Law and Order: Controversy for Conversation
Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit, now in it’s 16th season, has opened the door to discussions of sexual assault and hate crimes in modern television, and their audience. The series follows a police squad at the Special Victim’s Unit in Manhattan, the center of focus being Detective Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay.
This series has offered a way into talking about difficult subject matter that America did not previously discuss on network television. When the series first aired in 1999 as a spin off of creator Dick Wolf’s successful series Law and Order, none of the other popular network shows discussed anything related to the topics SVU so boldly takes on. Popular television at this time included Friends, and Sex and the City, 1999 also marking the first seasons of The Simpsons and Family Guy. These were the shows that sold, the networks believed, so why should they make anything else? SVU was the first show to break out of that mold.
Wolf’s spin off series did much more than originally anticipated, not only in the role of what subject matter is allowed on television, but the role of women in Hollywood. Wolf originally cast Hargitay after extreme pressure to hire a female, as the original Law and Order featured only male main characters. Hargitay’s character, Olivia Benson, is portrayed as a powerful woman who does not let her personal life affect her work life. During this period most female characters on television were portrayed as sexual objects that used as plot devices to support the male characters, or to take their shirts off and act scandalously to increase the show’s ratings.
Many popular series now feature strong female leads, such as Grey’s Anatomy, Orange is the New Black, and Scandal, something that may have still been slow approaching were it not for the strides Hargitay has made. With Hargitay portraying this strong, female character, many younger girls were able to identify with her because they saw themselves in Olivia Benson more than say, Rachel and Monica from Friends. Benson is real, strong, and has had to fight to be accepted in a male-dominated workplace.
In October of 2014, in it’s 16th season SVU did what they do best; stage “ripped from the headlines” stories that starts a conversation. In this episode titled Holden’s Manifesto, a young man named Holden Chase uses a phone to record himself ranting about his lack of romantic interests, how often he is rejected, and the men who he deems “worse” than him who get all the girls he believes he should be getting. This story is not far fetched from an actual crime which took place near Santa Barbara, California earlier that same year. The real killer was named Elliot Roger. He posted a YouTube video entitled “Elliot Rodger’s Retribution,” where he recounted almost identical things to “Holden’s Manifesto.” Huffington Post describes the episode’s series of events as a scenario in which:
“Holden starts hunting down a series of pretty blonde acquaintances he obsessed over but who never noticed him. He quickly graduates from stabbing the women to killing them. The SVU detectives go all out to find him, eventually executing a search warrant on his apartment. They find Holden’s 100 page “manifesto” detailing all the injustices he believes he’s suffered.”
The actual series of events with Roger was slightly varied, as he began his killing spree in his apartment and proceeded to kill six people, and injure thirteen, in that day. However the parallels between the storylines are clear.
In the episode Holden writes a manifesto, just like Rodger who wrote one that totaled 100,000 words. In Roger’s he wrote:
“You girls have never been attracted to me. I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. It’s an injustice, a crime, because… I don’t know what you don’t see in me. I’m the perfect guy and yet you throw yourselves at these obnoxious men instead of me, the supreme gentleman. I will punish all of you for it. On the day of retribution I’m going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB. And I will slaughter every spoiled, stuck-up, blond slut I see inside there.”
The reaction to this episode was, expectedly, immense. People voiced their opinions on Twitter, using the hashtag #yesallwomen to lead their own conversations about patriarchal injustices and acts of violence or sexual assault. Emily Hughes (@emilyhughes), employed by Penguin Random House, chimed in:
“Because every single woman I know has a story about a man feeling entitled to access to her body. Every. Single. One. #YesAllWomen.”
Thousands of other people voiced their opinions as well, sparking a national debate about sexual violence and the stigmas and stereotypes that surround it. Law and Order is famous for the conversations it ignites in its audience, and how they are able to bring forth conversations about these topics that might not be held otherwise.
The show’s largest viewer population is females below the age of 18. Given it’s mature and at times, graphic nature, many wonder why people are so attracted to it, particularly youth. Maybe it’s because a large portion of the victims represented in this show are those in that age demographic. Violence against young people is a growing problem in modern culture. Maybe it’s because of this that SVU’s largest demographic is under 18, because they are the people who are experiencing some of these storylines first hand. The episode Holden’s Manifesto is a perfect illustration of this, and how the public will react. Actress and vocal women’s rights activist Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) also voiced her opinion:
“I shouldn’t have to hold my car keys in hand like a weapon & check over my shoulder every few seconds when I walk at night #YesAllWomen.”
This tweet was retweeted over six thousand times, and because it was from someone who has been in the public eye since her first big role in One Tree Hill, it was widely heard.
For sixteen seasons Law and Order: SVU has sparked conversations in the public about the crimes discussed in the show. Moving through cast members and storylines quickly, this show covers a wide range of topics, so much so that almost everyone can identify with at least one of the characters, even if they were just a three minute cameo. This show talks about the things people are uncomfortable discussing, and by doing so opens the door for these conversations to take place.
This piece is a review of the television series Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit. When I approached this topic, I was interested in the controversy surrounding both the age demographic of it’s viewers, as well as the role of women in television. That is what I sought to explore throughout this review, as I think that it’s a really interesting topic that isn’t discussed as much as it should be in our culture. There are many shows that feature women who are only there for sexual reasons to increase the ratings of the TV show. Law and Order was one of the original shows to fight against that stereotype, instead focusing the show around a strong female lead who doesn’t let her personal life get in the way of her work.
