Race
Olivia:
In season 10 episode 15, like almost every other episode, the characters are predominantly white with the exception of Derek Morgan. In this episode however, they work alongside the local detective Davenport who is also a person of color. This is one example of how the show does bring in people of color but they are usually only brought in as side characters one episode at a time.
Dima:
In season 5 episode 4, the pattern of the majority of characters being white still holds. While “Hopeless” still involves some Black victims, most victims are white and most of the unsubs are white as well. For the unsubs especially, white men dominate these positions, especially in the case of the three unsubs that “Hopeless” uncovers. Criminal Minds does a poor job of representing a diversity of races and ethnicities as almost all of the cast is white as well as cisgender and heterosexual.
Harper:
When it comes to race within this show and this episode, in particular, we don’t see much fluctuation with the main characters, however, the side characters and guests that are on the show for appearances in one episode are more often than not people of color. When I say this, I mean that the victims of the killer are more commonly a person of color than a white person. The other detectives that they interact with are almost always of Asian or Black ethnicity. In my episode, in particular, the head of the investigation in Seattle was an Asian-American man. The victims of the killer, who was a white male, were a black man and a white woman. The show lacks diversity in any episode, but what I have noticed the most through watching and interacting with this show is that racial diversity and inclusivity is not a top priority. The show's producers are willing to base the entire series off of a group of white people with the exception of one, and the side characters that are either being killed off or used for 5 minutes within an episode are almost always people of color.
Sexuality
Harper:
Throughout the episode, we observe the killer interacting with his boss, his peers, the life coach, and the BAU team. The first victim we see of his is a young woman, where he sneaks into her house and attacks her. After this, we see the killer attack a young black man. Throughout this specific episode, there is not a lot of speaking or hinting at sexuality, whereas in other episodes some of the pivotal points in the show are uncovering the unsubs or victims' sexual orientation. Gender roles in this show are predominantly patriarchal themed, with the men holding (seemingly) more authority and power than the women, and their opinions and theories being respected and listened to more than the women on the team. Sexuality has no overbearing presence in this episode, largely due to the fact that this unsub and the victims were not a sexually charged situation. In this particular case, it was more about mental illness rather than whether or not someone’s sexual orientation had any effect on them.
In previous episodes, we can observe the main characters and their love lives, with every single character having a heterosexual identity/sexual orientation. Each character explores a romantic relationship at some point within the show, all with straight and heterosexual tendencies. In terms of relationships within the episode, Agents Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia have taken a break from their flirtatious relationship to what seems to be a small fight about reasons unseen to the viewers. This relational dynamic causes a rift in the working environment of the two together and how they interact with each other. What I found interesting within my own episode that I observed, is that the unsub (killer) is a white man in his late thirties/early forties. His main attributes are that he’s fairly confrontational to every person that approaches him. It is also alluded to in the episode that he has a certain mental illness in which he has visions of words and images that alter his decision-making process, which would explain his “need” to kill. His visions give him ideas and thoughts that push him towards harming others because he believes he is being told to, in almost a cult-like fashion. There is someone or something - in his own mind - that is pushing him to such lengths. More often than not, the unsubs in Criminal Minds are aggressive middle-aged white men, and this episode was no exception from that.
Gender
Dima (Gender, Sexuality, and Stereotypes):
Much of the profiling of suspects comes from statistics, some of which can be seen as stereotypes. For example, the BAU team in season 5 episode 4 sees the suspects as being male. In fact, almost all criminals/suspects within the show are male. Males are seen as more violent, more angry, and aggressive. During the process of figuring out who the unsub could be, the BAU team first starts with what behaviors mark up the crime, such as acts of psychopathy or compulsive disorders. These behaviors are then put into certain categories and then paired with statistics, such as what the general population of a certain psychopath looks like. For many of these identifications, many of the criminals are male, usually white, and have a lack of emotion or empathy. During this profiling session, there are also motives examined. The group of unsubs that committed these killings are said to be three or more men that, and according to Derek Morgan, “are completely disenfranchised. They feel like they have nothing to love for and they’re looking for anyone or anything to blame”. In summary, these unsubs are violent men who have no empathy towards the people they are killing and rely on the release of power they get from committing these crimes. Morgan’s statements can also be reinforced by scenes that show the three men filming their acts and then one of them making a form of a music video of it, feeding into the entertainment aspect of it all.
One interesting contrast that Criminal Minds brings up is that both the lack of emotion and the excess of emotion from male characters is considered destructive in some form. This stereotype comes from the understanding of the binary between men and women. According to this binary, women are to be more emotional, empathetic, and caring. On the other hand, men are to be tough, strong, and not talk about their emotions. What the episode “Hopeless” uncovers is that a man cannot be without emotion at all and be completely stable. Again, the unsubs “don’t feel empathy” as Morgan says, so they are able to commit acts of murder easily. However, part of the investigation is shown to be difficult because of a side character detective that is being too emotionally involved. This show of “too” much emotion then makes the detective reject the help of the BAU, even when they are needed. Even Aaron Hotchner warns the detective that he is getting emotional and it is impeding the investigation. Hotchner later says to others that the detective, “is a good cop, he’s just too emotional right now”. No empathy leads to crimes and too much empathy leads to no progress, men are to stay in the middle ground.
On the subject of emotional instability, women also play a role in this. One of the victim’s sister, Ms. Barnes is seen frequently bursting into the offices of the BAU demanding for more information in hopes that this will resolve the great grief she has received as a result of her last close family member dying. Ms. Barnes (emphasis on the lack of marriage status in) goes to Derek Morgan for this information. As the episode progresses, audience members see a tension between Ms. Barnes and Morgan, as they get closer and Ms. Barnes shows subtle hints of attraction to Morgan. This relationship is coupled with the reaction from Penelope Garcia who is known to be a platonically flirtatious friend of Morgan’s. Garcia warns that Morgan is “way out of bounds'' and that his relationship with Ms. Barnes needs to stay professional. Morgan brushes this off and explains that the reason he has been talking to this woman frequently is because she has suffered a huge trauma and is in need of some form of empathy or comfort. The episode “Hopeless” couples emotion and romantic relationships between the interactions of Ms. Barnes and Derek Morgan. In the end Morgan is strictly professional and, although drops off Ms. Barnes at her house and comes to her door at the end of the episode to say that the suspects were caught, it is not filled up by an obvious romantic or flirtatious gesture from his side. If anything, this episode pinpoints how perhaps the emotions of Garcia are wrong; her jealousy is a show of too much emotion with not enough reasonable explanation. Ms. Barnes said at one point when she has an outburst at other unrelated suspects of another case that she is “not crazy”. At first this seems ironic, she is the one acting crazy because of her unyielding emotions. But her emotion, in the eyes of the episode, is more supported by her trauma compared to the jealousy of Garcia.
Olivia:
Peter Folkmore, like most unsubs, only takes and murders women. In his case, there is no sexual crime committed because he is searching for women who look like his mother in order to recreate the scene in which she was killed. He treats women like literal trash by disposing of their bodies in dumpsters and blames both his mother, and other victims of domestic abuse for not leaving the situation. This is an example of victim blaming that is seen all over the world today when it comes to situations of domestic abuse especially when children are involved.
Nhung (Gender, Representation)
Unlike most episodes of the show, the unsub of Season 4 Episode 16 is a woman who also happens to be a prostitute. The show never fails to mention the statistic that most men kill for sexual gratification, while women mostly kill to retaliate against some form of oppression that they faced. The unsub of this episode, Megan Kane, kills her clients to reassure her belief that men’s infidelity makes them deserving of death and takes away from their family, just like how her father left her.
At a closer look of the show as a whole and Episode 16 of Season 4 in detail, one can say that the show spares female sex workers no mercy. They are either victims or a vicious murderer such as Megan Kane. This pattern could contribute to the general public’s condemnation of sex workers as they are portrayed as bodies and a hindrance to society. On the other hand, the steady pattern of female prostitutes being victims could shine a light on how sex workers are willing to put themselves in harms way in order to make a living, an aspect that is often deemed deserving of respect for other jobs like construction or the police force. The show’s focus on the male unsubs who do the killing instead of the female sex worker victims could also give the impression that it is not the women’s fault that the field is dangerous, but it’s rather the creepy men who are a threat to the workers.
Harper:
Throughout the show, gender roles and stereotypes are always interesting to observe and see how the show's producers utilize the concepts. For example, the women on the BAU’s team are Alex, Penelope, and JJ. Penelope Garcia is the technology “wiz” of the team, so she stays at the office and researches locations and information of unsubs and victims. That leaves Alex and JJ to be the women we see on screen the most. One of the iconic scene settings from Criminal Minds is inside of the BAU jet, where the team is always having meetings and brainstorming sessions. During these sessions, I was able to notice that in my episode the men on the team were constantly speaking and coming up with ideas, conclusions, and theories, where the women, Alex and JJ, would chime in every once in a while. The women were never at the head of the conversation or leading the talking points.
Politics
Dima:
During the episode “Hopeless”, the BAU team finds that there has been repeated vandalism in one area of Southeast D.C. Derek Morgan comments on how “there must be a lot of anger out there. [The] neighborhood’s mostly black working class...now it’s being gentrified while the people who live there are having a tough time…[and] the vandalism targets were all symbols of the neighborhood’s changing makeup and economy”. Further along in the dialogue, it’s found that the victims in the current case looked at are in fact wealthy. This is an interesting commentary of lower income individuals and the gentrification of communities and the episode looks at anger that black working class families may feel towards the increase in wealthy individuals moving it, which almost criminalizes the less fortunate individuals.
Nhung (Politics, Gender, Race, Sexuality)
In the episode “Pleasure Is My Business,” the victims are white corporate businessmen who have lawyers that are ready to have a face off with the FBI if it meant protecting the dead men’s dignity and the fact that they were unfaithful to their families. These lawyers also have a need to resist the investigation because revealing the victim’s private life to the public could also damage the reputation of the company that they worked for. This is not a situation that the BAU is familiar with because they often look into victims that are women or lower-class people. It is normal in a Criminal Minds episode to have an unsub who target homeless people or sex workers who find their clients on the streets. By repeating these tropes in their episodes, the show accurately portrays the cruelty of socioeconomic disparity, especially on female lives. This episode specifically shows that if you are rich, you can use your privilege to go against the law and protect your identity even after death. More importantly, the victims of this episode are white and wealthy heterosexual men, a perfect intersectionality of the more privileged identities of race, socioeconomic standing, sexuality, and gender. Fortunately, the identity of the victims and other unfaithful businessmen were released to the press at the end of the episode, signifying that justice can defy privilege. In reality, though, we know too well how blind “justice” can be when it comes to privilege.
Harper:
What is interesting in our own society as well as the world created inside of Criminal Minds is the stigmatization of mental illness. In my episode, the unsub is a middle-aged white male who has visions and claims to have someone “telling” him to hurt his victims and to kill them. It was made very clear at the start of the episode that he had something that was creating a mental block for him. He had extra voices in his mind and visions in his eye sight that were causing an unsettling ruckus in his brain that he could not overcome. Not to say that his killing and murdering was justified, but when the BAU team spoke to witnesses and people that had been very close to him in the past, they all claimed that he was very “weird” or “odd”. Oftentimes they stated that he made people feel very uncomfortable. What most people did not recognize or understand was that this man needed help, and he had obvious signs of mental illness occurring and imposing upon his daily life and interaction. I believe that this is a common concept with our own real world as well. More times than not people who are struggling with mental illness are cast aside to fend for themselves, while the rest of the world looks down upon them and classifies them as different from everyone else, and not in a good way. This episode brought up several metaphorical insights to the struggles of mental illness and exactly how much it can weigh on a person, and affect them in more ways than one. The message behind the unsub’s mental illness and struggles is that we truly can never know what is going on in a person’s mind. The stigmatization of mental illness is so prominent in our own world that it has transitioned over to the world of fantasy and entertainment, to be something that we all look at on the screen and continue to stigmatize.
Representation
Olivia:
One common theme in many tv shows that are also seen in Criminal Minds is men having more screen time or more important lines. It is seen in Criminal Minds in various situations. Whether it is figuring out the key to the case or interviewing a suspect, it is almost always a man. In most cases, the women in the room provide small details or hints that a man then uses to make a discovery. A few exceptions are if the unsub is a woman or sexual predator then a woman might be the one to interact with them in hopes of getting some kind of emotional response. Another prominent example of this male dominant theme was seen at the end of the episode I analyzed. When the BAU figures out who the unsub is and they go to his house, JJ goes into the basement where she gets into a physical fight with the unsub. He ends up knocking her onto her back when Derek comes in and saves her by shooting the unsub.
Nhung (Representation, Sexuality)
The show always finds a way for the members of the BAU to somehow have an emotional connection to the victims or the suspects. Derek Morgan is the only prominent black character of the show and is often drawn to other black characters, youth who grew up without a father, or characters who suffered sexual assault at a young age. Spencer Reid sympathizes well with troubled youth, autistic children and characters with certain mental illnesses. Jennifer Jareau connects deeply with cases that involve missing or murdered children and is often seen empathizing with the mothers of these children. The show includes homosexual and transexual characters as either victims or perpetrators. I find it alarming that these characters’ sexuality are often linked with their motive to murder because it perpetuates the stereotype that non-heteroconformative people are ridden with mental illness and are potentially dangerous to society. The show also gives no LGBTQ+ representation in the main cast, thus decreasing the chance of seeing a main cast sympathizing with members of that community, a trope that helps humanize the characters of the show.
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