Blurring the line between justice, entertainment

(L-R) Robert Pattinson, Matthew Maher
OPINION

Blurring the line between justice, entertainment

Neither the impact or intent of “To Catch a Predator” are morally sound.

Director Lance Oppenheim received a birthday gift from his wife in 2024: a cameo from Chris Hansen, former host of “To Catch a Predator.” In Oppenheim’s words, “You could pay this guy $40, and he would pretend you were a potential predator, then go on to advertise his new investigations.” 

Oppenheim later went on to direct “Primetime,” a “docu-fantasia”of Hansen’s career on “To Catch a Predator” from the show’s humble beginnings, to the bitter end. The movie presents a flawed look at the show rather than overwhelming support for the show and Hansen, played by Robert Pattinson, himself. 

I would argue neither the impact or intent of “To Catch a Predator” were morally sound, and the film is an analysis on what went wrong. 

Perverted Justice, collaborators of Hansen, made the program possible. They utilized a routine to build a relationship with the predators, deploying the decoys for calls. In the film, Hansen, and the head of Perverted Justice, Xavier Von Erck, refer to a mysterious chatter as their “big fish.” They suspected him to be some sort of big name, due to how he moved around various Texas towns often. 

Both the film and the show ended with the infamous Murphy Sting, taking place in Murphy, Texas, and catching prosecutor Bill Conradt. In the end, Conradt died by suicide.

In an online statement afterwards, they posed a question: “which are worse – the predators out there trying to rape children they befriend online, or ignorant elitists who enable their attempts by trying to stop law enforcement from dealing with this issue?”

“Primetime” weighs the gravity of impact versus intent. In the eyes of Perverted Justice, whether or not the show exists for financial gain or entertainment doesn’t matter, as long as predators get swept off the street. Some might argue that it’s good to put such monsters on display and laugh at them, because they deserve it. 

Before the show, the film version of Hansen was an actual reporter, covering missing children in southern India. 

The real Hansen really did go to India, but he reported on child slave labor instead. This ends up inspiring his driving motivation within the film, which contradicts his words. He states he wants to fight an ancient evil, one that he saw in India, but he is more fascinated with fame and ratings.

For example, the audience quickly discovers his rivalry with Lost, one of the most revolutionary shows in TV history. He wants to overtake that impact, and give his audience someone to laugh at. 

The evil Hansen describes as ancient to Decoy Dan (Skyler Gisondo) is also as ancient as the concept of performative justice public executions aren’t a good thing, but the audience wants someone to be violent with, and they want it to be excusable because they’re doing it to a bad person.

The American audience also wants everyone to know they are good people, hence why they cheer at the TV when Hansen says his funny little catchphrase — ”Why don’t you have a seat?” —  and totally owns that pedo freak. 

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Aside from the corrupt motivations, was the show a net positive?

I think “Primetime” displays the negative impacts of the show quite well; notably, the use of young, inexperienced decoys. Dan Plumb is based off of real life decoy Dan Schrack, who was 21 years old at the time of filming. Neither the fictional nor the real Decoy Dan knew just exactly what they were signing up for. 

In the movie, we watch as Plumb is effectively traumatized by a predator who exposes himself, and sprays whipped cream on his genitals, and we watch as this trauma is laughed at by his friends watching his TV debut. 

Hansen needlessly put extremely young decoys in harm’s way in order to feed a revenge fantasy, some as young as 18 or 19 at the time of filming. 

When I say needlessly, I mean it. According to Texas Penal Code section 33.021, since 2005, “a person commits an offense if the person, over the Internet, by electronic mail or text message or other electronic message service or system, or through a commercial online service, knowingly solicits a minor to meet another person.”

This means that Hansen, in the case of the Murphy sting, and the other arrests in the area, could have left the entertainment at reading the disturbing chat logs. 

The spectacle wasn’t even necessary. 

Maybe time will forgive Hansen, but he would have to stop his same methods for that to be possible. As of today, on his new show “Takedown,” he continues to use decoys, and he continues the “To Catch a Predator” format.

Even now, Hansen continues to be a shill of the highest order. 

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