Janne Aerdts

Why do are we interested in sexual assault?

Introduction
Law and Order Special Victims Unit (SVU) is a series going on for 24 seasons and it is
known for its interpretation of our contemporary society (Vidmar Jovanović, 2021). One of
the key topics within the series, is victims of sexual assault and how the detectives of the team
try to figure out who did it and bring these people to justice. In 2017 it was revealed by the
The New York Times that Harvey Weinstein paid off a lot of women over the last three
decades in order to keep quiet about him sexually assaulting them (The New York Times,
2017). Within our society #MeToo is a hot topic with Harvey Weinstein, one of the biggest
Hollywood producers of all time, being convicted of sexual assault (NOS, 2022).
Law and Order SVU touches upon multiple aspects of sexual assault that are also part of the
#MeToo movement. The question remains How do series like Law and Order SVU uphold the
quality of the narrative while touching upon sensitive subjects and continue to make the
series accessible?
In order to answer this research question I will use both spoken language narrative as
well as multimodal discourse analysis. In this paper I will analyze an episode of Season 21
called ‘I’m Going to Make You a Star’ as an example where I will use both analyses types in.

Methodology
Crime fiction is in its origin often perceived as more credible than other types of stories and
often asks questions related to socially good behaviour and how to punish people who do not
adhere to the social norms and rules that are in place (Vidmar Jovanović, 2021). Law and
Order SVU should be seen in our current Western social context. With the #MeToo
community that is now established and tries to make society aware of sexual misconduct in
any way or sense Law and Order SVU touches upon relevant issues (Amnesty, n.d.).
Spoken narrative analysis allows the researcher to analyse the social context where the
narrative has a specific meaning. Law and Order has a specific beginning, middle and end.
With its beginning as a case where something happened to a victim, the detectives then try to
find out what happened and try to solve the case by bringing the criminals to justice. In this
specific episode a girl auditioned for a role at a hotel where the director was staying, the
director sexually assaulted her and the detectives of the team try to bring justice to the victim.
However the director is hard to catch due to his strong legal team and by destroying evidence.
The detectives however in the end are able to make an arrest because videos showed that the
director destroyed evidence and that by itself was incriminating enough to arrest him and try
to solve the case. At the end there is a court meeting held where more victims of the director
gather with the #MeToo movement.
The detectives often have an interactional narrative with both victims as well as with the
team and the criminal. By trying to make easy conversations and including personal events,
there is both an external dialogue with the larger story of the season as well as the with the
smaller internal dialogue within the episode. Within each episode there are a couple of key
actors, often these are the victims, the criminal and the main cast of detectives, the narrative is
shaped in a polyphonic manner where multiple actors have an influence on the way that the
narrative is constructed.
The use of multimodal discourse analysis allows us to look at not only the language that
is used but also different modalities of the text, in this case the series does also include visual
effects, photos of victims and the use of videos and objects. The episode is based on an
audition, the director that holds the audition actually tapes the audition. By recording within a
series, a dimension is added where a certain power relation is created. The director is in power
while the actress is vulnerable and would like to get the role.
Within this episode the use of specific words are important. The director constantly
threatens the detectives as well as the victims with legal actions. By creating this power
relation through word choices, there is a certain dimension added that gives the text more
depth. Furthermore photos are made in the episode of the crime scene, this is used to show
evidence to the court as well as the criminal in order to build a case.
In this episode the couch and a lamp are important objects that give meaning to the case
as well as the conversation that is held between the different actors within the narrative.

Analysis
Every episode starts off with an introduction about the team and that the episode is their story.
In previous seasons, the episode started off with a note that said “The following story is
fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.” However previous research states
that it can be seen as informative since it mentions real-life events included and this is also
part of its successful formula (Vidmar Jovanović, 2021). The episode that I watched even
mentioned Harvey Weinstein and reflected the way that he acted with actresses. The series
tries to raise awareness about social events that can be of concern but might not be relevant in
the everyday life and in our social interaction (Vidmar Jovanović, 2021).
The accessibility of the series is affected by the fact that a lot of characters keep
returning and make the story easier to understand by the word choices that were made during
the writing of the script. Furthermore a part of its successful formula is that every episode has
the same structure, i.e. the team has a case involving sexual assault, they try to solve it and
often times personal issues are touched upon or events that are relevant to the bigger storyline
through the season are told in small pieces (Vidmar Jovanović, 2021). The small pieces of
personal details however are not necessary to understand the storyline of an episode, this is
why the Law and Order SVU can be watched as individual episodes. The personal details is
what gives the storyline its depth, they create the complex characters that struggle with
personal issues as well that they often face on the job. For instance the episode starts with a
goodbye party of one of the detectives this is a personal event that is relevant for the rest of
the season. Furthermore, some people in this episode are transferred to other teams or are
promoted. Olivia Benson, one of the main characters is promoted to captain.
One way that the series includes certain audiences is because the genre of detective
stories such as this one, is very specific. Often times people are either interested in cases
based on sexual assault that are contemporary topics within our Western society. At the same
time the specific mode and topic that is chosen within the detective genre, can be
confrontational to some people.

Conclusion
Why people are interested in series such as Law and Order SVU is because of the genre, the
series attracts certain people who are interested in not just crime and detective stories but also
the moral values that are particularly questioned within SVU. Every episode touches upon
another social problem that is part of the bigger social problem of sexual assault (Vidmar
Jovanović, 2021). A concern that was raised by some researchers was that the episodes of
crime and detective series could give possible offenders ideas about how to erase evidence,
however research has shown that this is not the case and erasing and collecting evidence is
harder than it looks in series (Baranowski et al., 2018; Vidmar Jovanović, 2021).
This research tried to answer How do series like Law and Order SVU uphold the quality
of the narrative while touching upon sensitive subjects and continue to make the series
accessible?
The narrative is set by having a clear beginning, middle and ending that includes a
crime, a process and the closure. What makes SVU interesting is the fact that they include
contemporary topics that are relevant to society. These topics are interesting to the public
because they are not often discussed. We know about #MeToo but at the same time we are not
always aware of how this is embedded in our social environment. What also makes the series
interesting can be that the characters that are created are complex. The detectives that try to
solve a case often face their own past while doing so, this creates a sense of empathy that
keeps the viewer interested. By discussing sensitive toppics in a fictional manner the show
remains accessible.
This research tried to discuss the different ways in which the series uphold the quality of
the narrative while touching upon sensitive subjects. Further research could focus more on
how the viewers perceive certain texts within the detective genre.

References
Amnesty. (n.d.). MeToo en mensenrechten. Retrieved from
https://www.amnesty.nl/encyclopedie/metoo-en-mensenrechten?
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N_rVYsqd1J7jBGNcaAhusEALw_wcB
Baranowski, A. M., Burkhardt, A., Czernik, E., & Hecht, H. (2018). The CSI-education
effect: Do potential criminals benefit from forensic TV series?. International journal of law,
crime and justice, 52, 86-97.
NOS. (2022). Hoe ‘seksueel roofdier’ Harvey Weinstein werd ontmaskerd. Retrieved from
https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2454094-hoe-seksueel-roofdier-harvey-weinstein-werd-
ontmaskerd
The new York Times. (2017). Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harrasment Accusers for
Decades. Retrieved from Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for
Decades - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Vidmar Jovanović, I. (2021). Fiction, Philosophy, and Television: The Case of Law and
Order: Special Victims Unit. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 79(1), 76-87.