Analysis Of Sons Of Anarchy

2299 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How mass media effects american culture

Sons of Anarchy: The Club We All Want To Be A Part Of

Little did we know until September 3, 2008, how badly we all wanted to be a part of a motorcycle club. FX premiered a new crime drama called Sons of Anarchy and much to the viewers surprise the show focuses on the people on the other side of the law than what is normally seen in the genre of crime dramas. Audiences across America began to align themselves with the murderous and violent gun-runners know as the Sons of Anarchy. This show in particular went on to be one of the most popular crime dramas on television, but how is that possible when the characters we know and love are violent criminals and do everything we are told is wrong. Since the premiere Sons of Anarchy has gone on with six seasons each one more popular than the last, with a seventh season expected to air in fall of this year. But what has created such a demand for a show like this? Are Americans becoming more violent and therefore want to watch violence on television? Or are Americans using Sons of Anarchy to escape their own lives?
The television show Sons of Anarchy is based on a fictional motorcycle gang but none of the characters would be caught dead using that term, they prefer the more modest term of a motorcycle “club” instead. The show focuses on Jackson “Jax” Teller the leading anti-hero who is the Vice President of the club, which was founded by his father and eight other Vietnam War veterans upon their return. The club takes up residence in a fictional northern California town called Charming, of which they gain control of by blackmailing the local law enforcement officials including the town’s sheriff. All seems well until Jax finds his deceased fathers memoir explaining that gun-running wa...

... middle of paper ...

...framing people for murders that the officers themselves have committed. The line between good and evil is so blurry that we often see the police and the club going back and forth between the two.
The abundance of cultural issues portrayed in the show makes it apparent that the show is a reflection of American popular culture; supported by the rating the show is about to begin its seventh season. The evolution of the crime drama genre from the noble cop defending justice and locking away criminals has come a long way. American audiences can now side with the murdering Vice President of a notorious motorcycle gang and not feel bad about it. The Sons of Anarchy offers the American people an escape from a society that does not trusts their own government, is debt-crippled, and jobless. The popularity of Sons of Anarchy shows how Americas need for an escape from reality.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Documentary Crips And Bloods: Made In America

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America, can be analyzed through three works: “Modern Theories of Criminality” by C.B. de Quirόs, “Broken Windows” by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling and “Social Structure and Anomie” by Robert K. Merton.

    Read More

  • Police Corruption in LA Confidential and Training Day

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of “justice for all,” however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn’t always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Orange Is The New Black

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    I believe that every message has a real meaning behind it, whether the message is important or not. The older I get the more I started to understand the true meaning about the different shows I’ve watched. It’s one of those topics we’re all too afraid to touch, which is exactly why it’s so important to talk about. I still find it very hard to talk about race, and how it is still a very important topic in today’s society especially in criminal justice system. Prison is designed to install fear in us, imagining evil men who were put there for doing crimes unsuitable by law. Prison is known to be the worst place to end up. Orange Is the New Black showed prison all in a new light. Many critics found Orange Is the New Black to be very racist. In

    Read More

  • Reconstruction After the Civil War

    1850 Words  | 4 Pages

    loyalty oath. If this happened then that state could setup a new state government. Under

    Read More

  • Gangs and Injunctions

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...

    Read More

  • Violence in Television

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.

    Read More

  • Cops Subliminal Messages

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Heavy users of the show Cops becomes an easy target to the shows messages. Heavy users are constantly being exposed to the shows portrayal of a heroic cop who stops at nothing to keep those dimwitted criminals off the streets. Whereas a light viewer who does not get much exposure would not be as affected as those who are heavy users but still they are able to absorb some of the messages that the show gives off. In the article Cultivation theory, it emphasized on how excesses exposure of a TV show will increase its viewers chances of becoming a victim to the shows ideas, “People who watch a lot of television is likely to be more influenced by the ways in which the world is framed by television programs than are individuals who watch less, especially regarding topics of which the viewer has little first-hand experience”. (“Cultivation Theory”). The more exposure that one have of something, majority of the time, they ...

    Read More

  • Violent Affects of Television on Children and Teengers

    374 Words  | 1 Pages

    It seems like everywhere we as a society look today, violence rears its repulsive head. We see violence in the streets, back alleys, and even our schools. Violence can now be seen in many people's living rooms while they are sitting down watching television. Children and teenagers seem to be the most effected by violence on television.

    Read More

  • Linking Media Violence and Negative Behavior

    2360 Words  | 5 Pages

    "We, as a society, did this to ourselves," said psychologist Dr. David Walsh, executive director of clinics and systems operations for Fairview Behavioral Services in Minneapolis. "Violence grabs the headlines, but violence itself is a result of a society that promotes selfishness, greed and instant gratification" (Peterson).  Violence on public television often catches us in a serious debate.  Concerned parents fear that viewing inappropriate images presented by the media will corrupt America's youth.  They cringe at the idea of our nation's children growing up to be vicious killers due to the brutal violence often seen on TV.  Some blame television for most, if not all, of the ills of society and its children.  "Truly it accounts for about 10 percent of violence, which means that 90 percent is caused by other things," Leonard Eron says.  "Violence is a multi-determined behavior. It's caused by genetic, biological, physiological, macroeconomic and macrosocial factors, all of which can account for some part of the variance."  Understanding...

    Read More

  • Police Brutality and Corruption

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bibliography Why Good Cops Go Bad. Newsweek, p.18. Carter, David L. (1986). Deviance & Police. Ohio: Anderson Publishing Co. Castaneda, Ruben (1993, Jan. 18). Bearing the Badge of Mistrust. The Washington Post, p.11. Dantzer, Mark L. (1995). Understanding Today's Police. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. James, George (1993, Mar. 29). Confessions of Corruption. The New York Times, P.8, James, George (1993, Nov. 17). Officials Say Police Corruption is Hard To Stop. The New York times, p.3. Sherman, Lawrence W(1978). Commission Findings. New York Post, P. 28 Walker, J.T. (1992). The police in America, p.243-263, chp. 10, Walker, Samuel (1999).

    Read More

  • The Walking Dead: An Analysis

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Walking Dead, a television show about surviving in the zombie world, is based on the comic book with the same name created by Robert Kirkman. In this show Rick Grimes, a sheriff's deputy, awakes from his coma and finds himself in a hospital. He soon discovers that while he was in a coma the world had become infected, turning humans into flesh-eating zombies later called Walkers by the characters. As Rick sets out to find his family he encounters many other survivors such as Glenn, Daryl, Carl, Maggie, Carol, Sasha, Hershel, Beth, and Michonne, among many others who have died along the way. Rick and the survivors have been through a lot throughout the show, such as having to move from place to place to avoid being eating by walkers. After walking a longs way, they finally find shelter in an old prison where they now live. Although The Walking Dead shows a lot violence, it sends many positive messages to the viewers that teach them about survival, religion and betray and how each of these can be beneficial in the real world

    Read More

  • Kill or Be Killed

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    “How old were you when you first got a gun?” reporter Forest Whitaker asked Bloods and Crips gang members. The men were quick to reply, one with a grin on his face as he proudly announced, “ Man, I was probably about twelve!” Another said, “I was thirteen!” In a documentary titled Crips and Bloods: Made In America directed by Stacy Peralta, archival footage and personal accounts tell the story and examine the culture of two of the most famous gangs in America, the Bloods and the Crips. This seldom discussed and often-overlooked part of American subculture is still thriving in the inner city, the street gang. Street gangs have played a big part in shaping different cities and areas within the U.S. Two of the most famous street gangs are the Los Angeles Crips (L.A. Crips) and the Los Angeles Bloods (L.A. Bloods). These two gangs are involved in one of the biggest gang rivalries currently erupting in the United States. Who are the people who belong to the Bloods and the Crips? What do they do? Where are gangs prominent? What is the attraction to the people who join these gangs? According to the FBI over 1,000,000 people who identify themselves as gang members, The sense of community, family, and belonging is an enormous emotional pull that drives gang members to commit the unimaginable crimes just to belong.

    Read More

  • Gang Members: A Truly Destructive Lifestyle

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...nsequences of gang involvement and proves that what goes on at the core of a gang isn’t as appealing as what is seen on the outside. What may be perceived as a group of cool, stylish, hardcore, wealthy and powerful individuals is really nothing more than a band of twisted cold-hearted killers that represent a serious threat and danger to society. Being part of a gang is pointless, meaningless, dangerous, and leads to nothing more than the complete and total destruction of all of the lives that get involved with them.

    Read More

  • Night Of The Walking Dead Analysis

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Walking Dead is an allegory for the real world. It presents audiences, the controversies of the conventional postmodern society amidst a post-apocalyptic drama. The series portrayal of dissolving humanity in unfeigned bleakness both reflects and inflames our societal perceptions and fears. Through an inhuman fallacy, (the zombie) The Walking Dead humanises the hopeless actualization of our corrupted world in all its postmodern traits. Therefore, the ambition for The Walking Dead is to exhibit a world pursuing a favourable equilibrium of peace and liberty but never achieving it as it is entirely a Sisyphean. In this essay, I will argue how cinema and humankind has fed into corruption within postmodernism.

    Read More

  • Prison Break Analysis

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Paul Scheuring’s 4 season thriller there is no Gods you need to sacrifice for but rather the bond of family worth doing anything for. In Prison Break, protagonist Michael Scofield would go any extent for his family. Michael had his life together with a masters as a structural engineer while his brother was just a high school dropout. However when Michael finds out that his brother was accused for killing the vice president’s brother and put on death row, Michael gave up that future of his filled with opportunity to save his brother. How far would you go for others? Michael got a full body tattoo and got himself incarcerated in order to break Lincoln, his brother, out. He did this for him because he loves his family. Although Scofield is

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Sons Of Anarchy

Open Document