Storyline: “OJ: Made in America” is a story about LA, race, police, media, and celebrity. But the spotlight never moves far from the violent crime that stitched those topics together.
ESPN’s 30 for 30’s “OJ: Made In America” is drawing rave reviews. Spencer Hall, a writer for SB Nation, says the documentary is the best thing ESPN has ever done. ESPN’s Rachel Nichols says this segment of 30 for 30 is “truly exceptional work.”
But what is it?
Courtesy: yahoo.com
I’m sure you’ve heard of the “Trial of the Century.” Orenthal James Simpson, a beloved football player, broadcaster, actor, and convicted felon—known as “The Juice”—was arrested and accused of murdering his white, ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, over 20 years ago.
Prominent lawyers—called “The Dream Team—fought for Simpson’s acquittal. America went insane.
This documentary is about everything within, and surrounding, what OJ Simpson did at 12:10 a.m. on June 13, 1994. The hope? Strip away sensationalism surrounding the trial.
June 17, 1994 – almost 22 years ago – Robert Kardashian read on TV a supposed suicide note. There was a slow-speed car chase up the 405 freeway that interrupted the NBA Finals, O.J. Simpson surrendered to police outside his Brentwood home, where he was charged with the murders.
But the ESPN documentary isn’t about Robert Kardashian, OJ Simpson’s friend and attorney. It’s not about Nicole Brown Simpson, who was brutally murdered in the driveway of her home with her two children sound asleep inside. It’s not about Ron Goldman, a waiter, aspiring actor, and model, who was returning sunglasses to Nicole (and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).
Marcia Clark and Chris Darden (photo, www.dailymail.co.uk)
It’s more about Marcia Clark, who fought hard for the victims and their families. It’s about Chris Darden, scrutinized and hated for being an African-American prosecutor, who tried to prove OJ Simpson’s guilt.
It’s also about John Shapiro, who was called into the case because he had a history of defending marketable and popular celebrities—but later had the case taken away from his leadership.
It’s about Johnnie Cochrane, who always defended African Americans and the rights they so badly deserved and needed for survival—especially during the early 90s. And it’s about the jury and the thought process associated with the political moves made to “demonstrate” OJ Simpson’s innocence. It’s about the time period of the trial and the demographics involved.
Overall, this 30 for 30 is about the racial dynamics of the Simpson trial, which were every bit as complicated as they are today.
Those dynamics shape Ezra Edelman’s film, OJ: Made in America. It’s a seven-hour story about LA, race, police, media, and celebrity. But the spotlight never moves far from the violent crime that stitched those topics together. The sections on Simpson’s domestic violence against Nicole Brown Simpson and the murders are necessary.
Ezra Edelman (photo, businessinsider.com)
Director Edelman presents the murders visually through the medical examiner’s voice. The crime scene photos are present, including the worst ones. Both are essential in response to the hit, ten-episode FX Series, OJ Simpson vs. The People. Why? The murders barely cover the length of one episode.
Spencer Hall reflects on a single thread in the documentary —violence— the violence of poverty, racism, in Los Angeles and America, and of football, which ultimately lead to the violence of O.J. Simpson’s personal life. After each episode of the FX series I would toss and turn at the thought of the sequence of events I had just watched on TV, even though it happened before I was even born.
It was real. I specifically remember the episode where Mark Fuhrman, the LAPD officer known for being racist and using the N-word on tape, pleaded The Fifth to everything defense lawyer Johnnie Cochrane asked. The episode ended with Cochrane asking Furhman if he had “tampered with any evidence the night of and on the crime scene.” Furhman pleaded The Fifth.
The hashtag #OJvsThePeople would always be trending on Twitter after each episode. I found myself scrolling for miles, intrigued about what people were thinking. I remember reading one tweet in particular: “No one can tell me OJ is guilty after Furhman pleaded the fifth to everything.”
Courtesy: neogaf.com
I was stunned. The episode had people believing that OJ Simpson was innocent … all over again. I believe it’s necessary for our generation to be educated on the trial of the century, to know what really happened. For understanding, we need the veracious, straightforward facts–not a dramatized, Hollywood variation of it.
Every aspect of this trial has been editorialized or hyperbolized. The FX miniseries took it to the point where the saga seems impossibly momentous.
Director Ezra Edelman says: “People always wonder why so many people, mostly blacks, celebrated like that in the wake of the jury’s decision. To me, it was ‘How was it that so many white people were angry?’ The goal was to align these two tracks, and rooting O.J.’s narrative in this fundamental black experience. You’re telling the story of this guy who became privileged and separated himself from the rank and file of black Americans — but we’re also telling the story of how millions of black Americas were invested in this trial in a way white Americans weren’t, and identified with O.J. in a way that was ironic.”
Yes, it’s possible to look at the case through the fractured lens of race. Many African-Americans celebrated the innocence of OJ Simpson because they took the victory as a personal one—as a step forward for their race. But many white Americans were outraged. They couldn’t understand why their black neighbors couldn’t see that the evidence pointed to OJ being the culprit.
Spencer Hall warns that you might stare at the screen with mouth wide at one interpretation of the ‘Not Guilty’ verdict. A juror admits that the verdict was a payback, to some degree, for another court decision—the nearly complete acquittals of four LAPD officers in the Rodney King police brutality case.
Courtesy: qz.com
And the ESPN documentary also touches on the link to a contemporary issue—never discussed back then—on the subject of head injuries caused by football. When players take repeated blunt trauma to the head it can cause swelling to an area of the brain and cause a condition known as CTE (Chronic Traumatic and Encephalopathy). Anger bursts may ensue. Could football be to blame for OJ’s outbursts?
Dr. Bennet Omalu, whose research inspired the recently released film, Concussion, said: “I would bet my medical license that O.J. Simpson has CTE.”
NOTE: The topic of domestic violence and the legalistic approach taken throughout “The Trial of the Century” will be televised on Saturday, June 11, 9 p.m. ET, on ABC with the four subsequent episodes televised on ESPN and WatchESPN beginning June 14.
Good read. I didn’t see this article back when the doc first aired and just wrote my own for TSC. I enjoyed the part about the twitter hashtag…I’m too scared to look at what some people wrote. The doc was so good I had to write something!
Thanks,
Jason