Clip Analyzing

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gq-qex3fwSI

Television now days have grew to be very controversial with major representations in certain areas such as race, gender, and social class. My semester topic, CSI: Miami is overflowing with stereotypes in which labeling specific groups and certain individuals have been taken to the next level. I found that every episode has pushed the issue of classifying folks whether it is from the clothes they are wearing or to the cars they are driving. The clip that I have chosen depicts the various issues we have been discussing, and is the perfect episode to see the vast differences in society and how producers hide their message with a simple play by play.

When the video begins there is a shot of the Miami Beach line, and then it skips to females playing volleyball on the sand. As it continues, the camera scans the audience toward young, white, beautiful, females in their bikinis. Meanwhile, the producers made it a point to show you who were playing on the sand, but no other then the famous female duo of Walsh and May. Finally, it shows Detective Eric Delko and one of his co-workers walking along side the game when just so happens Walsh dives for a ball and notices a dead body buried in the sand. Seeing that there was an issue Delko called Horatio (the head detective) and reported the incident, as the day continued the crime scene investigators arrived and continued to do their job. The video concludes with Delko finding evidence and Alexx Woods (the coroner) examining the body.

Continuing on and with that being said, I will carry on by discussing the overt message of the actual clip. Within every television show there is always a message that the producer is trying to get across, whether it is blatant or hidden. Seeing how the show starts out by showing a volleyball tournament being held in Florida, it only correlates to the fact that around the same time that this show was being aired, Misty May and Kari Walsh were competing in an actual competition down south as well. I feel that the two women were aired in this specific episode is due to publicity on their behalf and wanting some sort of media coverage. The clip also consists of the same set up as summer vacation targeted toward young college kids. As for hidden messages I would say that there were many “advertisements” for various products from scene to scene. For example, there were the Wilson sporting goods, Speedo, Nautica, Chanel, and finally the Blackberry telephone. If I was a third party and did not look deeper into the fact that there are subliminal messages throughout the episode I would not truly notice the fact that companies advertise their product within other cultural viewings.

Besides the fact that there are hidden products there are also stereotypes that are being portrayed in the show as well. I say this because the dancers that were on the stage consisted of majority African American females and Hispanic beauties, where as the white, athletic women were on the sand playing volleyball. Then there is the scene were Delko gets into a confrontation with a young, athletic, male who acts immature, like most college males. I feel that the producer was trying to use him as a demonstration as to how most summer males act with the opposite sex. Furthermore, the age stereotype came into play when Delko and the other officers were wearing nice suits and covered head to toe in clothing, revealing no part of their body. On the other hand, the young women that held a conversation with officer Delko seemed to be very young and only wearing a bikini top and shorts. The elders were portrayed to be much more sophisticated then the younger crowd who only wanted to have a good time. In conclusion, I do feel that the stereotyping is intentional because the producers always have an objective and a point to get across, and obviously they wanted to have each character do what they do for a reason. In some ways I do find the clip very offensive because I do not feel that certain groups should be singled out for their race or ethnicity.

Therefore, when analyzing this clip I took into effect what John Storey was saying about the West Coast counterculture. At that time in society middle class cultural groupings – hippies, yippies, freaks, heads, flower children, student radicals, etc attempted to created an alternative society, almost exactly what college kids and teens are attempting to do as well. For the simple fact that in today’s society there are distinct groups such as jocks, rockers, Goths, geeks, bandies, and preps. Many people are classified under different grouping but they all have one thing in common, the age difference from there parents in which they pride themselves for. So no matter how someone is classified everyone has one thing in common with one another.

All in all, I feel that producers and advertisers alike should try not to single out any specific groups when filming an episode or endorsing a product, because everyone sees the true meaning behind what they are doing.