Law and Order: SVU Providing Opinions and Desensitizing Viewers

For 14 years Law and Order: Special Victims Unit has become a household name. The series is one of the longest running series throughout television and is still running. It is hard to turn on the TV, regardless of the time of day, and not see Law and Order airing on some channel. Over the years Law and Order: SVU has become extremely graphic in their portrayal of sex related crimes. Many viewers believe it is way too much to be aired on cable television, especially since many of the episodes portray real-life, highly publicized stories. With that being said, it brings up the debate of whether or not Law and Order: SVU is providing opinion that influences thinking about the topic and/or if it is desensitizing viewers to the issue at hand.

In the beginning of each Law and Order: SVU episode it notes that the storyline is not based off of any actual event, however, many may disagree. Several episodes have followed similar sequences to highly publicized events. There have been episodes mimicking the cases of Casey Anthony, Trayvon Martin, Rihanna and Chris Brown, Paula Deen and many more, in which we have all heard of. With Law and Order using these cases it definitely brings up different opinions to viewers, especially recently when they intertwined the Trayvon Martin and Paula Deen scandal into one episode (Ogul). The storyline for this episode was “a high-profile celebrity chef who shoots and kills an unarmed teen in a hoodie on the Upper West Side because she thought she was being pursued by a rapist. The character claims self-defense because she knew the detectives were after a rapist who fit the description” (Harnick). In the Paula Deen scandal she was accused of being racist, where the boy in the episode was black, and resembled Trayvon Martin. According to the Huffington Post "It was really interesting to see people read that script and have different interpretations about who did what and whether or not they deserved prison for it. It was fascinating" (Harnick). Going off of that, it brings up different interpretations amongst viewers, which sparks different opinions. Some may cope with Paula Deen and feel as if she was in the right and should have been scared for her life, others may have sided with Trayvon Martin as they saw his family suffer with the death of their innocent son. 

On another note, it is obvious television viewers are so susceptible to violence on television to the point where it is more than common to watch shows featuring violence. This generates the other matter; whether or not Law and Order is desensitizing its viewers to the issue at hand. From personal experience, as an avid viewer of Law and Order, I can say my tolerance of the gruesomeness has increased significantly. At first, I would have to cover my eyes whenever a gruesome scene was on, now I can watch the most unpleasant acts of violence without blinking. In the beginning, I was always so much more emotional when something graphically horrific was shown, now it has grown on me, and it is something I look to be more and more gruesome each episode thereafter. The more you watch violent acts on television the more it “causes a psychological saturation or emotional adjustment to take place” (Kumar). With that being said the more viewing allows for more acceptance and less apprehension. Similarly, studies have proved how much of an impact violence on television has on viewers. According to Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience “continued viewing of violent TV shows and movies blunts the brain’s responses and desensitizes the viewer’s emotional responses” (Kumar).

Since it is clearly a proven fact, in more ways than one, the more that people view violence the more they are able to tolerate it, which is why Hollywood tends to amp up the violence factor. Grossman relates violence on television to nicotine in cigarettes. He notes that just like nicotine, the more someone adapts to a certain level of “high” the stronger of a “high” they want. So, in this case, for Hollywood to succeed they must produce a stronger level of violence to keep ratings high and give viewers a stronger level of “high.” As most people can agree, when something is becoming ordinary and routine, most want something more riveting and exciting to happen. Hollywood has taken that notion and ran with it, think about crime TV thirty years ago and compare it to now. Things are much more violent without a doubt, not only in television but video games, and the big screen as well (Grossman).

Bringing the two notions together, I agree with both. First, I agree that each episode of Law and Order: SVU, especially the ones portraying highly publicized events bring up different opinions through the viewers. There are issues brought up whether viewers believe the verdict of the actual highly publicized issue is accurate, it also brings up whether or not the viewers believe the episode portrayed the issue accurately, and it also considers whether the viewers opinion on the actual issue changed or stayed the same after observing the Law and Order episode. Overall, Law and Order: SVU definitely provides opinion that influences thinking about the topic, especially by bringing up issues that viewers have heard about. As long as you do not live under a rock every American has heard about the Casey Anthony case, the Trayvon Martin case, and the Rihanna and Chris Brown incident, which have all been reenacted into a Law and Order: SVU episode. With these nationally known controversial topics it allows viewers of the show to reiterate their opinions they had of the topic before viewing the show and after viewing the show. The writers of Law and Order are obviously doing something right, they are getting people to talk about the episodes as well as succeeding in the development of their show, as they are still standing on cable television after 14 years.

Finally, although Law and Order: SVU is still successful after all these years, and for the most part, the program follows the same development of each episode; it is still desensitizing viewers. Going off of that the series is based off of the New York Police Department Sexual Victims Unit, which obviously must start off pretty graphic, as sex crimes are one of the most gruesome acts of violence. Since the show has succeeded for over 14 years, it has to adapt to its viewers. No one would continuously watch the show if it showed the same level of violence in 2013 as it did in 1999, times have changed and violence is more susceptible to the home of viewers. Crimes have developed significantly since 1999, so the show must adjust with time and viewers to succeed. Overall, the producers of the show have caught on to the ways in which Hollywood must succeed, generate ratings, and maintain a household name. Law and Order: SVU is something we all have heard of and is something that is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Works Cited

Grossman, David. "Violence on TV Research - TV Bloodbath: Violence on Prime Time     Broadcast TV - A PTC State of the Television Industry Report." Violence on TV            Research - TV Bloodbath: Violence on Prime Time Broadcast TV - A PTC State of the Television Industry Report. Tim Madigar, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.     <http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/publications/reports/stateindustryviolence/main.asp          >.

Harnick, Chris. "'Law & Order: SVU' Tackling Paula Deen Controversy With Cybill          Shepherd." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 24    Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/law-and-order-svu-         paula-deen_n_3794435.html>.

Kumar, Janani. "TV Show Violence Does Cause Viewers to Feel Anxious | The                              Burlingame B." The Burlingame B. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.       <http://theburlingameb.com/home/2013/03/08/tv-show-violence-does-cause-          viewers-to-feel-anxious/>.

Moraes, Lisa De. "Controversy Erupts over ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Casting Guest-star        Mike Tyson." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 24             Oct. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/controversy-  erupts-over-law-and-order-svu-casting-guest-star-mike-   tyson/2013/01/24/762d31d6-665a-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_blog.html>.

Ogul, David. "'SVU': Trayvon, Deen Stories Turned Into 'Law & Order' Episode."             Newsmax. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.             <http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/svu-trayvon-deen-      episode/2013/08/22/id/521821>.