Police Brutality, Over-Policing, and Mass Incarceration in African American Film (original) (raw)
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Cultivating Police Use of Force Perceptions through Cinema: Maintaining the Racial Divide
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society, 2019
This study draws on Robert E. Park's writings regarding the impact of cinema on acculturation and James Baldwin's extensive reflections on the role of entertainment media in promoting the racial divide in the United States. Public opinion studies following the Trayvon Martin case and others reveal a racial divide regarding decisions to not charge or acquit officers. Research has shown that most members of the general public have no personal knowledge of both the criminal justice system and other races. Therefore, opinions are largely dependent on knowledge garnered through the media. Cultivation theory postulates that long-term exposure to specific media messages can result in subjects adopting specific opinions. Before a cultivation effect can be determined, the messages conveyed must be identified. This exploratory first step cultivation theory analysis examines municipal police officer use of force scenes in the first 40 years of the core cop film genre leading up to the killing of Trayvon Martin. A total population of 112 films was systematically identified, and all 468 police use of force scenes contained within the genre served as the units of analysis. Each scene was examined to determine depiction patterns and messages conveyed based on the race of officer. Findings revealed that White officers were overwhelmingly represented in use of force scenes, while minority officer scenes were isolated to specific years and films. Findings also demonstrated a dependence on a White officer's presence when minority officers used force on Whites. The historical origins and role of such depictions in cultivating current public perceptions of use of force are discussed.
2017
Crime dramas are one of the most popular genres in film and television history. For over 100 years, American audiences have watched depictions of the conflicts that occur between cops and bad guys, and sometimes between cops and cops, or bad guys and bad guys. In the early days of film, the most common role of police officers was that of the bumbling fool who was there to serve as a laughingstock for the audience, and to serve as both a set-up and a punchline for the protagonist. But what happened when people were asked to take onscreen police officers more seriously? And what happens when lines between worlds fictionalized and real begin to blur? This research explores the evolution of the police drama from the series that invented the genre in the 1950s to the one that deconstructed and revolutionized it in the 21st century, and it particularly looks at the roles that race and racism played in the changing nature of this genre. It examines how African Americans are represented in crime dramas and looks at the way that these television shows replicate or challenge stereotypes that suffuse American media and popular culture. Sometimes the shows acted as a mirror to reflect the broad national view. At others, they were intended to serve as a gadfly to instigate change. Type
On and Off Screen:Race in Buddy Cop Films
2020
both Lethal Weapon and Men in Black have a white and Black buddy while Rush Hour has a Black and Chinese buddy. Though the interracial buddy cop film offers many opportunities for racial commentary, films in this genre with buddies of the same race or with two characters from differing non-white races provide similar experiences related to racial issues, especially with the formation of racial stereotypes. To contextualize the importance of race in these films, and in the larger context of Hollywood, I provide an overview of Blacks in early film and theater. Specifically, the current study will: 1) examine the histories of Blacks in cinema and racism in Hollywood, 2) introduce buddy films, 3) provide a review of relevant literature, 4) conduct an analysis of seven buddy cop films, and 5) discuss the findings of this study as well as address the implications of buddy cop relationships as they relate to the current events of police brutality that disproportionately impact black males.
The Criminological Cultivation of African American Municipal Police Officers
Race and Justice, 2014
African American municipal police officers have been historically underrepresented and often face a double marginalization, arguably due to fellow officer and public perceptions. This study represents a first-step criminological cultivation analysis of the quantity and quality of African American municipal police officer depictions in the core cop film genre (1971–2011). Utilizing the unified film population identification methodology, 112 films were identified and examined to determine the overarching messages conveyed through the genre. Findings revealed that White officers were depicted in the lead or joint leading role in 89% (n ¼ 100) and African Americans in 19% (n ¼ 21) of films. However, White officers were predominantly depicted in a serious light unless sharing the lead with a minority, while African American officers were predominantly depicted in a comedic light. Further, the issue of double marginalization was rarely depicted. The potential implications of these portrayals on officer recruitment, retention, and perceived law enforcement legitimacy are discussed and second-step criminological cultivation studies to determine if a cultivation effect exists are proposed.
Say Their Names: Filmed Encounters Between Black Americans and the Police
There is a line of reasoning shared by police officials, police unions, legislators, and civil rights organizers that supposes that videos of the police behaving badly will naturally lead to reform. This is the logic that fuels expensive body camera programs, like the ones implemented by the NYPD, LAPD, and Department of Justice. However, the idea that surveillance in the hands of the state can be somehow emancipatory is laughable. To equate the footage of Rodney King or Eric Garner with footage taken from police cameras is to fundamentally misunderstand the nuance that images express. Existing social vulnerabilities migrate seamlessly into new technologies, and photography’s dominant mode is to reinforce, not resist, existing structures of power.
"Break the Rules, not the Law": Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series
Comunicação e Sociedade, 2022
Since the 1950s, the institutional police series have been among the most popular productions on US television. Through the reiteration of the "us versus them" mentality, police officers are fictionalized as normative agents who uphold "goodness", while crime is portrayed as a moral and individual flaw of the criminal. Not only do these productions recurrently ignore systemic problems in US society, which are used to explain crime in the real world, but they also reinforce the authority of the institution as the force capable of maintaining the status quo. From the perspective that these series act in the construction and mediation of meaning about the role played by real-world police institutions and their members in society, we structure the text around two main arguments: (a) TV series reinforce the police institution's authority, treating its actions as unquestionable and, most importantly, allowing real-world institutions to interfere in their fictionalization processes; (b) TV series normalize police brutality, with narratives often justifying violent acts as an efficient investigative tool, illustrating norms and bureaucracies as major impediments to the police officer's work. By framing ethical and human rights violations as efficient and necessary acts, these series contribute to normalizing some of the dirtiest aspects of the profession.
The Criminological Cultivation of African American Municipal Police Officers: Sambo or Sellout
African American municipal police officers have been historically underrepresented and often face a double marginalization, arguably due to fellow officer and public perceptions. This study represents a first-step criminological cultivation analysis of the quantity and quality of African American municipal police officer depictions in the core cop film genre (1971–2011). Utilizing the unified film population identification methodology, 112 films were identified and examined to determine the overarching messages conveyed through the genre. Findings revealed that White officers were depicted in the lead or joint leading role in 89% (n ¼ 100) and African Americans in 19% (n ¼ 21) of films. However, White officers were predominantly depicted in a serious light unless sharing the lead with a minority, while African American officers were predominantly depicted in a comedic light. Further, the issue of double marginalization was rarely depicted. The potential implications of these portrayals on officer recruitment, retention, and perceived law enforcement legitimacy are discussed and second-step criminological cultivation studies to determine if a cultivation effect exists are proposed.
The main purpose of this paper is to examine the representation of black masculinity in four popular Hollywood movies. In the first part of the paper, the key terms and analytical points are developed, based on the relevant literature from the fields of cultural, film and media studies, African American studies and black feminism. A special emphasis is placed on the transition from a stereotype of the " Black Buck " , a common on-screen representation of a violent, vengeful, highly sexual black male to the " Black Hero " , created in the Blaxploitation movies and further developed in more recent movies. The four movies that are closely analyzed are Sergio Corbucci's Django from 1966, Gordon Parks's Shaft from 1971 and their contemporary adaptations, Shaft (2000), directed by John Singleton and Django Unchained (2012), directed by Quentin Tarantino. One of the tasks of the research is to examine how the stereotype of a violent black thug has been deconstructed and modified in more recent movies to usher the " Black Hero " character.
Manufacturing white criminals: Depictions of criminality and violence on Law & Order
This study examines exposure to the police drama television genre and its impact on perceptions of crime and racial criminality. Content analyses of three seasons of Law & Order were examined to evaluate the show’s portrayal of race and crime compared to actual crime statistics for New York City during the same periods. A survey was also conducted to examine perceptions of personal safety and the influence of television’s depiction of race and crime. Results suggest whites are disproportionately portrayed as criminals five to eight times more often on police dramas compared to actual crime statistics for the city of New York, exposure to police dramas increases beliefs of threats to personal safety, and exposure to police dramas leads to elevated perceptions of white criminality among non-whites. Results provide additional support for cultivation theory and “Mean World Syndrome,” and implications for delimitation and racial distrust.