So, I just finished watching American Crime Story about O.J. Simpson. Being 1) born and raised outside the US and 2) in 1987 led to the fact that I knew that there is someone famous called O.J. Simpson, but I had 0 idea who he was and for what that person was famous.
Then my American girlfriend and me stumbled upon the series on Netflix. Granted, it's 2018, so one might say we are late to the party. So, my girlfriend was shocked that I didn't know who OJ (just to save some keyboard strokes from now on) was. It turned out, she didn't know everything either, based on 2) from above. Long story not so short, I want to collect what I got out of it for myself and maybe you find it interesting too/have similar perspectives.
A) First thing, Michelle (my gf) googled OJ Simpson and I was like "wtf that's the guy from the Naked Gun". Ok, I might not be from the US, but Leslie Nielsen and the Naked Gun are f***ing awesome! (btw. Michelle never watched the Naked Gun which might be the most disturbing piece of the whole blog post.) Hence, I only knew OJ playing this stupid ass police man which turned out to be fairly accurate - if Guba Gooding Jr.'s is representing real life OJ. (btw. Cuba Gooding Jr is already 67???)
B) Continuing the point. Throughout the whole series I was bluntly amazed and shocked at the same time and could not relate at all to how OJ behaved. I mean, for starters, *apparently* killing his ex wife and her new bf and then panicking and driving on the highway for god knows how long the next day. I mean, seriously, how does he think that will play out? He continued to not be able to have any conflict, take any responsibility or face reality in any way.
Due to the fact that I wasn't around for his football time, I have a hard time imaging how he can have such a celebrity status that it seemed like he is the untouchable. Meaning, even after the highway pursuit he is able to just walk into his home and sit down on the couch talking with his friends, because of his emotional state. Like, hello?
When he needed to tell Shapiro that he is not the lead attorney any longer, again, dude, have some balls.
C) Damn, how much did the main prosecutor Marcia Clark go through. A woman in a male dominated field, her biggest case ever, her ex husband exposing naked pictures of her and making it public she lied about staying home for her kid (which she actually planned on doing), getting a backlash for her hair (it was a bad choice though) and just making repeated bad calls along the case.
I mean, her opponents apparently were one of the best attorneys out there and the series nicely shows, how she gets outsmarted over and over again. Granted, not only her, but her whole team.
D) The Kardashians. Not only is the case with all it's characters already amazing by itself as a closed book, but it's even more amazing what happened to the single individuals afterwards. So, to be clear, the Kardashians became famous after being involved with an *apparent* murderer? Guess they were already rich and hence had the company of similar people. However, I assume the spotlight didn't hurt them too much.
Can I quickly hammer home that we are talking about the Kardashians. The family who also then got even more famous for having a daughter who hung out with Paris Hilton (why is she famous again?), to then move on to have a sex tape and then...well...I actually don't know. This was a real surprise to me to see that they go back to that case.
I have to say, not sure how much is played by David Schwimmer at this point, but then it seemed like that there was at least some authenticity and realness in the Kardashian's father by walking away and seeing the conflict throughout the process.
E) Good old Mark Fuhrman. The person who apparently had some medals from WW2 at home, just not from the US side. Not sure if that is true, but the tapes showed a clear picture of his mindset back then. I don't understand why he pled the 5th for the last question, if he planted any evidence in the OJ case. I mean, he later revisited that statement and said that he didn't. But then, he also said he is not a racist and longer lied under oath previously.
All there is to know is that that guy is now a Fox News commentator.
F) Not only the Kardashians and Fuhrman, how ridiculous where all the others ended up and how many people wanted to benefit from this - like this apparent friend of Nicole Brown who was quite quick to write a book about this case. Btw. that woman is now playing in the Real Housewives television show. In fact, the judge, was the only person involved in the whole case not writing a book. Like, seriously, that is pure Hollywood, attention seeking, no dignity and fakeness/superficiality for you. #stereotyping
H) I am white person, not grown up in the USA. To us, calling anyone/thing 'Nazi' is an absolute no-go, just like the other n-word is in the US. And also, as mentioned above, I was not alive during 1990 with street fights/wars in LA and I can't fully grasp how bad it is for black people in the US, especially with some police clearly having a different scale for evaluating them.
Having said that, I was surprised to see how divided and biased the individual perspective of the black and white side is. Apparently still most of black would say OJ is not guilty, while most white would call him guilty. As with all documentaries, they chose an angle which you are inevitable exposed to. Just by watching the show, knowing that OJ's hands were apparently swollen during the trial, because he didn't have all his meds and seeing what other stuff he did previously in his life and got charged for later in his life + that there is no one else being charged for the crimes, makes it hard for me to believe it was anyone else. Even if Fuhrman lied and manufactured some evidence, did he plant everything and even do it himself? Was it the whole LAPD? Why then target OJ? And if so, why did no one charge - or did someone?
Well, it's 2018 and OJ is back out of prison. I haven't watched the Naked Gun in quite a while and am also not sure how I will feel the next time I might see it. Guess I will still laugh, but watching this series was indeed quite eye-opening, disturbing, entertaining and making me speechless many times or all at the same time.
edit. Christopher Darden, the black prosecutor next to Clark did a great AMA on Reddit. Even though he doesn't appreciate the actors playing him, I will say that the actor transferred that Christopher Darden had a solid spine and moral compass.
