The complicated Truth

The reason i believe this case was so interesting to the people and the reason the media gave it so much attention is based on the dynamics of the case. In many instances people dont believe a woman can be a murderer and in recent years people were shocked with the cases that came about with women at the forefront. the reason this case got so much media attention i believe is because the case was stated as Arais claiming self defense, claiming it was intruders in the residence and she felt her life was threatened. This case cost millions in tax payers money due to the fact that they wanted her sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murder and the initial hearing ending in a mistrial. Even though the case happened years ago it is still open and i believe will continue to gain national attention until the verdict is given on whether or not she will be sentenced to death.

Love Gone Mad

Everyone wants to be loved. Whether it’s loved by a million friends and family or just loved by someone who they would consider a partner in life. Everyone craves it. Love can also make you do crazy, unimaginable things. There are so many new stories you hear in the news of a “super-mother” that picked up a car to save her child who was stuck underneath or the “man-mermaid” that held his breath for minutes on end to save his son from drowning in a frozen lake. Unfortunately, love doesn’t just make you do wonderful things to help people, sometimes the unimaginable things turn evil and nasty.

In the Jodi Arias Trial, she had murdered and stabbed her former boyfriend about 27 times, slit his throat and shot him in his own home. She had brutally tortured him and eventually took his life. There was such a spectacle throughout the trial that made people wonder if she was a cold blooded killer or a victim of domestic abuse, which is what she claimed was the reason for killing him. A case like this is hard for some people to compensate because how could someone actually stab and kill someone they once loved? Due to the crazy things love can do so many people took sides in this case. Love has been known to make people jealous or lash out at someone you love, so it was questionable as to what really happened inside that house that night. Because everyone knows how it feels to be hurt by a breakup or be a victim of domestic abuse so many people could relate to how feelings could alter someone’s ability to make rational decisions. With everyone being able to relate to the feelings or love and loss, so many opinions were expressed by the public.

The longer the trial went on more and more information came out. The information that came out made people think about what actually could happen. The evidence that the investigators found out made Jodi Arias only look more like a cold blood killer. After all, if it had been a domestic violence case, why would you stab him 27 times, slit his throat and then shoot him? If it was only for her own protection and she had still loved her boyfriend, why did she stab him so many times and then proceed to shot him? If she loved him, wouldn’t she want to hurt him to get her point across, and not end up killing him in the end? 

An Interesting Case

The reason I think this case became so popular was due to the discrepancies within the case. Arias had originally stated that there had been intruders in the house and that they were attacked, yet later described the situation as an attack on her and her life in which she was only culpable of self defense. What also made this case interesting was the fact that the prosecutor wanted to have Arias sentenced to death. Now that Arias was found guilty of the murder of Travis Alexander, the verdict of whether or not she will live must be delivered and after a mistrial in the initial hearing we are now six years after the murder. This case had also compiled a debt for taxpayers stacking up close to 2.5 million dollars. Due to the length of the case as well as the amount of money spent on it, this case has become interesting to the public and should continue to gain interest as a verdict is finally given for Arias.

We Love the Drama

I believe the Jodi Arias trial became so popular because of the amount of media coverage it received. It was plastered all over the internet and every news station even though it seemed so obvious that Arias was guilty. I’m not exactly sure why this case in particular sparked such flame however it seemed everyone was interested. I think that the general public in a way feeds off this sort of thing and that’s why it lasted as long as it did. If no one was watching it or keeping up with the story it would have been off the air way before it was otherwise. I know these types of things happen all over the world and way more frequently than we probably think but Arias really made it interesting the way she took on the trial period. She repeatedly changed her story of what happened and where she was the day of the murder and defended herself for 18 days which made the jury question her credibility but I think it also made viewers and followers even more interested. She confused so many people with her conflicting stories that no one really knew what to think. Even though there were plenty of things that made her look guilty, she got away with it longer than she should have. I would imagine that would be a tough decision for a jury to make because of how many stories they received but overall that really just hurt her. It might have drawn out the process but in my opinion her changing stories so often is one of the main reasons she was found guilty.

Read All About It

In any situation where one of the sides is unable to communicate their side of the story, such as if an individual is dead, audiences must come up with their own conclusions. This tends to allow the media to develop their own interpretations of what exactly happened between Arias and Alexander. They may exploit resources, misquote, and show bias towards different sides in order to help form public opinions; this brings popularity to trials like this. Since media only gets certain information about the incident, that police decide to release, we can only form opinions based off of that. This causes the media and public to try and put together what happen just based off information shared, which can cause debates to become very heated over the incident.

When it comes to this trial, all the media has to go off of is what Jodi Arias had to say to begin with. A problem with this trial is that Jodi changed her story up a lot. That caused the public to form an opinion that she was guilty right from the start. Then as time went on, we learn more about Jodi Arias getting abused when she was younger and the struggles she faced with Alexander. So this caused some of the public to lean more on her side that she was innocent. These cases are hard to figure out because, you have to take more time to not only look at evidence, but to research information on how their relationship was and key factors that could of impacted and lead to this incident.

In addition to all of these technical issues with the trial, cases involving female killers and the question of competency often draw high attention from the public.

That's What I Call TV

The Jodi Arias case became such a spectacle primarily because of one thing: the media.  The media likes to turn any horrific person or event into some sort of spectacle for the public to gawk at for ratings.  I feel like this became to popular with the public because it had all the inner workings of what some producers would see as a "hit show".  You have your happy couple that eventually splits up, then the man is stalked and killed by his ex-lover, or is he?  This case was shrouded with mystery about whether Jodi Arias really killed in self-defense or in a jealous rage and the media saw an opportunity to bolster their ratings by showcasing every aspect of the case.  I will say however, it is interesting how much evidence was stacked against Jodi, such as the same caliber weapon stolen from her grandparents being used to kill Alexander a week later.  This whole case just screamed lovers quarrel like a twisted spin-off of Romeo and Juliet that went horribly wrong, and that is what America likes to see.  This case appealed to the public, I feel, because of the insurmountable evidence against Jodi was spelling out in bold letters: GUILTY, yet the case still dragged on making it more like a season of some popular show where everyone is anticipating the season finale.  So the main point is, this case only became popular because the media turned a criminal into a superstar.

Nothing Is As It Seems: A Media Distortion of A Sensitive Case

I believe that this case became so popular because of the circumstances of which Alexander was murdered under.  It is, initially at least, by the evidence presented in news articles, unclear how he was murdered.  This is a clearly interesting case in which the woman accused of murder pleads not guilty, but on top of this, testifies in her own defense for 18 days.  She portrays herself as the victim in the crime that took place, plus the fact that she changed her story about her whereabouts during the crime 3 times.  I believe this makes her story almost that much more difficult to believe.  My reasoning behind this statement is because if one was truly not guilty of a crime, they wouldn’t have to lie about where they were on the day said crime took place.  I believe since the story was unclear added to the fact that this was a possible abuse story therefore the media ate this story up.  It seems like the crime had exactly what news media sources were looking for with regards to an exciting headline that got even Hollywood actors opinions on the case.  This case was blown out of the water almost from the get go and only got more attention from the world as a recent retrial is also taking place now.  This is a classic example of how a case can get national attention and really get more attention due to this fact.  If it had not been an ex-girlfriend killing an ex-boyfriend, or in other words domestic violence I don’t believe this case would have gotten the specific attention it did.