COMMENTARY | The “Law and Order” franchise often uses left-wing themes in its police procedure/courtroom drama story. So it was a surprise when a shoot of an episode with an Occupy Wall Street theme was shut down by Occupy Wall Street protestors.
According to the Associated Press, about 100 Occupy Wall Street protestors occupied the “Law and Order” occupier camp set that had been erected in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan. The protestors were miffed at being associated with “corporate TV America.” New York City duly rescinded the filming permit, the protestors peacefully dispersed, and the set was dismantled.
Michael Moriarty, who used to appear on the original “Law and Order” series in the role of Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone, ruminated about the increasingly left-wing bias of the various series under the franchise in Big Hollywood. The bias is evident not only in some of the storylines but also in the dialogue of many of the characters. Moriarty concludes that the show spits on the same country, the United States, which promotes the qualities of law and order.
The instances of crime and violence that has taken place in the various occupier camp sites would be a gold mine for story lines for episodic crime dramas. While no one outside the production has read the script for the “Law and Order” Occupy Wall Street show, one can make a pretty good guess of what the storyline might be: Someone is murdered and/or raped at the Occupy Wall Street encampment. One of the other occupiers is initially blamed for the crime. But, thanks to the great police work of the crack detectives, the real criminal, a rich, evil Wall Street moneyman is found and is duly tried and convicted for his crime. There is lots of dialogue about how the occupiers have a righteous cause and how the capitalist system in America grinds down the little man and needs to be changed in order to bring about fairness.
Sadly, in their zeal to bash all corporations, the Occupy Wall Street folks may have foregone a propaganda coup of having a sympathetic storyline about their movement broadcast on network TV. Instead, once again, they have committed irony, trashing people who might help them.
Sources: NY Occupy protest shuts down ‘Law & Order’, Associated Press, Dec 9, 2011
The Increasingly Left ‘Law and Order’, Michael Moriarty, Big Hollywood, Dec 14, 2009