When They See Us 1

When They See Us

Kendal Samuel, Jachin Moore, Jarell Hallmon

North Carolina A&T State University

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Introduction of When They See Us. On May 31, 2019, Netflix released a four-part

docu-series based on the Central Park Five. The show is derived from a true real life experience

that many viewers had no true insight of. In 1989, five teenage African-American boys were

accused to raping and assulting a jogger in Central Park. When they were arrested, they were all

coerced into admitting to a crime they did not commit. Those boys are known as Raymond

Santana, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, and Korey Wise.It all began on a

late night in Harlem when a large group of boys began to run creating what officials call a

“mob”, and each of the Central Park Five would join in. Eventually fights would break out and

the police would make their way to the location only to find a Caucasian woman beaten by the

name of Trisha Melli raped, and nearly on the edge of life. The quintet was brought in for

questioning without any of their parents or representation from a lawyer. The film shows how

inhumane the boys were treated during the questioning. Antron McCray’s father convinced his

son to admit to the crime even though he wholeheartedly believed he was innocent. The

prosecutor was Linda Fairstein and was portrayed as the hateful, inconsiderate, dehumanizing

person that she was. During the first three episodes depicts the trials that each of the Central Park

Five went through. They were not tried together in court but they remained steadfast in their

innocence. Korey Wise was the only one of the quintets that was tried as an adult. He also had a

learning disability and was not even a part of the “mob”. He was asked to go to the police station

to look out for his friend Yusef Salaam. Jharel Jerome acted as young and older Korey Wise, he

was the only actor to play both versions of the character. There was no evidence of DNA found

of any of the five boys clothing, yet they all would be convicted. The film had a relevant
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moment when it illustrated the time when Donald Trump expressed his hate for the young boys

who were accused of the rape and assault. Antron McCray spent six years in prison, Kevin

Richardson spent 5 ½ years, Yusef Salam spent nearly 7 years in prison, Raymond spent 5 years

and Korey Wise spent 12 years in prison.

Crime Drama in the US. Mass Media assume a significant job in the development of

culpability and the criminal equity framework. The public's impression of unfortunate casualties,

hoodlums, criminals, and law implementing authorities is generally controlled by their depiction

in the broad communications. Research demonstrates that most of the public learning about

wrongdoing and equity is gotten from the media (Surette, 1998). Accordingly, it is basic to look

at the impact that mass media has on the mentality towards wrongdoing and equity. The

motivation behind this exploration is to inspect how the media impacts group of spectators

impression of police viability and to analyze whether media utilization is identified with dread of

wrongdoing and correctional equity demeanors. Crime dramas are consistently ranked among the

most-watched shows by Nielsen Media, according to the authors. As many as 40 percent of

Americans believe that such shows are somewhat or very true to real life. So to find out how the

simplistic portrayal of police officers on television might influence public opinion of the

profession, researchers first had to analyze how popular crime shows portray police work. In

what may be the best undergraduate research job ever, two students watched entire seasons of the

Mentalist, Criminal Minds, and NCIS. They recorded, among other things, the number of times

police used force, whether the use of force was considered justified and necessary, and the

frequency of police misconduct.

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Enjoyment, Narrative Engagement and influence of media content.

The “When they See Us” film isn’t a pleasant film but does have an enjoyable retelling of

the true story. Documentaries like such usually gain a lot of attention due to its compelling

information and wonderful camera work. The New York Times has an article about the film

“When They See Us” written by Salamishah Tillet. In just the fifth and

sixth paragraph of her article “‘When They See Us’ Transforms Its Victims Into Heroes”

she explains that the film isn’t hard to watch because it was bad or on the lower echelon of

camera work and casting. She states “Because of my proximity to that trial, I thought I’d be

prepared to watch “When They See Us,” Ava DuVernay’s four-part Netflix mini-series, debuting

Friday, that depicts the horrifying events surrounding the case, and the excruciating toll the

public persecution and swift conviction had on these teenage boys and their families.”, and then

goes on to further proclaim “Instead, it took me two days to watch the first episode, and after

each pause, I had to convince myself that I could sit through the next scene.This is not because

this show lacks beauty or depth.”. Tillet states that the film was “thoughtfully cast, well placed,

and visually stunning”. “When They See Us”, definitely brought an enjoyable way of telling the

story.

While the filmwork was enjoyable, the influence of media content and how emotional

and graphic the film got is what made it hard to watch and portrayed an image on a few things.

Tillet discussing these things in her point of view when she says “what makes it so devastating is

its relentless portrayal of a criminal justice system that locks up, scapegoats and brutalizes black

and brown American children with ease and enthusiasm. Part dirge, part indictment, the series
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stands out because it insists that we see the boys as they once were and as they always saw

themselves: innocent.”. Of course as a human who obtains the societal norms on morality this

could in fact make someone upset or antsy. It also makes the criminal justice system look bad as

the film shows the system targeting and victimizing those of African American descent. That is

how the media influenced for the most part, those who watched it.
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References

Dowler, K. (2003). Media consumption and public attitudes toward crime and justice:

The relationship between fear of crime, punitive attitudes, and perceived police

effectiveness. Journal of criminal justice and popular culture, 10(2), 109-126.

Lastname, O. (2010). Online journal using DOI or digital object identifier. Main Online

Journal Name, Vol#(Issue#), 159-192. doi: 10.1000/182

Lastname, W. (2009). If there is no DOI use the URL of the main website referenced.

Article Without DOI Reference, Vol#(Issue#), 166-212. Retrieved from

http://www.example.com

Tillet, Salamishah. “'When They See Us' Transforms Its Victims Into Heroes.” Google,

Google,

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/television/when-they-

see-us-netflix.amp.html.