I was recently on a business trip, between meetings, shuffling through channels in a Hilton. This is basically the only time when I’m still seeing a DirecTV-style TV guide anymore. Maybe on a Delta flight, but I don’t fly them very often. There was a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit event happening on USA which made me smile because I have been re-watching SVU episodes on business trips since the early 2000s. This is a long-lived show. In the last few years, I’ve also listened to a few episodes of the SVU-related podcast That’s Messed Up, in which the hosts interview someone who was featured in an episode of the show, then share the actual case that the show was based on, then give some resources for people who have experienced similar issues. My daughter and I have also joked that Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is her second mother.
There is also criticism of the show that says it’s “cop-aganda,” designed to make the police look better than they really are, to foster trust in a system that fails people over and over, and to lull victims into a false sense of security when in reality, they are more likely to be retraumatized by encounters with the “justice” system. Most cops don’t behave this way, these critics say. There are not many Olivia Bensons out there, they caution. They are most certainly right. The fact that the #metoo movement went viral only after an admitted sexual assaulter was elected (grab ’em by the p*ssy = sexual assault), nearly two decades after SVU debuted in 1999, points to the validity of this criticism. The show, along with some other cop shows (including the mostly silly comedy Brooklyn 99) addressed this problem of valorizing the police post-George Floyd, including a scene in which a black man who is birdwatching is accused by a white woman, and the detectives immediately assume she’s telling the truth, which she is not. Their error leads them into problematic policing that delays justice, and it shows that our “heroes” are maybe not always heroes after all. They have to reckon with the possibility that their biases are causing them to victimize innocent people.
I have noticed over time that Law & Order (all the franchises) have changed with the times. Things that cops used to think were a gray area, such as so-called date rape or acquaintance rape, are now considered pretty mainstream. Questions about whether sexual images shared between minors make someone a sex offender and what penalties are appropriate have arisen in response to real-life cases of kids having access to ever-changing social media platforms. The rights of LGBTQ victims and whether hate crime statutes apply, all of these are addressed over three decades. If you watch an earlier episode, you can actually see the change in how we understand these types of crimes and how victims are supported (or not) by the legal system.
Some of these changes are legal, but shows like Law & Order (which are all based on real-life cases) reflect the existing laws and policies. They don’t directly create or advocate legal changes. They don’t submit policy briefs. They influence our understanding of these types of crimes and how the legal system either supports or fails victims, but they often present an idealized version of how the law “should” work, with well-trained, well-meaning detectives who put the victim first. That part is certainly aspirational. This type of show models what is possible in the current framework. It shows us the best case scenario in terms of how the police interact with the public. It is an idealized version of the current system. That’s a very conservative approach to effecting change through media depictions: tell the best case version of how it might work today. If it doesn’t work that way, well, those were bad apples or exceptions.
SVU has actually influenced culture in some pretty substantial ways that become very apparent if you watch early episodes and then watch later ones. Viewers of the show:
- tend to have a better understanding of sexual consent
- are less likely to accept rape myths
- are more likely to take sexual assault seriously
- connect harmful behaviors with consequences, creating an expectation of justice
In addition, the show has directly tackled some important gaps in the system. Mariska Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation to support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. She also raised funds to process over 11,000 untested rape kits which led to dozens of serial rapists being identified as well as thousands of cases being solved. This led to other ripple effects in police departments in how they handle evidence in rape cases.
Another show that presents an idealized version of how things could work is Star Trek. In a Star Trek future, planets create alliances and learn to work together. The society is post-capitalist. Science is done for the sake of improving lives, not for profit. Racial conflicts that occur are presented conceptually without delving too deeply into the true horrors that can occur. It’s a hopeful vision of what we could create if we listen to our better angels.
That’s one way to drive toward a better culture, but there are other methods. A great example of a show that is a gritty, realistic reckoning of how the police system cannot achieve justice is The Wire. Each season is an essay that shows the failure of the system. No matter the intentions of those involved, the outcomes can never overcome the various ways in which the system is utterly broken. This type of show is more of a wake-up call, forcing a moral confrontation with the failures of the system. It creates more pressure and urgency to address the injustices of the system. You can’t just have slightly better behavior of those in the system–the system still doesn’t work. It’s not designed to create justice. It’s designed to fail. The downside to this approach is that it can create a sense of despair and cynicism. People feel too burned out to even try to fix issues. It feels exhausting. The show doesn’t tell you how to fix anything. It explains clearly and deeply why nothing works.
Which brings us to a third type of show: dystopian. Handmaid’s Tale provides this type of cautionary storytelling, showing that if unchecked, the forces that want to oppress others are just below the surface, waiting to come into power. Author Margaret Atwood wrote the novel this series is based on during the Reagan administration when she was alarmed at the desires of the religious right to compel women back into a role of servitude, reducing them to their reproductive and caretaking abilities, and stripping them of fundamental rights like holding a job, being paid for work, the right to divorce, and the right to say no to sex. The show illustrates a vision of the future that is based on the vision of the religious right if left unchecked (in her story, they obtain control over the nukes and take over the majority of the country). They immediately undo social progress and reinstate a patriarchal vision that enslaves all women and girls, and privileges a handful of religious elders over everyone else. The men also have to operate in this militant hierarchy if they want to succeed and be allowed to marry and have a handmaid to impregnate. Those in power live in the houses of those they conquered, living off the wealth of the previous society.
These three approaches are probably all necessary on some level in order to create cultural change.
| Show | Emotional Effect | Cultural Role | Best At | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SVU | Reassuring, empathetic | Norm modeling | Teaching how it should work | False comfort |
| The Wire | Sobering, bleak | Structural diagnosis | Explaining why it doesn’t work | Paralysis |
| Handmaid’s Tale | Fearful, urgent | Moral alarm | Showing where this leads | Despair / shutdown |
I thought it would be interesting to see which approach works best psychologically depending on where you are politically. Conservatives who are persuadable or moderate do best with a show like SVU. The show reinforces some ideas that are important to conservatives:
- Good cops exist
- Rules matter
- Justice is possible when good people act honorably
This allows conservatives to accept the critique without feeling attacked, and to absorb better knowledge (consent, trauma, accountability) without having to swallow the word “progressive.” They can imagine that the idealized version is reality, and over time, reality can come closer to this version through modeling. Shows like The Wire and Handmaid’s Tale often backfire. The Wire’s implication that institutions are fundamentally broken is hard for conservatives to accept. Shows like Handmaid’s Tale are hard for conservatives to accept in that they pretty openly state “people like YOU enable this kind of tyranny.” Liberals tend to be more comfortable with systemic explanations offered by shows like The Wire and Handmaid’s Tale.
This reminds me of the age-old argument about people staying in the church to be a force for good, or choosing to leave in order to vote with their feet (or tithing dollars). Are LGBTQ youth better off because there are adults in the church who are allies, even if the teachings are harmful to them? Personally I think so, but I also think the church is ultimately going to fail them in the same ways the pre-1978 church failed black people (not that it’s been great for black people post-1978). Conservatives will mostly not accept the critique and will feel attacked if the systems and institutions are being criticized.Being an example of acceptance is probably better than arguing or calling out bad behavior.
But then again, everyone’s only got one life to live. There are congregations out there that are even worse for women, minorities and LGBTQ youth, and there are only so many hours in a Sunday. Maybe it’s not your job, and maybe it ultimately doesn’t matter what you do.
- Have you noticed these three types of approaches in TV shows? Which do you like best? Are there some you dislike?
- Do you think it’s important that allies remain in the church to protect kids and create more acceptance?
- Have you noticed the influence a TV series has had on culture over time?
- Have you seen a change in how cop shows portray policing in the years since George Floyd’s murder?
Discuss.
Wheat & Tares 