O.J. Made In America

O.J. Made in America is an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary or miniseries that details from the birth of fame to the downfall of famed Football player turned celebrity turned social pariah, Orenthal James Simpson or as he is more famously known O.J Simpson. The reason why I chose to analyze this series, is because of the impact that the media had on the trial itself and how it gave the trial a bigger, global stage and was dubbed the “the trial of the century.” The series is divided into five, 90 minute episodes each dealing with a part of the O.J Simpson saga. The series does an amazing job in approaching the story from two angles. One it approaches it on a personal level and it tells the story of O.J. and all the important moments in his life and how he managed to achieve a level of stardom that was unprecedented for an athlete, especially an African-American one. The second angle is that it approaches the story from a larger, societal scale and how the violent racial events from Los Angeles past played an important role in creating this media frenzy and gave the O.J. trial global attention. The miniseries shows how the O.J. trial became this microcosm for race relations, not just in Los Angeles, but really the United States as a whole and how through the media, people began to realize that everything wasn’t what it seemed and that the U.S still had a lot of work to do when it came to race relations. The media played a vital in not only helping create and destroy the legend that was O.J., but also how this case forever changed the way the media and society approached celebrities and their lives and how the definition of “news” changed as well.

From early on in the series we see the immediate impact that the media had in creating this larger than life person in O.J Simpson. We see what led to O.J.’s rise to fame was the remarkable career he has USC, where he played college football and where he received numerous accolades, including winning the Heisman (the highest individual achievement in college athletics). This is important because college football is a sport that is extremely popular amongst white Americans, in areas where they more often than not are the majority wise, speaking in terms of population. These areas include the South, The Rust Belt, and The Midwest. Since O.J. was the face of college football, this led him to be super popular in these areas where on a daily basis Africa-Americans were mistreated on a daily basis. According to the series the reason why O.J. managed to get over with the white demographics is because he didn’t flaunt his race. O.J. wanted to be known as O.J., this phenomenal, once in a lifetime athlete that had the charisma to match his on the field skills. All of this led O.J. to become one of the first mainstream sponsored black athletes, certainly the biggest at the time. O.J. became the face of companies like Hertz and RC Cola. O.J. used the media to create this image that made him appealing to the white audience. In episode 2 of the series, the creators of the Hertz commercials used tactics where he was the only black person in the commercial being cheered on by members of society that white people could easily relate to, old white lady, white blue collared worker, and girl scouts. O.J. tried and succeeded in creating this image of himself that transcended race and allowed him to be looked at by white society as a person and to not focus on the color of his skin.  A former friend of his even says that O.J once said, “I’m not black, I’m O.J.”. O.J. was manipulating the media and using it to his advantage to help create this image and to gain sympathy, respect from the people he wanted to fit in with.

As the series progresses and detail the events of the night of the murder and the trial, we start to see the role that the media is having in creating the phenomenon that the O.J. case is famous for. Since O.J. was a high profile athlete (Pro Football Hall of Famer), and a known actor and American Icon, the media latched itself onto the story. The shows, depicts images of trusted newspapers and media outlets (such as the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Time Magazine) reporting on the trial. This is where the true impact of O.J. is felt. Before this mainstream media especially those that were considered “elite”, did not focus on entertainment news, that was left for the tabloids. But after seeing that demand for this kind of news was high, these media outlets had no option but to report on them in order to reap in some profits and not allow the tabloids to be the only outlets to cover it. Up to this point this was the biggest story in entertainment history. It was unprecedented the amount of coverage it got. So much so that a livestream of the footage was aired in Madison Square Garden while the Knicks were playing a playoff game. Hundreds of people were lining up on the freeway to catch a glimpse of O.J. as he made his way home, whilst being followed by the LAPD.

Here we see the sort of surreal series of events being played out. Something that not even Hollywood could successfully recreate. The O.J. chase is the first manifestation of the hunger for entertainment that society had. This paved the way for the major celebrity sagas that followed in the 2000s and that still happen with great frequency and coverage today. These “real life dramas” serve as distractions, and ones that provide all the suspense and thrills of the most fictional stories. The O.J. story had everything, the story of a black man’s rise from rags to riches, his successful transition from pro sports to main stream culture, and his very public and catastrophic fall from grace. This kind of drama is what society craves and because there is such a demand for it, the media has no option but to give it us in an insane amount.

The show also does a good job in showing how the O.J. trial became a story in which black Americans latched onto because they saw it as a case where the system was trying to tarnish the reputation of what they perceived was a good man. Not just because they shared the same skin color, but because he had spent his whole life trying to be a good person and because he managed to escape poverty and reach a level of stardom that had never been seen. The trial and decision of the jury, which were televised, became the event which showcased the frustration and resentment that the black community had towards the system and frankly, to whites. People interviewed said that they were unware about the feelings that some in the black community had towards them. When the jury decided that O.J. was not guilty and those shots of people were shown celebrating it was an eye opening moment for many and it was on this national stage that society saw that no matter how much they tried to say that everything was alright and that racism was no longer an issue, it still was.

Ultimately, the biggest impact that the O.J. saga had on our world, is that It was the first entertainment story that was fully depicted through the television. From O.J.’s rise to fame to his fall, the entire nation was there with him along the way. Television allowed the user to have what felt like almost exclusive access to this man’s life. We fed off his story and we couldn’t have enough. For those months that the trial was going on that was all that anybody could talk about. That was that year’s “hot t.v. show.” The O.J. story was a glimpse into what television and what passes for entertainment would transform into and what we now know it as, inside views into the life’s into the rich and famous. It is aptly named, "An American Tragedy," because it was the precursor that led to the downfall of our society.