"A Glee"

 

"A Glee"

In the quote from Joe Berlinger I included in my last post, one might detect a note of glee related to the potential Berlinger recognized in the podcast's first season:

"As a former Deadhead, lifelong music fan and crime and justice filmmaker, I thought I died and went to heaven [my emphasis] when listening to Payne and Jake’s meticulously researched podcast. Dead and Gone is an incredible weave of music history, social justice, and active true-crime investigation – three areas that I have been lucky enough to explore in most of my past work as a filmmaker."

Let's not lose sight of the fact that two young people were brutally murdered on the night of August 15/16, 1985.  And let's not lose sight of the fact that a man was arrested for their murders, that he was tried for these murders, and that it's demonstrably the case that he did not receive adequate representation during the trial.  A jury found him guilty of first degree murder with special circumstances and he was sentenced to death.  What's in question is whether Ralph Thomas did in fact commit the crimes for which he was convicted.

Now, a wrongful conviction might count as a social justice issue, although I don't know how, since social justice has to do with the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society (i.e. distributive justice).  But, for the sake of charity let's just say that the wrongful conviction of Ralph Thomas was a social injustice. 

In a story about Berlinger in the New York Times, he's quoted as saying the following:

"I'm described as a true-crime pioneer. I liked the pioneer part. The true-crime thing makes me a little nervous because I think of myself as a social justice filmmaker spending a lot of time in the crime space.

I do think there’s a lot of irresponsible true crime being done where there’s no larger social justice message or there’s not a larger commentary on society. It’s just about wallowing in the misery of somebody else’s tragedy without any larger purpose.”

So some of the irresponsible true-crime reporting lacks a "larger social justice message" and/or "a larger commentary on society."  Berlinger's no dummy and he must recognize that it is the case that some irresponsible true-crime reporting does contain a larger social justice message and a larger commentary on society.  The first season of Dead and Gone counts as an example of this kind of irresponsible true crime reporting.  Surely Berlinger recognizes that there are two sides to every story, the first season of the podcast only gave one side of the story, and it failed to take into consideration issues related to race, sexism, homelessness, and a prevailing economic policy.  It did not present the argument that Ralph Thomas was in fact guilty of having committed the crime.  And, again, this was probably because Lindsey and Brennan didn't want the facts to get in the way of telling an entertaining story.  And, again, for this reason, their research and reporting can't be said to have been meticulous.

The first season of the podcast shouldn't have made Berlinger feel like he'd "died and gone to heaven;" it should have made him feel "a little nervous."