FBI portrayal in the media
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been a staple of American popular culture since its christening in 1935. That year also marked the beginning of the popular "G-Man" phenomenon that helped establish the Bureau's image, beginning with the aptly titled James Cagney movie, G Men. Although the detective novel and other police-related entertainment had long enthralled audiences, the FBI itself can take some of the credit for its media prominance. J. Edgar Hoover, the bureau's patriarch, took an active interest to ensure that it was not only well-represented in the media, but also that the FBI was depicted in a heroic, positive light and that the message, "crime doesn't pay," was blatanty conveyed to audiences, especially boys. The context, naturally, has changed profoundly since the 1930s "war on crime," and especially so since Hoover's passing in 1972.[1]
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[edit] The FBI's role
Any author, television script writer, or producer may consult with the FBI about closed cases or their operations, services, or history. However, there is no requirement for the FBI to cooperate and it does not edit or approve fictional works, or provide any special consultation service. In contrast, the CIA has an "Office of Public Affairs" explicitly for this purpose, ostensibly because it wishes to ensure accuracy in media depictions of the Agency. Some authors, television programs, or motion picture producers offer reasonably accurate presentations of the FBI's responsibilities, investigations, and procedures in their story lines, while others present their own interpretations or introduce fictional events, persons, or places for dramatic effect.
There have been many fiction and non-fiction portrayals of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from which the following is only a small sample.
[edit] Books and Novels
In many Tom Clancy books the FBI plays a major role.
In 1986, Margaret Truman (daughter of former President Truman) wrote a novel entitled Murder at the FBI, dealing with the murder of two FBI agents.
Many characters in Thomas Harris's novels are Special Agents of the FBI, including protagonists Clarice Starling and Will Graham.
[edit] TV shows
In 1965, Warner Bros. Television produced a long-running television series called The F.B.I., based in part on concepts from their 1959 film The FBI Story. The series, which ran until 1974, was taken from actual FBI cases, told through the eyes of fictitious agent Louis Erskine (played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.). Epilogues to most episodes included Zimbalist stepping out of character to warn viewers of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" (this was years before Fox's America's Most Wanted). After the show was cancelled, WB TV continued to produce TV movies based on the FBI. Recent disclosures of memos by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the real FBI had casting control over the show. Both Bette Davis and Robert Blake were banned from appearing citing "confliting policial" differences on crime in general[2]. In 1981, the show was completely revived with entirely new cast and production crew as Today's F.B.I., with Mike Connors, but it only lasted one season.
The Fox TV network has produced some of the longest television shows based on the FBI to date. From 1993 to 2002, the television series The X-Files, which concerned investigations of paranormal phenomena by fictional Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. This also spawned one feature film, also called The X-Files, in 1998. Beginning in 2001, the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agency in the TV drama 24 works with and is patterned closely after the FBI Counterterrorism Division. A new show Standoff has premiered about negotiators in the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG). Today, America's Most Wanted still runs people on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
In 2002, Pax TV aired Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, based on the real life of and about the world's first deaf FBI agent of the show's title. The show ran until 2005, but only ended up producing 57 episodes.
CBS has aired a number of shows that portray the FBI. In[2002, Without a Trace, about the fictional FBI missing persons unit in New York City. In 2005, CBS launched two series: NUMB3RS, about FBI agents who collaborate with a mathematics professor who is the brother of the Lead Special Agent in Los Angeles, and the other called Criminal Minds, about the agents of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). In 2006, CBS launched the short-lived drama Smith, where FBI agents were in pursuit of a group of professional thieves.
[edit] Movies
Warner Brothers 1935 G Men was a deliberate attempt to rehabilitate crime movies by transforming the "gangster movie," where criminal protagonists were shown as leading exciting, affluent lives and living above the law, into stories where the heroic G-Man, or FBI agent, triumphs against the nefarious criminal underworld. The title of the movie is from a term allegedly coined by Machine Gun Kelly and appropriated by J. Edgar Hoover as a name for his federal agents that would strike fear in the hearts of criminals. According to the FBI's own history, Machine Gun Kelly "was caught without a machine gun in his hands [and] cringed before [the federal agents] and pleaded, 'Don't shoot, G-Men! Don't shoot G-Men!'"[3] James Cagney was recruited for the lead role as the well educated and incorruptible Brick Davis. G Men was essentially intended as a corrective to the film that catapulted Cagney to fame, The Public Enemy. Just as he adopted G-Man as a badge of honour for his men, J. Edgar Hoover also attempted to soil the "Public Enemy" label by referring to the most notorious criminals as "public rat number one."[4]
The G-Men concept was extended in the 1940s to include the "Junior G-Men" series. The Dead End Kids, a group of wisecracking New York street toughs who appeared in various movies in the 1930s, were transformed into amateur detectives, helping the FBI solve cases.
In 1959, Warner Bros. and director Mervyn LeRoy produced a film about the FBI entitled The FBI Story. It told the history of the FBI from the point of view of a fictitious character, Chip Hardesty (played by James Stewart). FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover served as consultant on this film, which forced director LeRoy to reshoot several scenes that did not meet with the FBI's approval.
A movie produced in 1988 named FEDS, gave an insight into how women train at the FBI Academy. This movie is in limited release and can only be found on VHS. Also that year Mississippi Burning was released. A film that chronicled a fictional account of the investigation into a civil rights murder case.
The 1991 Orion Pictures film The Silence of the Lambs starred Jodie Foster as an FBI Agent Trainee in pursuit of a serial killer. The film received five Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress - Jodie Foster. The movie spawned a sequel, but Jodie Foster did not retake her role.
The X-Files: Fight The Future was released in 1998, following the characters of agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
In 2009 Lost Memories, the JBI (Japanese Bureau of Investigation), the fictional agency, was heavily modeled on the American FBI, retaining its structure.
[edit] References
- ^ Potter, Clair Bond (1998). War on Crime: Bandits, G-Men, and the Politics of Mass Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2487-3. ; Powers, Richard Gid (1983). G-Men: Hoover’s FBI in American Popular Culture. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-1096-1.
- ^ FBI's muckraking files reveal dirt on celebrities from Sinatra to Liberace. Recorder.ca.
- ^ *Whitehead, Don (1956). The FBI Story: A Report to the People. New York: Random House, 101.
- ^ Hoover, J. Edgar (29 July 1935). "Modern Problems of Law Enforcement". Vital Speeches of the Day 1 (22): 682-686.
