in which I have MASSIVE OPINIONS about Criminal Minds
So I absolutely adore Criminal Minds, and I am finally going to discuss it here! Because season 7 so far has been very interesting, in an awesome way, so yup you know what it's about time for me to talk up this show and maybe find anyone else who likes it #SHAME #NOTSORRY
First I must get this out of the way: it's a procedural crime drama. Yup. And that's fine with me. Personally, I love procedural crime shows. I think it's because I grew up watching Mystery! reruns with my mum and my gramma - Hercule Poirot, anyone? Perry frigging Mason? - and my grandmother loved all kinds of stuff like that; I think it stuck with me. Procedural crime shows are like my generation's version of Mystery!, just with more flashy intros and computers, and less canes and moustaches -- and even with the bad science, I'll take CSI over stuff like Friends any day of the goddamned year. (No offense intended to any Friends fans; that kind of sitcommy thing just isn't my personal cup of tea. I'm just saying that if I'm watching braindead TV to fill a void while I shovel dinner into my mouth, it's going to be something like CSI, or Without a Trace, or even Law and Order, before it's going to be Friends and Seinfeld and whatever.)
I actually really don't like a lot of TV, to be honest. I don't watch a lot of series and I don't see a lot of movies. But I honestly and shamelessly enjoy watching Criminal Minds, and while I'll never be one of those people who schedules their life around the evening their show's on, I'm ready to admit that I AM one of those people constantly reblogging photos of the cast members on Tumblr, and that I do try to keep up with it as well as I can. >.>
[hey, potential trigger warning - this discussion of CM talks about CM's content and material, which is some pretty bad people doing some pretty nasty stuff.]
[mostly spoiler-free, although casting decisions for S7 are mentioned]
The premise of Criminal Minds is a new take on the procedural crime setup - instead of solving crime cases through scientific evidence, it's a team of profilers who solve more emotionally-driven serial crimes by profiling the criminal, mentally/emotionally/psychologically. They delve into the minds of serial killers and rapists and discuss the whys and hows and statistics and comfort zones and triggers, and from there construct a profile and use it with the evidence to find the person responsible. The show itself is a fascinating commentary on the minds of criminals -- of course it's a TV show, and it's bound by its 1-hour time limit, its audience, and its need to stay interesting; just like CSI's science cut a bunch of corners, I am sure CM's analysis shaves off the less dramatic steps, and I'm not going to pretend for a moment I think it's terribly precisely accurate. But someone on the show is doing some research, at least.
The episodes are. Well. This is a fairly creepy show. It revolves around crime, yes, but it revolves around some of the most gruesome, grotesque, violent, and downright disturbing types of crime that there are, and it does so with an occasionally brutal glimpse into the kinds of shit you don't want to think about when you're home alone. It's not entirely gory (although there will be some blood and some beatings), and it isn't entirely horror (although there's also a lot of suspenseful horror-movie-type chase scenes, hunting-down type things, stalkers... you get it) -- it's very much psychological thriller material, and as intellectually creepy as it is flashy-filming creepy.
Some of the cases have been so disturbing, my mother refuses to watch the show anymore. (She made us leave the theater during Face/Off, though, because she was pretty disturbed at that too.) Some of them have given me nightmares. You really don't want to watch this show home alone at night -- except that you do.
There are two main things that I love about it, more than other shows. The first is the way that it looks at the unsub (unknown subject - the criminal). Sometimes the unsub is a disturbed individual with known mental problems, known diseases, things that can be categorized; sometimes they are a normal person who just snapped. Sometimes it's a black-and-white, good-and-evil kind of divide; in other cases, it's a hugely grey area, because bad things can drive people to do worse things, and it can be pretty easy to lose one's grip on reality. I love the way these muddy-grey-area cases are presented: when you can find some sympathy for the criminal, when you almost can't blame this person who did terrible horrible things. And I also love that they don't always do that -- that some people are presented as just evil, as just wrong, with no excuses or sympathetic defenses. I think the writing is really well done, because you can't tell when you're going to get that emotional gutpunch.
The second thing I love about it is the cast.
I've discussed before that it can be difficult for me to get into a canon, a source material of any kind, if it doesn't have some good strong female representation; I really dig on awesome lady characters, and it's much easier for me to get to the "frothing over everything" level with a source material when it has some cool gals to offer me - and likewise, it can be harder for something to hold my attention when it's all or mostly dudebased. This doesn't mean that I am Not Interested in stuff with guys in it - I have been and I will be again, and I do adore a lot of male characters, including the ones on this show - it just means that having neat lady characters to dangle in front of me ups the ante, quite a bit.
In my opinion this show pretty much hits lady characters out of the park. And it does that while having some of the most awesome male characters I have come across on a standard [stupid prime time cable crap] TV show in a long time. The characters, general, full stop, are awesome, all of them.
But there's no - no subtle divisions or anything. Prentiss goes into the field and gets the shit kicked out of her face just like everybody else. JJ is a mother, but it's part of her character, not her defining point - and Hotch is a dad, too, and his son gets more screen time than JJ's. They both still get to shoot people and run around houses. Garcia may not have a gun, but woman might be the baddest and most dangerous BAMF on the entire team with her ridiculous computer skill-set. And everyone on the team has their weak moments - on a job like this, I think everyone suffers somewhat. But it's never a 'weak woman' thing, because it happens to everyone, and it ties back into their characters and personalities.
And to add onto that, there's the issue where last season, CBS did not re-sign contracts for either of the two main female 'leads' -- and the internet pretty much exploded. Now, I am not going to say I am a big fan of TV networks. But CBS listened to the fans, and resigned both actresses, and Prentiss and JJ are back on the show. I think in a sea of awful conglomerate decisions, that was a tiny little point of making things right and awesome, and I applaud them (while I withhold judgment on everything else they do). I find it pretty cool.
I'm not really fannish in this fandom because - well, I don't know; I'm really only fannish for video games for whatever reason. And it isn't a show with any real romance or relationships in the plot*, so that combined with my omnishipping preferences mean I'm not entirely shippy either (although I do have my preferences, of course). But I think not being entirely fannish about it is okay -- I'm not sure what I'd want to write (other than the obvious PWP), but I enjoy watching it and I sure obviously enjoy talking about it.
*seeing as it's a case-driven show and the romance-y sides aren't at the forefront, I also can't say much about its representation of homosexual relationships. I continue to hope that one of the characters is revealed eventually as not heterosexual. I will say, however, that the M-M, M-F and F-F non-romantic relationships and friendships on this show are some of the strongest, most intimate, and most passionate platonic relationships I've seen on a show - I guess that's what happens when your life is in someone else's hands. (and this makes it pretty easy to ship basically anyone that you want. *g*)
Well, I've been writing this around like 4 separate meetings today, it is probably time to post it whooooooooooooops
WHO HAS SEEN THIS SEASON (REID WILL CRUSH YOU) LET'S TALK
This entry was originally posted at http://seventhe.dreamwidth.org/282737.html, which has
comments. Comment there (with OpenID) or here, it's all good.
First I must get this out of the way: it's a procedural crime drama. Yup. And that's fine with me. Personally, I love procedural crime shows. I think it's because I grew up watching Mystery! reruns with my mum and my gramma - Hercule Poirot, anyone? Perry frigging Mason? - and my grandmother loved all kinds of stuff like that; I think it stuck with me. Procedural crime shows are like my generation's version of Mystery!, just with more flashy intros and computers, and less canes and moustaches -- and even with the bad science, I'll take CSI over stuff like Friends any day of the goddamned year. (No offense intended to any Friends fans; that kind of sitcommy thing just isn't my personal cup of tea. I'm just saying that if I'm watching braindead TV to fill a void while I shovel dinner into my mouth, it's going to be something like CSI, or Without a Trace, or even Law and Order, before it's going to be Friends and Seinfeld and whatever.)
I actually really don't like a lot of TV, to be honest. I don't watch a lot of series and I don't see a lot of movies. But I honestly and shamelessly enjoy watching Criminal Minds, and while I'll never be one of those people who schedules their life around the evening their show's on, I'm ready to admit that I AM one of those people constantly reblogging photos of the cast members on Tumblr, and that I do try to keep up with it as well as I can. >.>
[hey, potential trigger warning - this discussion of CM talks about CM's content and material, which is some pretty bad people doing some pretty nasty stuff.]
[mostly spoiler-free, although casting decisions for S7 are mentioned]
The premise of Criminal Minds is a new take on the procedural crime setup - instead of solving crime cases through scientific evidence, it's a team of profilers who solve more emotionally-driven serial crimes by profiling the criminal, mentally/emotionally/psychologically. They delve into the minds of serial killers and rapists and discuss the whys and hows and statistics and comfort zones and triggers, and from there construct a profile and use it with the evidence to find the person responsible. The show itself is a fascinating commentary on the minds of criminals -- of course it's a TV show, and it's bound by its 1-hour time limit, its audience, and its need to stay interesting; just like CSI's science cut a bunch of corners, I am sure CM's analysis shaves off the less dramatic steps, and I'm not going to pretend for a moment I think it's terribly precisely accurate. But someone on the show is doing some research, at least.
The episodes are. Well. This is a fairly creepy show. It revolves around crime, yes, but it revolves around some of the most gruesome, grotesque, violent, and downright disturbing types of crime that there are, and it does so with an occasionally brutal glimpse into the kinds of shit you don't want to think about when you're home alone. It's not entirely gory (although there will be some blood and some beatings), and it isn't entirely horror (although there's also a lot of suspenseful horror-movie-type chase scenes, hunting-down type things, stalkers... you get it) -- it's very much psychological thriller material, and as intellectually creepy as it is flashy-filming creepy.
Some of the cases have been so disturbing, my mother refuses to watch the show anymore. (She made us leave the theater during Face/Off, though, because she was pretty disturbed at that too.) Some of them have given me nightmares. You really don't want to watch this show home alone at night -- except that you do.
There are two main things that I love about it, more than other shows. The first is the way that it looks at the unsub (unknown subject - the criminal). Sometimes the unsub is a disturbed individual with known mental problems, known diseases, things that can be categorized; sometimes they are a normal person who just snapped. Sometimes it's a black-and-white, good-and-evil kind of divide; in other cases, it's a hugely grey area, because bad things can drive people to do worse things, and it can be pretty easy to lose one's grip on reality. I love the way these muddy-grey-area cases are presented: when you can find some sympathy for the criminal, when you almost can't blame this person who did terrible horrible things. And I also love that they don't always do that -- that some people are presented as just evil, as just wrong, with no excuses or sympathetic defenses. I think the writing is really well done, because you can't tell when you're going to get that emotional gutpunch.
The second thing I love about it is the cast.
I've discussed before that it can be difficult for me to get into a canon, a source material of any kind, if it doesn't have some good strong female representation; I really dig on awesome lady characters, and it's much easier for me to get to the "frothing over everything" level with a source material when it has some cool gals to offer me - and likewise, it can be harder for something to hold my attention when it's all or mostly dudebased. This doesn't mean that I am Not Interested in stuff with guys in it - I have been and I will be again, and I do adore a lot of male characters, including the ones on this show - it just means that having neat lady characters to dangle in front of me ups the ante, quite a bit.
In my opinion this show pretty much hits lady characters out of the park. And it does that while having some of the most awesome male characters I have come across on a standard [stupid prime time cable crap] TV show in a long time. The characters, general, full stop, are awesome, all of them.
But there's no - no subtle divisions or anything. Prentiss goes into the field and gets the shit kicked out of her face just like everybody else. JJ is a mother, but it's part of her character, not her defining point - and Hotch is a dad, too, and his son gets more screen time than JJ's. They both still get to shoot people and run around houses. Garcia may not have a gun, but woman might be the baddest and most dangerous BAMF on the entire team with her ridiculous computer skill-set. And everyone on the team has their weak moments - on a job like this, I think everyone suffers somewhat. But it's never a 'weak woman' thing, because it happens to everyone, and it ties back into their characters and personalities.
And to add onto that, there's the issue where last season, CBS did not re-sign contracts for either of the two main female 'leads' -- and the internet pretty much exploded. Now, I am not going to say I am a big fan of TV networks. But CBS listened to the fans, and resigned both actresses, and Prentiss and JJ are back on the show. I think in a sea of awful conglomerate decisions, that was a tiny little point of making things right and awesome, and I applaud them (while I withhold judgment on everything else they do). I find it pretty cool.
I'm not really fannish in this fandom because - well, I don't know; I'm really only fannish for video games for whatever reason. And it isn't a show with any real romance or relationships in the plot*, so that combined with my omnishipping preferences mean I'm not entirely shippy either (although I do have my preferences, of course). But I think not being entirely fannish about it is okay -- I'm not sure what I'd want to write (other than the obvious PWP), but I enjoy watching it and I sure obviously enjoy talking about it.
*seeing as it's a case-driven show and the romance-y sides aren't at the forefront, I also can't say much about its representation of homosexual relationships. I continue to hope that one of the characters is revealed eventually as not heterosexual. I will say, however, that the M-M, M-F and F-F non-romantic relationships and friendships on this show are some of the strongest, most intimate, and most passionate platonic relationships I've seen on a show - I guess that's what happens when your life is in someone else's hands. (and this makes it pretty easy to ship basically anyone that you want. *g*)
Well, I've been writing this around like 4 separate meetings today, it is probably time to post it whooooooooooooops
WHO HAS SEEN THIS SEASON (REID WILL CRUSH YOU) LET'S TALK
This entry was originally posted at http://seventhe.dreamwidth.org/282737.html, which has
comments. Comment there (with OpenID) or here, it's all good.