Realistic and Non-Realistic Actions Taken by the Actors - Movie Review Example

Section/# CSI Episode Analysis: "De Los Muertos” Introduction and Synopsis: This particular episode of CSI begins as do many episodes of this well-known crime; with the body of a young woman being dropped shortly after she was murdered and subsequently discovered by police investigators. As a means of creating an interesting television show, the writers intersperse a series of dead-end leads into the story so that the viewer is left guessing as to who the murderer might be loaded might exist. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the young woman had some form of involvement with a particular house of prostitution on the outskirts of town. As the show progresses, it becomes clear that one of the prostitutes has a certain level of first-hand knowledge concerning the young woman in the way in which you might’ve been killed. As it turns out, this young prostitute is in fact the sister of the girl who was murdered and his daughter of a woman was responsible for prostituting. The initial scenes of the episode illustrate what seems to be a functional and loving conservative evangelical Christian mother and father that are distraught over the loss of their daughter. However, as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that the veneer of normalcy is only just that. Ultimately, the mother of the daughter is slowly revealed as a coldhearted killer that is been prostituting both of her daughters for a number of years in exchange for a great deal of money. It is the hope of this analyst that the following discussion will be beneficial not only with respect to understanding the television showed a deeper level but with regard to understanding the levels of realism and non-realism that are represented merely continually within such TV shows. Realistic and non-realistic actions taken by the actors: There were a number of realistic and nonrealistic actions that were taken by the main characters. Obviously, some of the reasons for these nonrealistic actions being depicted was not due to the fact that the writers, producer, or director were unfamiliar or uneducated with the way in which crime scene investigation actually takes place, it had to do with their desire to represent a more compelling, fast-paced, and emotional storyline that would engage the interests of the viewers. However, regardless of the ultimate reason behind depictions of non-realism, the following section will be concentric upon analyzing two of these and denoting how they would have been exhibited if they were in fact performed realistically. The first of these has to do with the representation of the way in which evidence is handled. From the opening scene at the parking lot of the brothel, the police officers/investigators began combing through the bushes and analyzing aspects of the surrounding area that might give clues with respect to the young woman’s parents. However, tried and true approaches to evidence handling and non-contamination are ignored; as both actors are shown without a camera, without protective gloves, and without carefully searching an entire area prior to moving on to the next. Furthermore, when a flyer is found in the bushes that matches the same flyer that was found on the young murder victim’s car, is picked up with unloved hands and presented to the other policeman as potential evidence (Turnbull, 2010). Naturally, the rules of evidence indicate that this should never take place in all evidence should be handled in a manner that ultimately seeks to preserve whatever material or information is represented within the evidence without contaminating (Lane, 2001). Another unrealistic, opponents of the television show had to do with the way in which evidence was collected and analyzed pertaining to the broken glass that was found embedded within the feed of the murder victim. Although it is true that evidence found on the murder victim could be used as part of the investigation, the manner through which the investigators engaged with this particular piece of evidence and purportedly used it within a relatively brief time frame is both unrealistic and nonexistent. For instance, the investigators retrieved a small piece of purple tinted glass from the knee of the murder victim. However, rather than stopping there and considering all of the alternatives that could be presented with respect to this particular situation, the investigators quickly concluded that the source of the glass must have been topic area bottle that had a certain diameter; based upon the curvature of the glass. Furthermore, the investigators went even further and illustrated a database of all glass bottles made in the early 19th century to the viewer as proof of the way in which police investigatory tools could be utilized to date and define/determine where a particular piece of glass originated (Zhu, 2014). Naturally, such a database does not exist and if it did would require that tens of millions of gigabytes of information would be accessible to each and every local law enforcement office throughout the entire nation. The logistics of this as well as the cost of putting a database similar to this together ensures that the representation which is made within CSI is nothing short of scientific fantasy (Jermyn, 2013). Without an actual physical sample, such a determination could not be made. In the real world, it would be necessary for the police to find a similar piece of broken glass at the crime scene impacted the one that was found on the victim; not vice versa. Conclusion: From the information that has thus far been presented, it is clear and apparent that certain logical flaws exist within this particular episode; especially concerning the way in which evidence is represented and the manner through which the police. However, CSI is not the first television crime drama to represent unrealistic police actions and indicate that the powers of investigation are somehow above the law and/or do not require standards or processes to evaluate. It is further understanding of this particular viewer that the misrepresentation of the way in which evidence is collected and the nearly omnipotent power that law enforcement represents within such shows helps to erode a level of understanding concerning the way in which proper police procedure takes place and prosecution of criminals is affected (Slater & Jain, 2011). References Lane, P. J. (2001). The Existential Condition of Television Crime Drama. Journal Of Popular Culture, 34(4), 137. Jermyn, D. (2013). Labs and slabs: Television crime drama and the quest for forensic realism. Studies In History & Philosophy Of Biological & Biomedical Sciences, 44(1), 103-109. doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2012.09.006 Slater, M. D., & Jain, P. (2011). Crime Programs and Realism. Criminal Justice Quarterly, 26(1), 94-103. doi:10.1080/10410236.2011.527625 Turnbull, S. (2010). Crime as entertainment: The case of the TV crime drama. Continuum: Journal Of Media & Cultural Studies,24(6), 819-827. doi:10.1080/10304312.2010.510591 Zhu, T. (2014). ‘Television crime drama’. Continuum: Journal Of Media & Cultural Studies, 28(2), 226-234. doi:10.1080/10304312.2014.888044 Read More