Race Issues Make up 'NYPD Blue'

The following breakdown is in regards to episode 164 "In the Still of the Night."  A summary can be found here.

Themes - This is the first episode of "NYPD Blue" I've ever seen, so anything written here is specific to the episode rather than the entire series. However, based on this episode it would not surprise me at all if there were racial elements in nearly every episode. Racially, this episode starts of very interestingly with all of the crimes being perpetrated by African Americans; the victim of a robbery and attack by knife, a white woman, identified her assailant as being "a large black man." Meanwhile in another part of the city a white pedestrian is hit and killed by a black driver. (Cont'd in narrative)

There are two other obvious readings that can be done to this piece. There could be a feminist reading of the overemotional and desperate actions of the captain's wife. As well there's the deconstruction of the typical Marxist power structure when the Lieutenant has to tell his Captain that they are dropping a case that his wife had filed.

Narrative - As these two stories continue to unfold we find that the African American 'perps' are really the victims. The car driver accidentally struck the pedestrian only after the man, completely drunk, stumbled out from between two cars. After the accident the driver was beat up at the scene by two white men, and then again while at the police station.

Regarding the crime at the antique shop we later find out that the woman had stabbed herself in order to gain her husband's attention. The false statement she gave to the police eerily echoes that given by child killer Susan Smith in her false claims of a car jacking. Also, by saying that her attacker was a black man only caused a number of African Americans to be needlessly alienated and victimized.

Characters - A number of the characters in this production rely on stereotypes of clichés. Such as Dennis Franz's character being a "rough-around-the-edges, slightly crooked, but still honorable New York cop, struggling to get through everyday life" kind of guy. Normally, this would without question be a bad thing and could even be seen as an easy way out for the writers, with a cast this big it ends up being beneficial. This way less time is needed to be spent developing characters within each episode if the writer is playing off of some preconceived notions of the audience.

Point of View - Much like in the "Larry Sanders Show," there is a lot of unanchored camera angles, which gives the viewers a feeling of being another character in the scene.

Mise-en-scene - With a lot of realism in this episode, there isn't much play with shadows, etc. What this show does use the most is quick and uneasy camera shots, which help add to the feeling of rush and uneasiness in a busy New York setting. I highly doubt that there was a tripod on the set at all during shooting. There was always a little shakiness to the picture and often the camera would pan when someone else started talking that it seemed that the cameraman had simply turned his head.

Composition and the image - Realism seems to be job one. It seems that every shot is framed exactly the same way someone would focus on the subject if they were standing there in the scene.

Sound - Again, not much needed to be specially done in order to get the message across, because realism seems to be one of, if not the, most important aspects of this show. One thing I did notice though was that during a transitions there was an "urban music beat" that played in the background, which only helped us remember that we were in an inner city.