Criminal Justice: Televisual Policing in the Post-9/11 Age of Anxiety

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Filmography

24 (Fox, 2001-2010; 2014). Television series. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005). Criminal Minds (CBS, 2005-2020). Television series. CSI (CBS, 2000-2015). Television series. Dexter (Showtime, 2006-2013). Television series. Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, et al. 1971-1988). Elementary (CBS, 2012-2019). Television series. Hannibal (NBC, 2013-2015). Television series. Homeland (Showtime, 2011-present). Television series. Law and Order (NBC, 1990-present). Television series. Luther (BBC One, 2010-present). Television series. Marcella (IT V, 2016-present). Television series. Modern Family (ABC, 2009-present). Television series. Murder, She Wrote (CBS, 1984-1996). Television series. NCIS (CBS, 2003-present). Television series. Person of Interest (CBS, 2011-2016). Television series. Prime Suspect (IT V, 1991-2006). Sherlock (BBC, 2010-2017). The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 2007-2019). Television series. The Blacklist (NBC, 2013-present). Television series. The Brave One (Neil Jordan, 2007). The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008). The Searchers (John Ford, 1956). The Shield (FX, 2002-2008). Television series. The Wire (HBO, 2002-2008). Television series. True Detective (HBO, 2014-present). Television series. United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006). Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins, 2017). Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012).

Notes

1 The Pew Research Center’s annual survey on the public’s policy priorities confirms the preoccupation with threats to national security and terrorism as it has remained the top priority between 2002 and 2018: “But the share that sees defending against terrorism as a top priority has remained fairly steady: Around seven-in-ten Americans or more have cited it as a top priority in 17 surveys conducted by the Center since January 2002 (the first time the question was asked), when 83% of Americans cited it” (Grahmlich 2018).

2 Rumsfeld became (in)famous for this phrase, which originated at a 2002 Department of Defense news briefing. The full quote is intriguing for its lack of clarity on first sight: “Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones” (Rumsfeld 2002).

3 It is worth pointing out that Reddington used to be a US naval intelligence officer before turning to crime, which explains, at least to some degree, his intricate knowledge of how the intelligence services work.

4 In Elementary, a female Moriarty is Sherlock’s lover long before he finds out about her true identity, whereas in Sherlock, Holmes is unaware of Moriarty’s existence until he hears about him from other criminals (Rives-East 2019, 161).

5 This refers in particular to season 1 as Ressler’s character undergoes several changes to his clean-cut image throughout the eight seasons to date.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katharina Bonzel

Katharina Bonzel is Lecturer in Screen Studies at the Australian National University. Her book, National Pastimes: Cinema, Sports, and Nation (University of Nebraska Press, 2020) unravels the delicate matrix of national identity, sports, and emotion through the lens of popular sports films, demonstrating how popular culture provides a powerful vehicle for the development and maintenance of identities of place, and how they interact with race, gender and sexuality across a range of national cinemas. Her current research investigates the intersection of crime television and conceptions of justice and gender. Her research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Screening the Past, Studies in European Cinema, and the award-winning book Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt: Essays on Disney’s Edutainment Films, ed. A. Bowdoin van Riper, McFarland, 2012.