Kriminalinių įvykių diskursas Lietuvos internetinėje žiniasklaidoje ir Emilio Vėlyvio kino filmuose ; Depiction of criminal events in Lithuanian mass media and Emilis Vėlyvis' films

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to identify the factors which determine the depiction of criminal events in Lithuanian internet media and film, as well as consumer demand for this type of information. The impact of mass media and films is evidenced in the fact that the messages they provide influence our ideas about social, economic and political phenomena and shape our perception of them. Even if a fictional film is based on subjective creativity and its criteria, mass media has to meet the requirements of objectivity; nevertheless, the messages provided by both are a representation of constructed reality. Mass media produces messages about crime, and crime movies help reproduce this information by expanding it with fictional narrative and condensing one aspect or another. In Lithuanian internet media, criminal events are presented every day, and the abundance of these messages hyperbolizes the view of the existing reality. The depiction of many criminal occurrences is used in Emilis Vėlyvis' films Zero and Zero 2. The appearance of this information in mass media and films results in consequences which affect society both negatively and positively. On one hand, information about crime helps to understand safety conditions in society, but on the other hand, it forms a fear of crime and an exaggerated view of criminality. This in turn makes it difficult to distinguish crime from entertainment, because depictions of crime are being presented in various forms of media both as necessary information for society and also as entertainment.