Analyse the representations of the ‘law’ in the two extracts from ‘The Wire’ and ‘A Touch of Frost.’

Analyse the representations of the ‘law’ in the two extracts from ‘The Wire’ and ‘A Touch of Frost.’

By analysing the representations of the law in the two extracts from ‘The Wire’ and ‘A Touch of Frost,’ it is noticeable that the media industry tries to re-present individuals, groups, events and issues in a realistic light so that we assume that they are normal or true. Media industries use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. They expect the audience to think of stereotypes as a ‘visual shortcut.’ Producers and directors create stereotypes for a number of reasons; these might be as a quick reference, shortcut to information about a character, audience familiarity and comic effect. However, these representations can change over time.

In TV drama’s cops and detectives are represented as being intuitive, they think logically and the majority of them are honest people. They are intelligent people as they attempt to solve crime puzzles and hunt down the criminals in an effort to send them to prison. When it comes to crimes being committed in shows, due to the accuracy of many shows they often try to mirror the real police force or detectives. The police are seen as authority figures that have a high status over other people. Citizens associate the police with protection and safety, but if they are represented in a negative light, it might impact reality as viewers may make judgements and start to doubt how efficient the police force is.

There are two types of TV crime drama’s these are ‘one-off’ crime dramas which focuses on the kinds of crimes which create anxiety and trepidation among the viewing public. What is more is that they are distinguished by aspects of law enforcements that they focus on, for instance a police inspector, a lawyer and a team of detectives. On the other hand, long running TV crime drama’s will include a variety of sub plots throughout each episode which over time help to build up and increase their audience interest in the relationships between characters and the narrative of the episode. An example of this may be the detective in ‘The Wire.’ The character sets up representations of gender and the experience he has of being a successful, logical detective in a male dominated work force. Additionally, what most scriptwriters tend to include is a range of personal narratives to go alongside his detective work so that the character is represented as being ambitious and high achieving in the work force but is unfortunate in his personal life. On the other hand, ‘A Touch of Frost’ is another popular TV crime drama, which portrays the detective as someone who often fails to ‘close the deal’ on potential relationships he could have. These examples help the viewing audience to understand the debate regarding the quality of British TV crime drama in relation to the success of American shows which are now being imported onto our screens. Both ‘The Wire’ and ‘A Touch of Frost,’ are all attempts to rebrand previous successful crime dramas rather than investing and creating a brand new drama production which could become unsuccessful or in some cases axed.

Some media critiques put forward the idea that some media representations of crime and law usually create five key points, these being: Crime/The Police, Criminals/The Criminal Justice System, Lawyers Versus Courts, Social Workers versus the police and Victims versus the public. Each TV crime drama can be analysed using this system so that the audience are given the opportunity to understand how each programme represents law and crime differently and how it can portray a copy of reality.

In ‘The Wire’ and ‘A Touch of Frost,’ the scriptwriters tend to have a different sub plot running in a different episode every week. This allows the audience to get to know the characters well and to let them sympathise and empathise with the characters. Additionally, both dramas create an ‘archetype’ this is where the ultimate stereotype is created. For instance, we are often shown the police force breaking the laws/rules in order to capture the criminals and escort them to prison. What is more, is that the police are continually being portrayed as being the good guys with the exception of having a ‘bent cop’ involved amongst the team.

However, in the two extracts of ‘The Wire’ and ‘A Touch of Frost,’ the law is clearly represented in the opening scenes. In ‘A Touch of Frost,’ the episode establishes the characters so we receive a better understanding of who they are and what they are about. It also establishes the setting, mood, sub-genres, themes and ideologies. What is more, is that it introduces and gives the audience clues as to what the narrative might consist of and what scenarios could occur throughout the series. Additionally, it becomes clear to the audience that whilst Frost works as part of a team, he is the leader. Whilst he is older, he is still active and experienced. He is very much respected by his colleagues. The final scene in the title sequence illustrates Frost gazing into the camera and smiling at the audience, this allows us to feel connected to the character. He knows and accepts that we are on his side and we understand that he is on our side also. In ‘The Wire,’ the detective is portrayed as acting sympathetic with the witness, this suggests to the audience that the detective wants the witness to understand that he can trust him and open up to him. Again, the scene establishes the characters so we receive a better understanding of who they are and what they are about. It introduces and gives clues of the narrative, including the law so that the audience are aware of their role and what they may end up investigating throughout the remainder of the series. In addition, the police are presented in the background of the scene to illustrate that they are investigating the death of a male adult. The use of an ‘over the shoulder’ shot behind the detective and witness displays this. In the opening scene a variety of camera shots have been used, for instance a ‘close up’ and a ‘medium shot’ in order to focus the audiences’ attention on the drugs, the death of a person and their blood. By incorporating these shots it begins to introduce crime and the danger which occurs on the streets in America. Moreover, the main detective in the scene begins to talk in the same lingo as the witness so that they can communicate better with one another. He begins to mirror the witness’s body language so that the witness believes that the detective understands his lingo. This a different ideology compared to ‘A Touch of Frost.’ As soon as the opening scene begins the detective immediately begins to question the witness on what events lead up to the death of the male adult. He always refers back to what the witness said when answering the detective’s question. An example being, “Let me understand you, every Friday night you and your boys would go and shoot crap, right? And every Friday night your pal snot bogey would wait until there was cash on the ground and grab the money and run away. You let him do that?” Furthermore, it is noticeable that the editors used ‘cross-cutting’ in the episode as the scene skips between the conversation between the detective and the witness and then the camera shot changes so that it focuses on the dead body of the victim whom they have been discussing.

As a final point to my essay, it became evident that in ‘A Touch of Frost’ the title sequence illustrates murder and crime scenes. Whereas in ‘The Wire,’ it depicts drugs and crimes as well as highlighting the use of wires which is used as a device to listen in on other peoples conversations. Besides, the audience is invited to see the world from a police perspective – due to the use of point of view shots. However, as police dramas are becoming more successful and popular it is becoming clear that there is a growing realisation that sometimes the police can in fact and often do get things wrong.