Alternative Truths: The Construction Of Narratives In The Rodney King Trial

Soyeon Kim

doi:10.6017/eurj.v12i2.9453

Abstract

This paper explores the exploitation of narrative, character, and ideology to reconstitute the video evidence in the trial of Rodney King, in which four LAPD officers were indicted for violently beating the defendant. Throughout the trial, the prosecution chose to let the video evidence of the beating speak for itself to allow the jury to judge the police officers as liars rather than combat the narrative of the defense. Conversely, the defense reconstructed and reconstituted the form and content of the video, illustrating an ‘alternative truth’ through the use of metaphors, rhetorically identifiable characters, and professional discourse. In the end, the narrative of the defense—which depended on the stereotypical depictions of the dangerous, animalistic black man (Rodney King) and the righteous heroes (the white policemen)—resonated with the racist ideology of the Simi Valley jurors, and, more broadly, with white America.

Highlights

This paper explores the exploitation of narrative, character, and ideology to reconstitute the video evidence in the trial of Rodney King, in which four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were indicted for violently beating the defendant
Rodney King was unable to testify for the ing
Three of the defendants were acquitted of all charges, while the jury was deadlocked on whether Officer Powell used excessive force

Summary

Soyeon Kim

This paper explores the exploitation of narrative, character, and ideology to reconstitute the video evidence in the trial of Rodney King, in which four LAPD officers were indicted for violently beating the defendant. The characterizations used in stories and telling stories to create a rhetorically imagined world that trials often unfairly become accepted as accurate descripgives the story its point.[11] One of the obvious reasons nar- tions of a group of people, which influence the way we rative is important is that it is a basic tool of humans to think about purpose and agency in society.[16] assign meaning to an observation or experience It is how people make sense of the world, as they reconcile the ex- The significance of these socially constructed meanings of pected with the unexpected, with respect to what they be- images, characters, and metaphors rely on the ideology of lieve is the proper course of life. Even the most apparently self-evident images need the viewer to participate in the interpretive process of meaning-making.[20]

Analysis and Interpretation

Rodney King Trial and the Use of Racial Stereotypes in the