Response to Nancy Grace Effect by Marina
Matt,
First off, I loved that you called this the "Nancy Grace Effect" because that should be a term that is applied to overly exaggerated and nuanced individuals who perpetuate more problems than there are in truth. But aside from that, I agree with the premise of your argument and the role media plays in high profile cases. I made a similar comment on another classmate's post in regards to the way our media, no matter through what medium, shapes and affects our mindset when we hear or read about different events. It's interesting that you used The Crisis as a comparison point for examining headlines. When I was reading through different issues of The Crisis, I noticed that the headlines about killings of African Americans were not attention grabbing and more simplistic. What's more, the articles that talked about death were placed right next to sales ads or daily items that were being posted, and not a stand alone article. I brought up in a former post of mine why this seems to be the case and if the articles talking about deaths of black people were done so because it was an acceptance of the reality of white power and oppression over black individuals.
In regards to looking at how Bigger was represented in newspaper headlines throughout his escape and subsequent capture, Wright's portrayal of Bigger by the media heightens the "hype" surrounding the case and in turn caused mass protests outside of the courtroom, as you pointed out, the "Nancy Grace effect." I believe that Wright's usage of this idea brings to light the danger of our society using stereotypes to describe people in certain situations and how detrimental racism is. Not to say that Bigger's killing of the women should be lessened by any means, but to make him appear more dangerous and wild than what he really is plays into the idea Wright was so willing to present to his readers of young, black male stereotypes.