Not How It Works
Jan. 23rd, 2014 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteSo there's a... meme? Theme? Recurring trend? That I've been running across lately on tv, and it bugs the heck out of me.
It happens in cop procedural shows, and heist/caper shows, where one of the heroes is a gruff, tough, rugged cop/vigilante with a Not-so)-secret gooey caramel heart. Somewhere in the B plot of the episode, our hero notices a woman or child who is clearly being abused by some asshole, but there's not enough proof for actual legal action, and the victim can't or won't leave the abuser or turn them in.
So our hero, unable to legally do anything, corners the abuser. He (it's always a he, in my experience) may physically assault the abuser; he may just trap him physically. And he puts the fear of God and bodily harm into the abuser, making it clear that he (the hero) is fully aware of what the abuser is doing, and that if the abuser ever so much as lifts a finger against his victim again, our hero will be watching and will beat the everloving crap out of the abuser, and possibly kill him.
And our viewing audience is left cheering and uplifted, celebrating the idea that a bully has been put in his place, a victim has been rescued, and justice has been served.
Except... that's not how it works in the real world.
Abusers and bullies aren't the same thing. One may grow up to be the other, but abuse is a lot more serious. And an abuser isn't going to suddenly have an Ebenezer Scrooge-style turnaround just because a square-jawed hero tells him he'll punch him if he doesn't. If they were the type to change that easily they wouldn't be repeatedly beating their dependents in the first place.
Moreover, the abuser isn't going to blame the hero; once they have to face the shame and fear of the threat they're going to blame the victim, and take it out on them. If anything, the hero is likely to make things worse. And even if it does work, and the abuser is scared away from physically battering their victim, there are still a lot of things an abuser can do to their target(s) that don't involve physical violence at all. And they're even more likely to act out in those manners.
So. Vigilante threats to abusers? Feel-good tv for most viewers, maybe, but not actually the message we should be sending - that illicit violence is the way to cure illicit violence.
Then again, actual useful intervention doesn't make for as viscerally satisfying television, I suppose...
It happens in cop procedural shows, and heist/caper shows, where one of the heroes is a gruff, tough, rugged cop/vigilante with a Not-so)-secret gooey caramel heart. Somewhere in the B plot of the episode, our hero notices a woman or child who is clearly being abused by some asshole, but there's not enough proof for actual legal action, and the victim can't or won't leave the abuser or turn them in.
So our hero, unable to legally do anything, corners the abuser. He (it's always a he, in my experience) may physically assault the abuser; he may just trap him physically. And he puts the fear of God and bodily harm into the abuser, making it clear that he (the hero) is fully aware of what the abuser is doing, and that if the abuser ever so much as lifts a finger against his victim again, our hero will be watching and will beat the everloving crap out of the abuser, and possibly kill him.
And our viewing audience is left cheering and uplifted, celebrating the idea that a bully has been put in his place, a victim has been rescued, and justice has been served.
Except... that's not how it works in the real world.
Abusers and bullies aren't the same thing. One may grow up to be the other, but abuse is a lot more serious. And an abuser isn't going to suddenly have an Ebenezer Scrooge-style turnaround just because a square-jawed hero tells him he'll punch him if he doesn't. If they were the type to change that easily they wouldn't be repeatedly beating their dependents in the first place.
Moreover, the abuser isn't going to blame the hero; once they have to face the shame and fear of the threat they're going to blame the victim, and take it out on them. If anything, the hero is likely to make things worse. And even if it does work, and the abuser is scared away from physically battering their victim, there are still a lot of things an abuser can do to their target(s) that don't involve physical violence at all. And they're even more likely to act out in those manners.
So. Vigilante threats to abusers? Feel-good tv for most viewers, maybe, but not actually the message we should be sending - that illicit violence is the way to cure illicit violence.
Then again, actual useful intervention doesn't make for as viscerally satisfying television, I suppose...
