“Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series
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 f...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cs, |
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| Hauptverfasser: | , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | Anglais |
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Comunicação e sociedade
2023
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| Online Zugang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:cs_7979 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:cs_7979 en https://journals.openedition.org/cs/7979 2023-02-02T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/eyre https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ “Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series Comunicação e sociedade Centro de estudos de comunicação e sociedade info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2183-3575 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1645-2089 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cs Meimaridis, Melina Quinan, Rodrigo televisão instituições ficcionais séries policiais brutalidade policial television fictional institutions police series police brutality 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. Desde a década de 1950, as séries institucionais policiais estão entre as produções mais populares da televisão estadunidense. Por meio da reiteração da mentalidade do “nós versus eles”, policiais são ficcionalizados como agentes normativos que defendem o “bem”, enquanto o crime é retratado como uma falha moral e individual do criminoso. Além dessas produções recorrentemente ignorarem problemas sistêmicos da sociedade estadunidense que são utilizados para explicar a criminalidade no mundo real, elas também reforçam a autoridade da instituição como detentora da força para manutenção do status quo. Partindo da perspectiva que essas séries atuam na construção e mediação de sentido sobre o papel desempenhado pelas instituições policiais do mundo real e de seus membros na sociedade, estruturamos o texto em torno de dois principais argumentos: (a) as séries reforçam a autoridade da instituição policial, tratando suas ações como inquestionáveis e, mais importante, abrindo espaço para intervenções das instituições policiais do mundo real nos processos de ficcionalização das mesmas; (b) as séries normalizam a brutalidade policial, com narrativas frequentemente justificando atos violentos como uma ferramenta investigativa eficiente, ilustrando normas e burocracias como grandes empecilhos ao trabalho do policial. Ao enquadrar as violações éticas e de direitos humanos como atos eficientes e necessários essas séries contribuem para normalizar alguns dos aspectos mais sujos da profissão. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
televisão instituições ficcionais séries policiais brutalidade policial television fictional institutions police series police brutality |
| spellingShingle |
televisão instituições ficcionais séries policiais brutalidade policial television fictional institutions police series police brutality Meimaridis, Melina Quinan, Rodrigo “Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series |
| description |
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. |
| author |
Meimaridis, Melina Quinan, Rodrigo |
| author_facet |
Meimaridis, Melina Quinan, Rodrigo |
| author_sort |
Meimaridis, Melina |
| title |
“Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series |
| title_short |
“Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series |
| title_full |
“Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series |
| title_fullStr |
“Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series |
| title_full_unstemmed |
“Break the Rules, not the Law”: Normalizing Brutality and Reinforcing Police Authority in US Series |
| title_sort |
“break the rules, not the law”: normalizing brutality and reinforcing police authority in us series |
| publisher |
Comunicação e sociedade |
| publishDate |
2023 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cs |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/cs/7979 |
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1877292906492985344 |