Why is so much fiction about crime and criminals?

Django99

I'm currently browsing IMDB looking for a new TV show to watch, and looking at the top rated TV series, so many of them are to do with crime. Looking then at the list of highest rated movies it's the same.

What's our obsession with crime, because it's not even just the ones focused on police stopping the criminals. With the likes of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, even Love/Hate here at home, the focus is on the criminals and they are the heroes of the story. If we came across these people in real life we'd call them scumbags, suggest they be executed etc.

So is there an inner part of us that would love to be a criminal mastermind?

ETA : Even aside from fiction, the news stories in real life that get most attention are murders, rapes, terrorist attacks etc. Even when these things have minimal effect on our personal lives where as things like the economy effect us much more, yet a crime will generally be the first thing we see on a news bulletin.

Earthhorse

There is so much fiction about crime because it is an easy way to set up a resolvable drama. Someone commits a crime, the police investigate it and by the end of the episode justice is served.

As for shows that venerate criminals, personally I don't care for most of them, but suspect that the whole outlaw aspect of playing by their own rules appeals to a lot of viewers.

Fleawuss

Only in fiction do we see these cnuts get what they deserve.

The Backwards Man

If I made a show about the day the throttle stuck on the Zetor in the bog and all the windows fell out, would anyone watch it?

Earthhorse

Those twins on Gogglebox, probably.

9or10

The Backwards Man wrote: »

If I made a show about the day the throttle stuck on the Zetor in the bog and all the windows fell out, would anyone watch it?

I'd probably tune for Episode 1.

The Backwards Man

The Backwards Man wrote: »

If I made a show about the day the throttle stuck on the Zetor in the bog and all the windows fell out, would anyone watch it?

Already been done- it was called Glenroe- quite successful by all accounts.

mad muffin

Because we need a vent for our baser instincts.

Graces7

Do not have TV but read crime thrillers. They are our modern morality stories. Good guy suffers but wins through and the bad guy gets it.

Been this way as long as there have been people.

darkpagandeath

Because it's not the ghost in the closet you have to worry about. It's the murderers climbing in the window.

diomed

The are USA made, and that is USA reality.
Plenty of shooting, plenty of guns, crims, perps ...

Badly Drunk Boy

The Backwards Man wrote: »

If I made a show about the day the throttle stuck on the Zetor in the bog and all the windows fell out, would anyone watch it?

And did the windows smash when they fell out? No, don't tell me! I'll wait for the pilot episode...