn’t even be much of a surprise because in the first section of the episode, Amy’s mother indicated something to the effect of expecting a stranger and “not someone we knew.”

The episode begins with family footage of Emily and the rest of her family when she was 2-years-old. It moves on to a discussion about how well loved Amy was and her mother’s reaction to finding her dead body in her bedroom. Then it brings up the detective who ultimately solved the case, even though he wasn’t assigned it at first.

After that, there was a discussion with Jodie George, Amy’s French teacher, about what kind of student Amy was and what she was like during her pregnancy. Amy was 16-years-old when she was murdered and she was only 14 when she had Emily. The father, Tony Abercrombie, 17, though a subject in the investigation had an alibi that stood to questioning. The music throughout the episode is soft, haunting piano music. It’s plucked slowly without much of a direction other than hanging out in the minor chords.

At the 15-minute mark, where it cut to commercial, there was a section asking, “Do you think Amy Weidner knew her killer?”

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This sort of interruption reminds the viewers that they are not personally involved in the case, but allows people to discuss it on the Internet. Therefore, it opens up a dialogue between people and gives them and opportunity to discuss with others what they think. This would be especially important for people who are watching this at home, alone. Perhaps, the viewer doesn’t have family of friends living with them. This gives people an opportunity to chat about what they’ve seen, which is such a human thing to do. People like to gossip and 48 Hours gives the viewers that.

The same kind of shtick happens at the end of the episode: “Do you think Rodney Denk acted alone?”

As the episode continued after the 15-minute mark, the detective, Bill Carter, got involved and slowly solved the case, proving that even someone who has no training specifically in homicide cases is able to solve a case that detectives aren’t able to. Carter was only involved because one of the men involved in the case needed help printing a photo from the Facebook group dedicated to remembering Amy Weidner. This goes to show the immense power of social media.

Much of the episode has people crying in it. Personally, I can’t stand watching people cry. It makes me uncomfortable. However, I can understand why from a media and crime perspective, people want to watch every aspect of the human emotions involved in these sensational stories. It’s much like why people love watching horror movies. It allows people to experience part of the human condition without having to go through it themselves.

Crime in this episode is seen as dehumanizing and lurking everywhere. Many of the people interviewed expressed their concern that the murderer could be anyone in their little town. Crime is invasive and can strike down even the most unworthy families.

The victims in this episode are of course Amy and her family. Emily Weidner is shown as one of the biggest victims of the situation because she didn’t get to know her mother, and she expresses her belief that she and her mother would likely be very close, and even more like friends than mother and daughter.

Law enforcement is shown to be quite slow and likely to mess up (Rodney Denk was on a list of people to talk to, but somehow was missed.) However, throughout all of the issues with law enforcement, it is possible for a white knight to show up and solve the crime, even 22 years later.

During the course of the show, two images are brought up an immense amount of time: the school photo of Amy Weidner and the bloody handprint left at the crime seen.

These two photos invoke two different emotions in the viewer. The first of these emotions is sadness for the beautiful 16-year-old who had her life so cruelly ripped away from her and also disgust in the fact that not only was her life killed but also that no one was able to solve the crime. With the second photo, seen above, the viewers see the evidence that the police had and the only thing running through their minds would likely be “fingerprints” or “why don’t they just check the fingerprints.” This is answered later in the episode, but as it is brought up so many times before the answer comes, the viewer has a long time to consider why it is being played over and over again.

The family during the episode is typically depicted either in the interview setting or they are looking off into the distance, hoping that someday justice will come for their loved one’s killer. Whether it is Amy’s mother sitting in the park gazing away from the camera or Emily, who doesn’t even remember her mother, sitting by the beach and staring at the sunset, both are facing away from the camera. Nobody’s front is seen (besides in interviews) until the episode starts to wrap up and the criminal is almost caught. What this says to me, as a viewer, is that until the crime was solved, the family and friends of Amy were forever going to be trapped, looking into the past for answers and not able to move on with their lives.

Both of these screenshots are incredibly melancholy. The first appears to be taken during a rainy day, which depending on who someone is, can be seen as either a sad thing or, more positively, a vision of rebirth. The second photo, I would assume would be taken as the sun comes down, which is the symbol of a completed journey. Although it seems melancholy, with all of the shadows predominantly seen in the photo, the symbolism is that of something finally being able to be put to rest. If it’s just the cold case or if it’s something grander, like Amy’s soul, something or someone is finally able to sleep.

This episode centers in on the detective who was able to solve the murder. This photo captures his immense emotion in finally being able to give the Weidner family the answers they so richly deserve. This particular screen shot came from a press release speech Carter was giving in response to finding Denk. This kind of picture goes back to giving people the opportunity to feel and consider the human condition without actually having to deal with the tragedy that can rip people apart. Carter is depicted as a strong white knight character that got the case randomly and solved it, not because it was his job but because he felt a need to help this family.

The law enforcement in the episode is shown through the 80’s video clips until the interview with Carter and the detective who had the case before Carter.

The picture below is of Amy’s friends standing over Amy’s grave. This kind of shot gives the viewers the sense that everything is going to be okay. The sun is rising in the distance and the clouds that had surrounded Amy’s mother in the picture above are beginning to dissipate. The flowers are beautiful and the grass is clean and green. Everything will be alright and the family will grow again, much like the greenery surrounding the two friends.

Law & Order: Perverted Justice

There are many aspects of this particular episode that leave the viewer frustrated at the ambiguousness. Thompson's daughter is impossible to trust. She is so malleable that the viewer is left wondering whether or not the defense did the right thing.
The crime was heinous. There is no doubt about that. Did it happen? No one can be certain except for the father. Even the mother is an untrustworthy source.
The criminal in this case was a perfect snake-in-the-grass. The victim believed him, but at the same time, didn't. She spoke against him and for him.
According to Surette's definition of an "ideal offender," Thompson was anything but. He was not an outsider, a stranger, a foreigner, an alien nor any other thing that might make him less believable.
Thompson's daughter, on the other hand, was an "ideal victim." At the time, she was a child. It seems as though she never moved on from that mindset.
The lawyers go into the case, believing they are righting a horrible wrong, but by the end of the episode, nothing seems quite right. Sure, they won the case. But did they release a guilty man?
The title of the episode, "Perverted Justice" is a perfect way to describe the frustrating job of a lawyer. On a good day, you put a bad person behind bars. On a bad day, a guilty person walks free. The justice in this episode is just as ambiguous as Thompson's daughter.
This episode fits into the idea that the crime was truly awful and made the viewer unnerved that justice was (or was not) served. The show moved through the whole aspect of the criminal justice system and allowed the viewer to watch and learn as lawyers did their dance to try and help their client. The ambiguous nature of the end gave viewers a glimpse into the realities of law and crime.
The episode connected with the ecology because it gave an ideal victim and a horrific crime. It did not fit because the criminal was more human than monster, as depicted by him teaching another prisoner to read (the bible) and as he teared up in his defense.