3. Prohibition
• Blue Laws
– Started with the Puritans to uphold God’s morals but had
nothing to do with alcohol
• “defuddling the thinking of humanity”
• Blamed much crime on alcohol
• 3 main reasons
1. Concerned that the evils of alcohol would tempt the new
military
2. Believed as a nation, we needed to conserve the grain
that was used for brewing
3. There was an anti-German sentiment against beer
manufacturers
4. Prohibition
• Groups like the American Temperance Movement
and leaders such as Carrie Nation fought to ban
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of Alcohol
• Villain = alcohol, victim = American values, Hero =
Temperence
• Polarized Good and Evil – Carrie Nation tearing up
bars
5. Japanese Interment Camps
• Movies made to explain “Japanese Relocation” to
the public did not portray the Japanese as victims
but as fostering a small group of potential villains
• America was the potential victim
• And they followed “democracy” and acted to
uphold the American ideals
6. Japanese Interment Camps
• Referred to Japanese areas as “possible Axis
agents”
• Emphasized how close these Japanese
neighborhoods were to military bases, oil
plants, and how they fishermen could observe our
ship movements
• “encouraged the Japanese to leave voluntarily”
• Forced to register
• “their” churches and schools
• “Happily handled the paperwork”
• Using melodrama tools to justify actions eerily
similar to Nazi Germany’s
8. Amanda Knox
• 21 year old American studying abroad in Italy
accused of murdering her 21 year old
roommate, Meridith Kercher also studying
abroad from England
• Specifically Fiorenza Sarzanini’s novel Amanda
e gli altri (“Amanda and the Others”)
published before the trial
– Leaked Amanda’s private journals
9. Amanda Knox
• Promiscuous and portrayed as “sex crazed”
• Murder suspected as sex crime so emphasized
Amanda’s sexuality
• Ambiguity, complexity, and irony
– Can hurt melodrama so ignore holes in the
prosecution and focus on unrelated attention
grabbing details from her personal life
• Her trial(s) became an international spectacle
10. Casey Anthony
• A woman arrested for murdering and abusing
her 2 year old daughter Caylee and lying to the
police
• Her trial was sensationalized on through national
television
11. Casey Anthony
• Williams explains how the public judges
the jury themselves (257)
– The whole country fell in love with little
Caylee, was convinced of Casey’s guilt and
completely appalled when they found her
not guilty
• Death penalty was on the table
– Extreme reaction against a villain
– Probably scared jurors about any
uncertainties
13. Bone Marrow Donation
• Has been dramatized through
movies, television, and a general lack of
current information into something much
scarier, more dangerous, and painful than it
really is.
14. Bone Marrow Donation
• Melodrama can actually be used to dispel
rumors and illustrate the necessity for
registered donors
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPrn84PHbpM
15. Sexual Assault
• Has real victims and villains and sadly not enough
heroes
• Often stories making the victims sound like villains
– James Taranto “Drunkenness and Double Standards” in
the Wall Street Journal
• Strong pathos and easy for victims to feel shamed
• Often victims are disregarded
– “Hanover College Told Rape Victim That Attempting To
Have Her Alleged Rapist Punished Is Harassment”
16. Sexual Assault
• Prevalent all around the world
• Brett Taylor was a respected community leader
in Gwinnett County, Georgia and is now awaiting
trial for “32 various felony charges alleging
sexual misconduct 17 different children” dating
back to 1992.
