The changing generic location of crime in film: a content analysis of film synopses, 1945-1991

Allen, J. E.

doi:10.1093/joc/47.4.89

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In our random sample of cinema films there did not appear to be any significant pattern of change in the extent of representation of crime. There is no clear trend for the proportion of crime films to either rise or fall, although there are many sharp fluctuations in individual years around this basic steady state (Allen, Livingstone and Reiner 1997). Crime has clearly been a significant concern of the cinema throughout the postwar period (and probably before that as well).…”

Section: Iv) the Changing Content Of Media Representations Of Crimementioning

confidence: 99%

Casino Culture: Media and Crime in a Winner–Loser Society (2001)

Reiner¹,

Livingstone²,

Allen³

2019

Crime and Media

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When the (capital) development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done.' John Maynard Keynes I) Introduction: From Riskophobia to Riskophilia-The Coming of Casino Culture Deviance, crime and control have become defining issues of our time. In Britain 'law and order' only became prominent party political matters in the final quarter of the twentieth century (Downes and Morgan 1997), but now crime, fear of crime, and competing policies aimed at containing them, are central to public policy debate. A pivotal part of the political success of New Labour in Britain was its 'tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' pledge. Labour's £250m.Crime Reduction Programme and the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act represent significant efforts to deliver on this, although views differ on the prospects of success. The rapidly shifting, increasingly ambiguous boundaries between 'deviance' and 'normality' are the storm-centre of raging 'culture wars', throughout the world. The conventional popular and political understanding of this is that we have-for disputed reasons-become beset by ever more numerous and ever more serious crimes. This is of course what the official crime statistics indicate. In Britain recorded crime has increased by an average of 5.1% per year since 1918, and recorded violent crime by 6.4% per year since 1947 (Home Office 1999:3). In 1999 the Home Office recorded over 5m. notifiable offences, ten times the 1950 figure and fifty times the pre-1920 level (ibid.:2). In the US although recorded crime rates are generally lower than twenty years ago, that still leaves them much higher than they were fifty or one hundred years ago (Currie 1998). The popular and political reactions to crime and justice are of course much more complex than a straightforward reflex of crime statistics. Perceptions of crime bear an extremely problematic relationship to any official statistical measures of crime rates, as the vexed debate about the 'rationality' and meaning of public 'fear of crime' demonstrates (Sparks 1992). In any event, as most criminology textbooks spell out, official crime rates are dubious reflections of trends and patterns in offending (Maguire 1997). The problematic nature of official crime statistics of any kind has tended to be ignored in recent debate, partly because of the hold of new realist perspectives. Even more

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Section: Iv) the Changing Content Of Media Representations Of Crimementioning

confidence: 99%

Casino Culture: Media and Crime in a Winner–Loser Society (2001)

Reiner¹,

Livingstone²,

Allen³

2019

Crime and Media

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“…Various units of analysis are employed including scripts, synopses, plot summaries and reviews; observers' notes on the narrative of the film may also inform the analysis. Allen et al (1997) attempts to identify the crime film using a corpus of plot synopses of all general releases in a period of 47 years, and provides a form of methodology appropriate to this study. Their choice of the film synopsis as the unit of assessment is related to the unavailability of many, particularly older, films, and the fact that, "determining whether it [the film] contains … content central to the narrative can be achieved with reasonable accuracy without viewing, provided sufficient descriptive information is available" (Allen et al, 1997, p. 91).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thanks are due to our colleague, Professor Melissa Terras, for sharing her text analysis on academics in children's fiction (Terras, 2017) and drawing our attention to the article by Allen et al (1997), which provided us with the model for our methodology.…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 4 The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A Study of the Organization Through the Lens of Popular Films of the Western World

Lomas¹,

Broughton²

2018

Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations

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Purpose-This chapter examines portrayals of the morality of organizations using the lens of Western films. The work explores six decades of film analyzing the organizational contexts and their agents, in order to understand film makers' and audiences' perceptions of organizational settings. Methodology/approach-In order, to examine the organization as an entity within film this chapter provides a content analysis of plot summaries from a purposefully selected body of top grossing box office films spanning 60 years. The plot summaries constitute a strong basis for identifying the characteristics of the organization as they are largely descriptive in nature, and as such do not offer any evaluation or analysis of the film. Any assumptions about the character of organizations (or their members/employees) are unconscious, and as such they constitute a verbal description of what competent observers would say has occurred within the film. The plots were coded to reveal perceptions of positive, neutral or negative organizational contexts and actions. Findings-This approach exposed the film makers symbolic placing of the organization in order to provide backdrops for the narrative. The plot analysis revealed that throughout the decades there has been a sophisticated portrayal in film of the role of the organization and the agents therein. A generally negative view of organizational contexts is demonstrated, with only religion and education showing as positive within the films selected. Research limitations and implications-It is recognised that there would be value in extending this research to analyze a larger body of works. The selection criteria resulted in a wide but not comprehensive corpus of film genres. The body of works was sufficient to reveal the complexity of attitudes to organizational values and delivery which has evolved through time. Different selection criteria and more substantial narrative text could serve to confirm these results. Further implications for future research are discussed. Social/Practical implications-Whilst in the real-life sphere there has been an emphasis on organizational standards and 'corporate governance' delivering ethical exemplars, the film contexts highlight the complexities of delivering trusted organizations. The reality that there remains the potential for organizational corruption is well understood by the general public and clearly depicted within the film world. Originality-The conceptual contribution is original as limited work has been conducted on the organizational context in films. This work reveals the possibility of using this approach to further develop a greater understanding of perceptions of organizations.

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“…A summary of content analyses in the US found the proportion of crime news to range from just over one per cent, to more than 30 per cent (Marsh, 1991). In the entertainment media, an average of around 25 per cent of US and UK primetime television programming, and around 20 per cent of film releases are crime-centred (Allen et al, 1997).…”

Section: The Nature and Extent Of Crime In The Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

7. Crime and media: understanding the connections

Greer¹

2013

Criminology

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INTRODUCTIONThe contemporary era -whether we term it the information society, the network society, the image world, postmodernity, or late modernity -is a fundamentally mediatised era. It is also an era in which high crime rates and high levels of concern about crime have become accepted as 'normal'. The rapid and relentless development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) over the past one hundred years has shaped the modern age, transforming the relations between space, time and identity. Where once 'news' used to travel by ship, it now hurtles across the globe at light speed and is available 24 hours-a-day at the push of a button. Where once cultures used to be more or less distinguishable in national or geographical terms, they now mix, intermingle and converge in a constant global exchange of information.Where once a sense of community and belonging was derived primarily from established identities and local traditions, it may now also be found, and lost, in a virtual world of shared values, meanings and interpretations. In short, the media are not only inseparable from contemporary social life; they are, for many, its defining characteristic. Understanding the connections between crime and the media is central to understanding the cultural place that crime and media occupy in our social world.This chapter is an introduction to the investigation of crime and media. My main aim is to present a summary of major themes and debates which have shaped the research agenda, but I also want to sharpen the focus of investigation on some less well rehearsed issues such as the changing global communications marketplace, the development of new media technologies, and the significance of these for understanding the connections between crime and media. The chapter is divided into four main sections. The first offers some background information and addresses the crucial question of why exploring media images of crime and control is important. The second section considers how scholars have researched crime and media, and presents an overview of the main findings. The third section discusses critically the dominant theoretical and conceptual tools which have been used to understand and explain media representations of crime. The final section considers the evidence for the influence of media representations, both on criminal behaviour and fear of crime. Finally, I will suggest some areas for future research. • Is it possible to discern a coherent picture of 'the crime problem' from the media and, if so, does this picture bear any resemblance to what we may claim, however tentatively, to know of the 'reality' of crime and and criminal justice?• Do the media merely reflect, objectively and impartially, what happens in the world, or are they active agents in socially constructing 'mediated realities' in which certain values, interests and beliefs are promoted, while others are downplayed, or even actively suppressed?• Do the media reproduce and reinforce prejudice and the stereotyping of marginalized groups, or ...

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The changing generic location of crime in film: a content analysis of film synopses, 1945-1991

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

Casino Culture: Media and Crime in a Winner–Loser Society (2001)

Casino Culture: Media and Crime in a Winner–Loser Society (2001)

Chapter 4 The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A Study of the Organization Through the Lens of Popular Films of the Western World

7. Crime and media: understanding the connections

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