A private military contractor CEO, William Rand, was found almost naked drugged and raped. The NYPD discover Donald O’Keefe and capture him without any resistance. He said finally. He said his daughter Kory O’Keefe had been gang raped by the soldiers on duty with her on a private military base in Iraq. The SVU team went to a civilian bread factory where Kory worked after her service in the military to investigate the lead when she explained to the team that some of her fellow comrades had raped her. She explained that she did have a rape kit but that no one followed up on her case and it was completely disregarded and lost. The SVU team knew they had to try very hard to crack this case because William Rand was very powerful and he could not easily be prosecuted. Joe Marshall was the powerful contractor’s right hand man who was involved with Kory, who eventually gives the SVU team all of the information they need to catch Rand. The team constructs up a plot to catch William Rand and eventually they are able to arrest him and get to the bottom of the rape case and corruption that occurred in Iraq.
As with every episode, I will be discussing the representation and portrayal of African Americans in the television show, Law and Order: SVU. This episode had slightly more representation of African Americans than a usual episode of Law and Order SVU but still, not realistic to the number of African Americans in the a real world population. Other than Joe Marshall who was a villain however, there were not a lot of prominent African Americans. Any other African Americans that were featured in this episode were solely featured in the background of the episode. When the team went to question Kory at the bread factory, there is a blurred figure in the background, who is a male African American worker. This ties to the concept of romantic racialism because African Americans are wanted in the sphere of a white centered space, yet they are only wanted to a certain degree. When there are hardly any African American characters deliberately placed in the script, yet they are placed in the background, it shows how African Americans are feminized and marginalized. The audience can tell that they are there but when they are blurred, then it perpetuates in the minds of the audience that that is how it is supposed to be. They are meant to be there and they are wanted there but they cannot be the center of attention because it would disturb the white domination.
In conclusion, this episode is like many Hollywood television series episodes and has little representation of African Americans. Romantic racialism is the concept at hand here because if there did happen to be a higher representation of African Americans in this episode, they would be used for entertaining purposes. Since they were only seen blurred out in the background, it means that they are necessary in the shot but they cannot be the focus. The image at the very beginning of this post shows how African Americans were portrayed (for the most part) in this episode and the image right below it shows President Washington and his family around the dinner table with his African American Slave in the background. What similarities do these images have and what has changed since the time of the first American president?
As with every episode, I will be discussing the representation and portrayal of African Americans in the television show, Law and Order: SVU. This episode had slightly more representation of African Americans than a usual episode of Law and Order SVU but still, not realistic to the number of African Americans in the a real world population. Other than Joe Marshall who was a villain however, there were not a lot of prominent African Americans. Any other African Americans that were featured in this episode were solely featured in the background of the episode. When the team went to question Kory at the bread factory, there is a blurred figure in the background, who is a male African American worker. This ties to the concept of romantic racialism because African Americans are wanted in the sphere of a white centered space, yet they are only wanted to a certain degree. When there are hardly any African American characters deliberately placed in the script, yet they are placed in the background, it shows how African Americans are feminized and marginalized. The audience can tell that they are there but when they are blurred, then it perpetuates in the minds of the audience that that is how it is supposed to be. They are meant to be there and they are wanted there but they cannot be the center of attention because it would disturb the white domination.
In conclusion, this episode is like many Hollywood television series episodes and has little representation of African Americans. Romantic racialism is the concept at hand here because if there did happen to be a higher representation of African Americans in this episode, they would be used for entertaining purposes. Since they were only seen blurred out in the background, it means that they are necessary in the shot but they cannot be the focus. The image at the very beginning of this post shows how African Americans were portrayed (for the most part) in this episode and the image right below it shows President Washington and his family around the dinner table with his African American Slave in the background. What similarities do these images have and what has changed since the time of the first American president?