By: Noah Nunez
General Reporter
I would ask that you take a seat, but that feels a little inappropriate given the context of “Primetime.”
I never grew up watching “To Catch a Predator;” I was too busy being a year old to learn about the dangers of child predation.
Most of my exposure to Chris Hansen’s PSA/glorification of the mentally ill was through pop culture references parodying Hansen’s mannerisms on the show.
What I expected going into “Primetime” was the “darker side” of the general story we all know, painting Hansen as some weirdo who screams, and some fun acting by Robert Pattinson.
What I got was a neo-noir deep dive into the psychology of celebrities, TV executives, and news watchers during the mid 2000s.
And it is that last part that I found the most interesting.
References to shows like “Joey” and “My Name Is Earl” are one thing, but having “Lost” be this monolithic figure of TV that Hansen wishes to climb is such a fascinating choice for placing the viewer in the past.
It may be obvious to place the viewer in the past in what is a period piece, but it really holds a mirror to the differences in how we consume news and why “To Catch a Predator” took off.
There had been nothing like the show for the audiences of 2006, and little to nothing was known about online safety by the masses.
Getting the viewer to feel as lost and confused by the changing times of the internet and news as people in the mid-2000s would have is what makes watching this movie feel like the show.
But there is another layer to “Primetime’s” story that makes its setting all the more important. It is based on a real person.
The film follows a real-life actual human being who is still alive and breathing, with current and real ties to Hollywood and cinema, and a family that lived through the events of the story with him: Hansen.
And I will be honest; it is gross.
It is uncomfortable seeing a name and likeness be connected to gross representations of the real-life work that occurred not that long ago; it is uncomfortable knowing Hansen is not happy with his portrayal in the movie, and it is strange to think that people are just okay with it.
Now do I care that the multimillionaire Hansen is not happy with his portrayal? No, considering that the film is so clearly fictionalized that his appearance comes off more as a representation of the greed for fame, but it still lingers throughout.
And it creates this weird dilemma the movie attempts to call out but is engaging with itself.
Hansen is a bad person for his portrayal of mentally ill criminals by broadcasting their wrongs to everyone, so to call him out on it, we will present the mental insecurities that caused him to make “To Catch a Predator” and put it in front of everyone.
Two wrongs do not make a right, and for the good the film does by calling out Hansen’s awful portrayals of criminals on live TV, it does not say why its version of the same thing on the silver screen is better.
