Although it makes the Most Popular category on Hulu week after week, ABC's Castle doesn't get much attention from the media. The show has generally been ignored by critics, although it's been snubbed by the New York Times and most discussions of the show are really just fans with little critical input. The show isn't meant to be taken too seriously though.
Castle is definitely a guilty pleasure, and its star Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame is probably one of the biggest draws for many a viewer. Episodes tend to follow a simple formula of sexy, sassy, smart Detective Kate Beckett interviewing suspects in a new murder case and which results in a neat solve (typically the killer even confesses within a couple minutes of interrogation, always at the end of the episode). What distinguishes this crime show is that the episodes are pretty much written in homage to the tradition of the crime paperback, always quirky and with unexpected twists. In fact, the episodes could probably have been written by Nathan Fillion's character, bestselling mystery novelist Richard Castle. The premise of the show has him tagging along with the lady Detective for "inspiration."
For a show about crime in New York City, the murder victims tend to be pretty white and pretty upper middle class, as do the murderers. In that way, the show's writers skirt around racial tensions by avoiding them completely which means they never reinforce stereotypes they probably don't want to endorse.
This week's episode, "Law & Murder," is an exception to the show's typical avoidance of racial issues. However, it is not a good example of dealing with the ever so controversial subject, especially as it is embroiled in the legal system in New York City, where cops and minorities have such a fraught relationship. The messages the show sends are clearly liberal in intent, but that doesn't mean they're educated. One witness repeatedly describes a suspect as "a big scary black guy" which clearly implicates his ignorance, but never do any of the show's leads comment on this atrociously racist characterization.
The result of the episode is that a black suspect is cleared of murder charges for the death of a trust-fund princess whose coked out brother accidentally shot her and framed the carjacker who took a joy ride with the shiny expensive abandoned car. So, in the end, there's some racial stereotypes sneaking in cause what blue collar black guy with a crime record doesn't just hop on in when a fancy car beckons?
This is getting better, Oona. I really liked your subject. I did feel though, that it kind of ended just when you were getting going. It took a while to get to the issue of racial stereotyping, and then i got excited and kind of settled back to hear an interesting opinion on that...and then it kind of ended! I'm glad to see you linking more - though I thought the first one should have linked to the Times article not the response to it. I think all in all, you need to plumb the depths of your topics a little deeper to make this really work. I know you can do it. B
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