Assault on the Small Screen

Representations of Sexual Violence on Prime Time Television Dramas

Molly Ann Magestro

Over the last few decades, television programs have attempted to depict some of the more troubling elements of society with a more conscientious approach. Issues that networks were once reluctant to broadcast—such as sexual abuse, sexual assault, and rape—have become frequent plot points for many popular shows. Narratives that portray important social issues could potentially affect the ways individual viewers understand such incidents in the real world, so it is important to pay close and critical attention to the stories about rape that are broadcast to mass audiences.

In Assault on the Small Screen: Representations of Sexual Violence on Prime Time Television Dramas, Molly Ann Magestro examines the ways in which police and legal dramas on network and cable channels portray rape narratives. In this discussion, the author focuses on eight successful shows—NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Dexter, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife. Each chapter offers a close reading and analysis of how one or more of the shows represent rape narratives and rape victims in ways that more or less address feminist understandings of rape and rape culture. The arguments in each chapter explore the specific narrative content of individual series rather than a single critical approach. Each of the eight shows considered within the book is the focus of its own argument, as the representations of rape narratives on television are as complex as issues surrounding rape can be in the real world.

In a time when rape narratives are frequently making headlines, taking the time to examine and understand the messages broadcast by a medium as ubiquitous as television serves an important role in developing an understanding of rape culture. A significant step toward this understanding, Assault on the Small Screen will be of interest to scholars of film and television, media studies, gender studies, criminology, and sociology.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 206 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5397-1 • Hardback • July 2015 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4422-5398-8 • eBook • July 2015 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Violence in Society

Assault on the Small Screen

Representations of Sexual Violence on Prime Time Television Dramas

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Over the last few decades, television programs have attempted to depict some of the more troubling elements of society with a more conscientious approach. Issues that networks were once reluctant to broadcast—such as sexual abuse, sexual assault, and rape—have become frequent plot points for many popular shows. Narratives that portray important social issues could potentially affect the ways individual viewers understand such incidents in the real world, so it is important to pay close and critical attention to the stories about rape that are broadcast to mass audiences.

In Assault on the Small Screen: Representations of Sexual Violence on Prime Time Television Dramas, Molly Ann Magestro examines the ways in which police and legal dramas on network and cable channels portray rape narratives. In this discussion, the author focuses on eight successful shows—NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Closer, Rizzoli & Isles, Dexter, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife. Each chapter offers a close reading and analysis of how one or more of the shows represent rape narratives and rape victims in ways that more or less address feminist understandings of rape and rape culture. The arguments in each chapter explore the specific narrative content of individual series rather than a single critical approach. Each of the eight shows considered within the book is the focus of its own argument, as the representations of rape narratives on television are as complex as issues surrounding rape can be in the real world.

In a time when rape narratives are frequently making headlines, taking the time to examine and understand the messages broadcast by a medium as ubiquitous as television serves an important role in developing an understanding of rape culture. A significant step toward this understanding, Assault on the Small Screen will be of interest to scholars of film and television, media studies, gender studies, criminology, and sociology.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 206 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5397-1 • Hardback • July 2015 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4422-5398-8 • eBook • July 2015 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Violence in Society

Author

Molly Ann Magestro, Ph.D. in creative writing, teaches writing at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One “She Got Herself Raped and Killed”: Victim-blaming and Silencing on NCIS
Chapter Two “Don’t Tell Her She’s Lucky”: Teachable Moments on Criminal Minds
Chapter Three “She’s evidence”: Becoming a Victim and Personal Experience with Rape on CSI
Chapter Four “Does Anyone Think Rape Isn’t a Major Crime?”: Female Cops and Rape Narratives on The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles
Chapter Five “As Damaged as Me”: Rape, Revenge, and Dexter’s Women
Chapter Six “These Are Their Stories”: Olivia Benson as Victim on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Chapter Seven “Separate Yet Equally Important”: Prosecuting Rape Narratives on Prime Time
Chapter Eight “If It Forces You to Prosecute”: The Good Wife and Helping Victims Take Back Their Voice
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

Magestro takes an in-depth look at the way eight top-rated television crime dramas—NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Closer, Rizzoli and Isles, Dexter, Law and Order: SVU, and The Good Wife—portray the undeniably heinous crime of rape. She points out that public opinion is somewhat driven by what is seen on television and some shows—Law and Order: SVU among them—present more realistic scenarios than do others. The author studied each show to see what percentage of episodes contain rape story lines, noting that some of this is dictated by the nature of the show. She analyzes each show’s development, citing differences in characters’ attitudes and empathy regarding rape and variations in rape narratives within the shows. . . .[T]he book is well written, and the detailed analysis leaves no doubt that the author thoroughly researched the topic. A solid resource for women’s studies, criminology, and sociology as well as media studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.
— Choice Reviews