Racial Screening in 'Seeing Red'. The Depiction of Whiteness and Otherness in the American Crime Series 'The Mentalist'

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: One serial example focusing on ethnic inquiry is presented by the episode 'Seeing Red' of the mystery detective series The Mentalist. The series was created by British writer and producer Bruno Heller and it first aired in 2008. It tells the story of Patrick Jane. Having worked as a clairvoyant in his past, he attracted the attention of the serial killer Red John. After this killer murdered Jane's family, he starts to work as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in order to find Red John and to perform his revenge. In the course of his work for this agency, he helps the team solve various other crimes until he finally finds Red John. Even though this episode might at first sight be simply overlooked as another prime time crime series, a critical analysis of the production reveals its complex structure. This structure consists of interwoven social and ethnic relations that are delineated in various ways. Especially, great emphasis is put on Asianness, Irishness, and Whiteness and the way these ethnic groups socially interact with each other. Thus, this paper aims at exploring the filmic deployment of Whiteness and Otherness in specific contexts. The central hypothesis discussed in this paper is that although at first glance, the conception of 'Seeing Red' seems to propagate multicultural postracial ideals of contemporary US American TV-series, it secretly serves to perpetuate the legacy of the superiority of the WASP. In order to serve this purpose, the paper will first take a closer look at the way ethnicity is depicted in 'Seeing Red'. In the center of attention are Irishness, Asianness, and Whiteness and how they are portrayed in this episode of The Mentalist. The second part of the paper will then demonstrate to what extent the employment of stereotypes in 'Seeing Red' serves to perpetuate and reproduce WASP-related structures. To encode the underlying racial notions that advocate white supremacist standards, the chore cast of this episode is analyzed from a critical point of view. Lastly, the paper concludes by summarizing the main findings and giving a brief outlook on points of inquiry for future research projects in this specific context.