Reports of incidents, investigative reports, crime chronicles, films and series about all kinds of crimes — most of these TV shows have consistently high ratings, a huge audience, sometimes for many years. What is their attraction? Our experts comment.
Lev Khegay, Jungian psychoanalyst.
Crime stories on TV perform the same function as the demonstration executions that took place on holidays in the central squares of medieval cities. They excite primitive destructive impulses, allow you to experience asocial fantasies, which most of us still do not realize in life. Criminal TV heroes embody everything bad and asocial, but at the same time they are often smart, inventive, strong and independent. And they attract, first of all, those who find it difficult to allow themselves to go against society, to openly express and defend their opinion, to be themselves.
«It’s a way to overcome our fears»
Ekaterina Dubovskaya, social psychologist.
Who can be a hero where half the country has been in prison? In Russia, as it happened historically, criminal and non-criminal cultures are closely connected. And when in popular culture there are no ideas about the standards of life in society (or they are constantly changing), the criminal reality begins to take a greater place and is perceived by us as closer. Sometimes we identify ourselves with the victim — this helps us, first of all, overcome our fears: «He was not saved, but I am alive.» And when we identify with the one who opposes criminals, we seem to win ourselves, we feel more confident and stronger.”