Respond to the essay questions listed below.You cannot write on the same television series that you analysed for assessment task 2.Your essay must include close textual analysis of one or more scenes...

MINI-SERIES AS ‘EVENT TELEVISION”        9
MINI-SERIES AS EVENT TELEVISION
INTRODUCTION
In the following discussion, we would take up the topic of how few television series becomes the talk of the town and acquires a “Cult Status”. With the evolution of OTT or the Internet based streaming services, the demand of market share has gone up and likewise the demand of genuine content has been the “Holy Grail” that everyone is looking for. Amid such exploration comes the shows which acquires the “Cult Status” due to the controversy or the message it tends to pass to the audience. Taking up one such example from the series featuring the controversial case of O.J Simpson who was accused in the double murder case of his ex-wife and her partner.
For the beginners, Orenthal James Simpson commonly known as O.J is a renowned footballer of African American Origin and had a remarkable journey until his retirement from National Football League in 1979. O.J Simpson had met Nicole Brown Simpson in the year 1977 and they eventually got wed in the year 1985. The first case of domestic abuse came against O.J Simpson in the same year from his wife. There had been few call records made to 911 from Nicole accusing O.J of physical abuse. They had two kids from their marriage Sydney and Justin. There were few sentencing cases with fine against O.J followed by their divorce in year 1992.
She and Ronald Goldman, a steward in the nearby restaurant were found dead on the account of multiple stabbing. There has been a glove with the blood stain that form the proof of murder and the base of the plot.
Talking of the plot here which is a thriller and as a genre its fast paced, has unexpected turns good enough to keep audience hooked but the plot itself could not be the reason of the unprecedent success of the show. The reason celebrity status of the accused who had a following in the country along with the “Origin” being Afro-American. The country with a huge racial discrimination and on top of celebrity “accused” got a local event turned into national event as everyone was curious to get a pie of life from the celebrity star footballer. The plot itself must be on the line of “If You cannot convince them, then confuse them”.
The plot has many subsets which became the major plots within the series to explore different angle of judiciary, choices of defence, choices of juror and the way plot had unfolded. Let’s understand in detail on how the confusion or the chaos was first created to create a divided view. The police had found the blood stains on the driver side door of Simpson’s car Ford Bronco, they had asked him to turn himself in. On the day when he was supposed to turn himself in, his lawyer friend, Robert Kardashian had released a suicide note sounding like O.J Simpson had chosen to die than to live with the accusation of being a killer. An hour after his press conference, Simpson was found on a highway with his friend riding on a gun point. There began a chase which was broadcasted on the television thereby leading to Simpson turning himself in. Now speaking of the plot, a star footballer with a history of domestic abuse and a prime accused in the double murder case of his ex-wife and her colleague with a blood stain matching his DNA claiming “Innocence” via suicide note was later identified as “On the Run” was chased upon being broadcasted on the nation television will create that first divide of being guilty or not. Media trial would have already divided the world. The confusion of being guilty or not by broadcasting suicide not followed by a chase would have hit people hard to keep the controversy around for another round of showmanship (Gerald Uelman, page 1, 1996)
THE SOCIAL ISSUE AROUND THE CASE
The O.J Simpson trial took place when the racial tensions were at heights, especially after the beatings of Rodney King in the year 1992. The Los Angeles being the centre of such issue and the trail would prove pivotal not only in the courtroom but also as a message outside courtroom. By the time the trial had come to the close, it had divided the country and the views of experts would have been a test for many.
The American Magazine “TIME” had printed a darker image of Simpson shortly after car chase which had come around as a Racial Criticism to which TIME had to issue an apology as “Darker May Project as sinister but racism was not the intent”. Racism and the...