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  1. #31
    Extraordinary Member Cyke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Agent Z View Post
    Not really but I am more aware of when cop characters are acting out of line.



    Speaking of which, do you think Time Force and SPD have aged well in this regard?
    I need to rewatch them but it's interesting that non-police mostly teams kill monsters outright while Time Force and SPD capture instead. Time Force's approach was about capture, hence the badges and the Vortex Blaster, and Ransik even redeemed himself in the end. SPD is much more traditional with policing (unlike Dekaranger, which was sanctioned execution-on-the-spot), but it's interesting that Jack is a criminal who, rather than be sent to jail, was given the opportunity to reform himself outside of it. Those two approaches are very much different than an attitude of authoritarian, might-makes-right, threaten with violence, us-vs-them mentality in modern-day policing (paradoxically, practicing restraint in applying force). Plus, SPD gave us the first real corrupt cops of the franchise (I mean, Bulk & Skull were part of the Jr. Police, but their hearts were in the right place, so no, they don't count), who did things out of greed, practiced excessive force, betrayed their service, and tried to protect each other from accountability -- and that was 15 years ago. It would've been unthinkable to have that storyline in MMPR.

    Then I'd have to go back and see how Time Force handled race, something many of its successors, and naturally most childrens TV, won't cover, because race relations are intrinsically tied to the history of policing. But narratives change. Looking back, I'm so fond of X-Men: TAS because it dealt with issues in my youth that wouldn't have been dealt with in the 70s and 80s -- I doubt the writers were trying to really push a moral agenda (or Claremont and others, for that matter), but it's also possible that they did so unwittingly because conversations shift and change, and the #1 rule of writing is that writers write what they know.

    I've said it elsewhere but it's also really telling that while Dekaranger was technically a procedural, its sequel 10 Years After started off with police conspiracy and brutality (of course, until the Big Bad reveals himself, on par with sentai). That could be chalked up to changing times and the evolution of news, and/or the idea that its audience are now more mature, going from kids and teens to teens and adults because of the 10 year premise.

    And then I post all that in the acknowledgement that there are just some tropes and traditions that you expect PR/Sentai to do, especially as a kids show.

    So yeah, I'd have to give them a serious rewatch to determine whether or not they've aged well, but above all else, they're Power Ranger shows more than they are cop shows, which muddies things.
    Last edited by Cyke; 08-28-2020 at 11:03 AM.

  2. #32
    New old guy Surf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kuro no Shinigami View Post
    Cop and a Half


    Without doing my Googles, the Burt Reynolds movie with the little Black kid? I mean... I hope that's the movie and not some other reboot I wasn't aware of, cause the rest of what I'm saying is gonna be totally off. That particular cinematic example spoke more to the buddy cop trope than, to, whatever else it was meant to, held up next to (checks back) The Untouchables and Law and Order. Corrupt cop movies are everywhere, Serpico, Unlawful Entry, those Maniac Cop movies,

    Cop and a Half was a lob to Burt Reynolds base over anything else and as a maybe, sure wtf bonus to black folks- 'look, here's one of your cuddly youths with an ageing movie star". Actually there were a gang of cop w/ citizen movies, but in reality, if you know you know.

    I will say I've never thought as much about Rodney King, may he rest in peace, as I have the past 6 months. Dude took a gauntlet, civil servant beatdown for the ages. Or at least the one that just happen to get caught on film. There were 15+ other cops sitting around that day in their cars, talking their **** while they were taking turns teeing off with weapons on 1 single guy. Everyone of those officers went home after that and didn't think **** about it. Poor Rodney King likely wouldn't have said **** about it either cause he knew they'd come back to him if he did. He wasn't the first, only another in a long line of abuses by a particularly subhuman department of police, the LAPD. Portrayals of uniform cops in television have had police advisors on their staff for years and truthfully, even when the cops are portrayed with more institutional biases like NYPD, a component of the show right under: to entertain, is to reassure people. And by people I mean not black people.
    Last edited by Surf; 08-28-2020 at 11:09 AM.
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  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by babyblob View Post
    The main guy. Vuc he kinda got away with it. i mean at the end of the show he was demoted to desk duty only but never went to jail. Yes he lost his wife and kids but he never faced a legal consequence for his actions and he killed a cop in the first episode. And Hell he may have violated the terms of his new job because he takes a gun out of his desk drawer and smiles as he leaves the station after hearing police sirens.
    He may not have gone to jail, but he is in his own personal hell. All the cops he used to work with know the extent of his corruption, and saw him betray Ronnie. He'll never see his wife and kids again, sent into witness protection out of spite, and stuck in a desk job he hates and probably barely qualified for. More than that, he knows that he drove his best friend to commit murder-suicide.

    Vic was left with nothing and no one. I'd hardly call that a victory.

  4. #34

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    for x-number of years now I haven't been into the white-centeredness of police shows. New York Undercover is probably the last show I "faithfully" watched while it was originally on the air, at least until the third season ended and the dumb decision was made to kill off the Torres character played by Michael DeLorenzo.
    I'm glad that Ice-T as Fin has endured on SVU over the years but I'm well aware that he's not remotely considered a character that the writers delve deeply into for the most part.

  5. #35
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    I'd just add, that for those who think that reality and TV are separate, that's only technically true.

    TV influences our perspective in a lot of ways, even in some we might not immediately recognize. For instance, no one is really entitled, by law, to one phone call. But cops allow it, because unless you're calling a lawyer, they get to listen in.

  6. #36
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    It hasnt dampened my enthusiasm for cop shows bc its entertainment. Half the time they are going after corrupt officials and others like diplomats with so called immunity. For the most part the criminals portrayed are caught and locked up as they should be

  7. #37
    Astonishing Member chamber-music's Avatar
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    The BBC's Line of Duty is one of the best cop shows around because it is a show with Internal Affairs as the good guys for once.

    A show about cops who investigate corrupt and criminal cops. Hastings, the head of the anti-corrupt union has an almost zealot like desire to weed out crooked cops and has strong morals and ethics. Hastings has become very popular in the UK and the show is one of the most watched in the country.
    Quote Originally Posted by The Cool Thatguy View Post
    It does make it harder, yeah.

    I haven't been able to watch Nathan Fillion's new show because of usual hollywood tropes with cops
    Fillion's the Rookie is actually one of the most by the book type cop shows. The corrupt cops are villains and the show makes a point out of how the cops should very much follow the rules and laws that govern themselves as well as others.

    I do wonder if the rogue maverick cop trope will finally start being challenged more in the media. The whole ends that justifies the means approach is looking increasingly problematic in light of ongoing police behavior.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Cool Thatguy View Post
    He may not have gone to jail, but he is in his own personal hell. All the cops he used to work with know the extent of his corruption, and saw him betray Ronnie. He'll never see his wife and kids again, sent into witness protection out of spite, and stuck in a desk job he hates and probably barely qualified for. More than that, he knows that he drove his best friend to commit murder-suicide.

    Vic was left with nothing and no one. I'd hardly call that a victory.
    It's heavily implied Vic quit the FBI in the last scene, rather than be stuck in that desk job. It's difficult to tell if this action was bad for him, since we don't know what happened next. Since working for the police is no longer an option he may have just began by somehow starting from the ground floor as an official gang leader.

  9. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Cool Thatguy View Post
    I'd just add, that for those who think that reality and TV are separate, that's only technically true.

    TV influences our perspective in a lot of ways, even in some we might not immediately recognize. For instance, no one is really entitled, by law, to one phone call. But cops allow it, because unless you're calling a lawyer, they get to listen in.
    See also the CSI Effect.

  10. #40
    BANNED Starter Set's Avatar
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    Only cops related show i ever watched regularly was Starsky & Hutch lol.

    Never liked that kind of stuff, never liked cops very much either so there is that.

  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hypestyle View Post
    for x-number of years now I haven't been into the white-centeredness of police shows. New York Undercover is probably the last show I "faithfully" watched while it was originally on the air, at least until the third season ended and the dumb decision was made to kill off the Torres character played by Michael DeLorenzo.
    I'm glad that Ice-T as Fin has endured on SVU over the years but I'm well aware that he's not remotely considered a character that the writers delve deeply into for the most part.
    I disagree. There's been many Finn centered episodes. You could argue that there should have been more, but remember he's a support player, not the star of the show.

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steel Inquisitor View Post
    It's heavily implied Vic quit the FBI in the last scene, rather than be stuck in that desk job. It's difficult to tell if this action was bad for him, since we don't know what happened next. Since working for the police is no longer an option he may have just began by somehow starting from the ground floor as an official gang leader.
    Vic was a part of ICE, actually. And he couldn't quit, because that would have voided his immunity deal, he had to serve 3 years. Though yeah, the ending did leave some ambiguity as to what would happen next

  13. #43

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    Nope. Still love my Harry Callahan and Lethal Weapon movies, same goes for the first Rush Hour. I do find it amusing that these forms of entertainment show us really nice cops and only a handful of rotten ones, especially in Marvel's depiction of New York.
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  14. #44
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    For people who contribute to sites on tropes, it's probably a good thing. But surely it gets you down when you see the same tired tropes over and over again in new shows. It certainly makes me think less of the script writers. If these tropes appear in new shows--when the writers should be fully aware of the ridiculous ideas they're promoting--then I think we have the right to yell at the screen and damn them to hell. There are some tropes I can abide, but tropes that arise out of ignorant thinking get my dander up.

  15. #45
    MXAAGVNIEETRO IS RIGHT MyriVerse's Avatar
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    Always viewed them as nearly vigilante stories, and if I had a problem with that, I probably wouldn't be at this site.
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