Crime Drama
Crime drama has become one of the most popular television genres within oursociety, taking up almost 20% of prime time. They appeal to their audience by dealingwith themes and issues the viewers are aware of through their engagement with newsand current affairs. Just as important as the themes and issues it deals with are thevalues and attitudes presented and the view of the world it offers. The ideologiespresented usually reflect those of their target audience. The target audience for crimedrama is usually teenagers to adults. Sexual abuse and SARS are current themes andissues in both Australia and America. These are explored in Blue Heelers and Lawand Order. When these texts are examined it is clear that the representation ofcharacters and setting, constructed through the use of film language, play an integralrole in engaging the audience with the themes and issues.Characters in all television dramas are constructed to reflect different values andattitudes, which are held by different people within society, towards certain issues.This can be seen in Blue Heelers, through the protagonist Jo Parish, who representsthe values held by a contemporary female police officer, and the values held by most
Setting is vital in crime drama as itputs everything into context, enabling the audience to engage in text. This can be seen when she is in the police station and makesreference to churches and other institutions involving the sexual abuse of minors. By creating characters the audience can relate to, they are morelikely to engage in themes and issues presented. The character of Jeremy challenges the target audience whenafter he is charged with sexual abuse claims, "it was her fault, she was the one comingonto me," reflecting his lack of remorse and the different ideologies Jeremy holds. It is also a place where the plot is moved along, and new information presented. For example, the detectives try to convince the perpetrators wife to tellthe truth about her husband's whereabouts on the night in question. In both Blue Heelers and Law and Order the police station is quite cluttered. Bycreating such characters the writers of the text have created a wider scope of theideologies held by people for their viewers. From this, the audience can draw that Parish feels strongly against people takingadvantage of their position of authority regarding sexual abuse. We, as an audience, are positioned to believe thatthe husband is guilty. Bysetting the scene, the viewrts are better able to relate to the themes and issuesoccurring as it shows where they are most prevalent. In Blue Heelers for example, weare introduced to the criminals house via a long shot, the house looks like anyordinary home, this portrays the idea that sexual predators appear to be normalmembers in society, and that we can never really tell. Themes and issues are what make up the foundation of a crime drama. Thehome appears to be of quite lower class, representing the idea that most criminalscome from lower class backgrounds.
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