In 2007, Amanda Knox was charged with murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy during a study-abroad program. Knox, as well as her ex-boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito, were convicted in the Italian courts and sentenced to over 25 years in jail. However, their cases were up for retrial this month, and after a highly media-tized hearing, Knox’s conviction was reversed and she added immediately returned to the US.
What makes this case different is the polar opposite reactions of the US and of Italy.
The United States has portrayed Knox as a young American teen, who was caught in a web of confusing testimonials and unreliable evidence that loosely found that she committed murder. She’s been portrayed as a victim and countless interviews from her family sets the response tone as sympathetic and apologetic. Its articles like this that put Knox in that light. US newspapers and magazines have harnessed onto the cliché idea of a young girl separated from her family. Conversely, the Italian response to the Knox case has been anything but positive, especially after she was set free.
On the other hand, Italy sees Knox as a sex-crazed demon who brutally murdered her roommate in an act of rage. How Italian’s really saw Knox was most prevalent when she was released from her re-trial, after being found not-guilty. After she was freed, Italians and news crews stood outside the court room shouting “Vergogna! Vergogna!” (“Shame! Shame!”). Many Italian newspapers have equated Knox to satan.
One thing I find interesting is the role the media has played in the case. It’s all up to the media on how Knox is portrayed and it largely influences how the general public reacts. The US media set the case in one light, while the Italian one did in another.
Conversely, the central issue here may not be the legal case; it’s the difference in cultural priorities and ethics. “In the end, it was the trial of a different culture, a clash of cultures more than a legal case,” said Vittorio Zucconi in La Repubblica. The Knox case represented a larger problem; a clash between Italy and the US. A New York Times article said how Italian's were questioning how Americans perceived them and their justice system. In addition, on an Italian radio station, Il Sole 24 Ore Radio, callers complained how the US media was portraying Italy’s sentencing of Knox in such a harsh negative light, especially since the US has the death penalty.
The Knox case is a prime example of a cultural clash – two cultures seeing the same event through two completely different lenses. Whether these lenses are media-driven, or driven by some other factor, the way in which these two cultures see the case, and see one another has caused a rift.
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