Politicians and social commentators often make hash out of violence in popular culture, gaming, and the arts. They say that depictions of violence desensitize the audience to real-world tragedy and coarsen our attitudes. Most writers vehemently disagree, arguing that the arts merely mirror reality. However, in a post on CrimeReads, Robert Reuland says writers of crime fiction should take greater care describing violence and murder.
“Popular media gets murder wrong,” Rueland says. “Like an alien disguised in human skin, who can name all the presidents and state capitals but still can’t manage to get ketchup out of a bottle, popular crime entertainment gives its dissimulation away in the details.”
How wrong? “On television and in books murder is too clean, motives too dirty,” Rueland explains. “Killers are too guilty, victims too innocent. Cops are too cynical, prosecutors too smart.” Everyone involved is smart and cooperative. The murderers are interesting: terrorists, millionaires, celebrities.
Rueland says writers should strive not to trivialize violence and death, to explore complex ideas rather than titillate or use murder to lend drama to a work. “Even the fictional dead deserve respect,” he writes. “What’s lost in movie murder and thriller killing is the victim. What we don’t see is the space left in the world when they die. That’s part of the story, too.”
