People have committed crimes since the beginning of humans, the occasional selfish nature innate in humans ultimately leads to crime both violent and nonviolent. However, the media usually portrays criminals in a very negative way: for example, many times criminals will be all be portrayed as serial killers and rapists, and not as nonviolent individuals who may have only done something small. Many movies and TV shows neglect to notice that many people are in jail for miniscule drug use or illegal immigration, and not for mass murder or bank robbery. Many people believe in the hypervisible idea, as seen in many TV shows and movies such as Family Guy, that criminals are dangerous, deranged people when, in reality, the majority of criminals are
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Along with the extreme portrayal of the aloof prisoner, MacFarlane also depicts another prisoner who appears very strong and who Joe, the police officer, claims was “the most vicious killer [he] ever put away.” His physical features also corroborate his violent nature. For example, he has a big muscular body and arms, a tattoo on his arm with list of cops that put him away, his eyebrows are pointed down in an angry way and he always has an angry frown on his face. His large amount of strength and almost complete list of cops to kill in revenge both suggest that he has dedicated a large part of his life to gaining enough strength to kill police officers because he has a permanent list of them on a large tattoo on his forearm. His stern face adds to his portrayal of violent nature because it implies that he his continually angered by getting caught and he always wants to get revenge on who caught him. Along with bodily features, the inmate also goes up to Joe, Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire and says, “You and your friends are dead, you’re all dead!” This aggressive speech toward Joe’s group suggests that the serial killer is not only interested in Joe, who he has a reason to kill, but is also interested in killing all of Joe’s friends as well who have not done anything wrong. This portrayal of crazy, violent criminals can be seen frequently in media today as in Family …show more content…
The Bureau of Justice Statistics in its “Prisoners in 2014” report gave the percentage of criminals charged with certain types of crimes. The report states that fifty-three percent of criminals in state prisons throughout the United States were serving jail time for violent offenses. This statistic is much more representative of criminals in the United States because almost 1.4 million criminals are located in state penitentiaries whereas only about 200,000 criminals are located in federal prisons. Although the number of violent criminals in state prisons is higher than in federal prisons, it is still not as high as most media today would make it seem like. Since only half of criminals are truly in prison because of violent crimes only half at most should represent deranged people because only half of people in those prisons are actually violent. In Family Guy however, all of the people in Quahog Prison that are represented are either crazy or very violent. This discrepancy between the media and reality demonstrates the hypervisibility of criminals portrayed in a negative way. Although the national average for violent crimes across all the states is about fifty percent, in certain states it can be as low as 17% as it was in New York in 2014 according
Along with the extreme portrayal of the aloof prisoner, MacFarlane also depicts another prisoner who appears very strong and who Joe, the police officer, claims was “the most vicious killer [he] ever put away.” His physical features also corroborate his violent nature. For example, he has a big muscular body and arms, a tattoo on his arm with list of cops that put him away, his eyebrows are pointed down in an angry way and he always has an angry frown on his face. His large amount of strength and almost complete list of cops to kill in revenge both suggest that he has dedicated a large part of his life to gaining enough strength to kill police officers because he has a permanent list of them on a large tattoo on his forearm. His stern face adds to his portrayal of violent nature because it implies that he his continually angered by getting caught and he always wants to get revenge on who caught him. Along with bodily features, the inmate also goes up to Joe, Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire and says, “You and your friends are dead, you’re all dead!” This aggressive speech toward Joe’s group suggests that the serial killer is not only interested in Joe, who he has a reason to kill, but is also interested in killing all of Joe’s friends as well who have not done anything wrong. This portrayal of crazy, violent criminals can be seen frequently in media today as in Family …show more content…
The Bureau of Justice Statistics in its “Prisoners in 2014” report gave the percentage of criminals charged with certain types of crimes. The report states that fifty-three percent of criminals in state prisons throughout the United States were serving jail time for violent offenses. This statistic is much more representative of criminals in the United States because almost 1.4 million criminals are located in state penitentiaries whereas only about 200,000 criminals are located in federal prisons. Although the number of violent criminals in state prisons is higher than in federal prisons, it is still not as high as most media today would make it seem like. Since only half of criminals are truly in prison because of violent crimes only half at most should represent deranged people because only half of people in those prisons are actually violent. In Family Guy however, all of the people in Quahog Prison that are represented are either crazy or very violent. This discrepancy between the media and reality demonstrates the hypervisibility of criminals portrayed in a negative way. Although the national average for violent crimes across all the states is about fifty percent, in certain states it can be as low as 17% as it was in New York in 2014 according