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.