Why Do We Glamorize Murder in the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Why Do We Glamorize Murder in the Media - Essay Example Public surveys reveal that 95% of general population refer mass media as a primary source of their information about any crime.2 It implies that media and other people construct reality in a way or the other. Here, the question arises about the content media is disseminating about crime. Media is certainly not portraying the fact alone, but a combination of facts and fiction. It sensationalizes, dramatizes, and glamorizes what must be condemned and demeaned. This paper tries to explore people's fascination and media's glamorization of murder. Oscar Wild has identified American fascination with murder in 1982 when he said, "Americans certainly are great hero-worshipers, and always take their heroes from the criminal classes."3 Murder has become culturally accepted within today’s society. Phrases like â€Å"it’s a dog eat dog world†, â€Å"killing two birds with one stone† or simply â€Å"I could kill him† (when annoyed at a partner) are entwined into our everyday language. Though the meanings are not... Even television programs show murder as indifferent. The hero of the story can kill the bad guy, or commit murder and then do a heroic thing and the original wrong doing can be forgotten by all. In the Old Testament, Moses murdered an Egyptian slave-master, then supposedly went on to do many great things and became a corner stone for Islamic, Jewish and Christianity religions. How do we rationalize killing someone? Over 87% of a core group of surveyors said â€Å"justification† is the difference between killing and murder. We are happy to live our own lives excepting that people die at the hands of other as long as it is justified. In the face of brutal and hideous crimes society try to characterized the reasoning of such criminals. Often when no apparent conclusion can be established, the association with madness is almost immediate. It is a natural defence mechanism within our conscience that one wants to believe that t he criminal had to be crazy otherwise the crime would never have been committed. People try to comprehend and explain something that if it were not justified by the madness would be too disturbing to think that a "rational" human being could execute such brutal and hideous crimes. Murders are considered bad or good based on the justification provided. Regardless of the horrors associated, murder remains coloured by perpetrator's subjectiveness in devising strong judgement to entitle his or her behaviour as radical. It is evident that media understand these judgements; therefore, they treat murder as an intense experience needing dramatization. Popular media sources engineer their presentations in a certain way that implies murder as an instant, convenient, and absolute solution to problem.4 Typically, we don't care much about murder, but what makes it really significant is: when the victim is well-known; the number of victims is shocking; murderer is exceptionally wealthy or attract ive; or method of murder is horrifying and beyond our imaginations. The very moment such incident takes place people take notice and follow each step closely. The process starts with the reporting and revelation of crime details, more shocking the details more interest is piqued. With the revelation of crime evidence, we try to know from every media source possible. Media prolongs the coverage to arrest, trial, verdict, civil trials, and every bit of information behind crime. Even after the murderer's conviction and sentence, the story does not end, it takes several forms and major actors of the crime are casted in widely different stereotypical roles. As time passes, these shocking stories of crime are represented in the form of books, comics, fictional programs,