Csi (1 Viewer)

[Twiggyy]

heyyy im using csi as a supplementary but im not sure if i should focus on the actual plot and how its a crime driven genre or more on the elements of crime :S
if someone could plz read it and giv me a few ideas it would be much appreciated!

btw im only focusing on one episode so i hope that's okay.

In recent times, the mystery has completely lost its spatial constraints and found fertile soil with the development of forensic science. The Jerry Bruckheimer series CSI: Las Vegas shines a spotlight a team of card-board crime scene investigators, both young and attractive, to unravel crimes. The Las Vegas milieu is a fine reflection of contemporary’s society’s infatuation with gambling, sex and drugs. The episode “Viva Las Vegas” juxtaposes the death of a low-town stripper and the murder of a high classed gambling tycoon thus making a statement on the widening rift between the poor and the privileged. The comprehensive re-enactments of each murder draw the responder into the horrific crimes with edited images of the “motel room at night” and “pink Cadillac in the garage”. Phrases like "peri mortem bruising" are pervasive with anatomical close up camera shots and detailed technological designs to “Concentrate on what cannot lie...the evidence”. Suddenly, instead of simply whodunit, solving crimes is a matter of howdunit, and with what size shoe, and whether anyone left behind traces of evidence that the blue light could pick up. Classical fiction tended to overlook the exact details of the murder. However csi takes the modern line of description, clearly visualising the gratuitous extent of each murder to reflect the desensitisation of contemporary crime. The csi franchise is a further manifestation of the crime genus where society is no longer immune to violence; thus the morally dedicated crusaders delve into societies evils at a fast and fierce pace. The enduring success of the genre lies largely in the detective’s explorations, where the responders can scrutinize the world close up, in all its darkness, depravity and danger without personally or physically suffering the consequences. Hence viewers of CSI apprehend their indecisive world from the comfort of their armchairs. Thus the CSI franchise has succeeded on its own merits due to the detectives, or rather blood spatter analysts and forensic entomologists, which have blended the old with the new. For the crime conventions of a murder, suspense, alibis, red herrings and suspects remains intact, but investigators now literally delve into the meat of the crime – the corpses.

 

[flamearrows]

Sounds pretty good to me - you've discussed the evolution of conventions well, and I think there's more than enough textual referencing in there to support what you've written. Here's what I've got on CSI - written as a response to 2003's essay question.

The television series CSI is a slick, almost sickening product of our fascination with our own morality, the voyeuristic exploration of the nature and fascination with crime. The episode Down the Drain utilises the device of the stormwater system providing a metaphor for the universal fear and preoccupation with crime – it lurks only metres from our doorstep. CSI’s unflinching visualisation of death shows that there is no implicit morality in the corpse, creating an emotionally dissociative effect in the mind of the responder by isolating violence and gore via technology – death is never seen unless viewed through one gadget or another. The coroner speaks to his apprentice, calmly applying a buzz saw to the ribcage of a teenage boy, blood splattering on his visor – “in the end, this is all we are”, rather morbidly reassuring the responder as to the handling of their own deaths. Hence, the series removes our omnipresent fear of death through the confrontation with evidence of our own morality, the sure and capable hands of the team effortlessly solving the intricacies of each case through a rather modernistic conception of technology. The visual medium of television allows the responder to immerse himself or herself in crime, the slick computer generated visuals of gunshot wounds and blood splatters an interesting echo of the golden age ideal of objective revelation. CSI has become almost an addictive phenomenon, the audience returning to their screens to see the weekly defeat of evil, the removal of the mystery and uncertainty of crime, hence demonstrating that the underlying constant of crime is retained despite subversion, allowing the series to retain engagement. The clearly allegorical nature of the show is demonstrated in the polarity of the presentation of the victim and the killer, the producers using film noir techniques to present the seediness of the suspect’s house, decaying furniture equivalent to decayed morality. This particular example uses visual techniques to position the responder to see society as an “us” and “them” battle – the resolute and focused faces of the CSI team in marked contrast to the psychotic emotion of the killer. The victim is invariably presented in an angelic light, their young and innocent faces glowing on the computer screen. The eventual defeat of evil underscores the allegory created, “[audiences] returning for comfort and solace” (Neale), demonstrating the appeal ultimately created by conforming to convention.

 

[Twiggyy]

heyy thanx 4 replying i was just worried i hadn't covered everything for csi btw ur response is tops!