4 Clichés that True Crime Television Fanatics Know Too Well
1) “Crimes like this just didn’t happen here. It wasn’t a big city, it was a small, tight-knit community. Nobody locked their doors.”
This cliché usually comes up in the beginning of a crime show, and it’s my biggest pet peeve. Perhaps I’m bias because I grew up in a big city, but the implication that violent crime is more likely to happen in cities is disingenuous. Crime happens everywhere—it could happen in the largest city in the world or in a rural town 2 hours away from a grocery store. Regardless of how populous your city or town is, please lock your doors.
2) “Her smile could light up a room, she was always happy-go-lucky; He wasn’t a troublemaker, he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was so down-to-earth.”
It’s always important to be respectful of the victims, and true crime shows should allow for victims’ families and friends to memorialize their loved ones however they please. On the same token, it’s important to give airtime to victims who weren’t always smiling or had troubled lives. If I were the victim being discussed in a true crime show, I’d want my family and friends to be honest about my character. I’m admittedly not a happy-go-lucky person; I would hurt a fly if it were buzzing around in my ear, and I don’t think my smile would light up a room. In fact, I’ve been told I have a severe case of ‘resting bitch face.’ Despite this being a hypothetical scenario, it’s important for true crime shows to highlight cases of victims that did struggle and weren’t always happy.
3) “Someone was walking in the woods when they saw what they thought was a mannequin…”
It’s never a mannequin.
4) “They were the perfect couple.”
This is a common cliché in true crime shows, it practically gives away the ending. If this phrase was avoided in the beginning of true crime shows, it would add more suspense to the show. Often, this saying is usually a foreshadow or spoiler to the end where we find out that the victim was killed by their significant other. Or their significant other was having an affair which led to a “deadly love triangle,” another clichéd term. No couple is perfect, and it’s normal for ups-and-downs to occur in relationships.
