Introduction

Fringe cast from left to right (foreground) Philip Broyles, Walter Bishop, Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, Astrid Farnsworth. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co.

Fringe puts an interesting science fiction twist on the traditional crime drama, effectively merging the two genres into a thrilling and complex series. This blog focuses mostly on the nature of the violence present in Fringe and provides copious background information on the world and characters of Fringe. On this page you will find the analysis of the violence, which is the central theme, but if you are unfamiliar with the show, I suggest reviewing the other pages first in order to acquaint yourself with the relevance and implications of the claims I make. If, however, you are well versed in the world of Fringe, proceed cautiously into this examination of the Violence present in the series.

Synopsis / Fringe Science

Briefly, and on its most shallow level, Fringe chronicles the cases handled by a secret FBI division, Fringe Division, that deals with any cases that involve a form of pseudoscience dubbed "fringe science" from where the division got its name. Fringe Division consists of its leader, Agent Broyles, and co-agents Agent Dunham and Agent Farnsworth. Working with Fringe Division are Walter Bishop, and Peter Bishop. The crimes handled by Fringe Division are almost always recognized as murder or suicide by the normal authorities, yet, through their investigation, Fringe Division usually sheds some rather telling light on the actual motives and reasoning by the supposed criminals. Such light also casts interesting shadows on the nature of violence as portrayed in the series.

The Fringe team investigating a crime where the victims were burnt rapidly to lumps of carbon. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co.

To understand Fringe, one needs to first have an understand of what fringe science is. In a nutshell, fringe science is anything not included in normal science, from stereotypical mind control and other abnormal powers, to time travel with the nasty side effect of killing anything in close proximity to where you travel to, and not excluding punching holes between parallel universes to abduct your dead son's living counterpart. Fringe Division's job is to deal with these rather exotic crimes, and maintain normalcy in the world.

The Origin of Violence

In the world of Fringe, violence is most often seen as the natural progression of past mistakes, and thus not random acts. It is not the case, however, that the person responsible for the mistakes is at the center of or the target of the violence, but rather that it is the responsibility of perpetrator of the mistake to repair the damage done. Violence of this origin is most often portrayed as the unfortunate side effect of a struggle to survive. Another form the violence takes is as retribution for a perceived wrong done to someone. In this case, the motivation is much more vindictive and less defensive.

Dr. Walter Bishop shown working in his lab in a flashback used to explain the present situation. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co.

Going with the theme of violence being a natural progression, the source identified in the series is Dr. Walter Bishop, and specifically his past. Walter committed many atrocities in his past, and delved into things no one should. The result are the cases handled by Fringe Division. In some circumstances, the crimes are committed by victims of Walter's past simply trying to survive, while in others the crimes result from people taking advantage of abilities gained through Walter's research, though usually they were and unwilling participant in the research. It is therefore hard to determine who is ultimately responsible, due to the moral ambiguity.

Walter speaking with an unrelated character that invented a form of time travel with the unfortunate side effect of killing everything at his destination. In the end, he solves his problems and undoes the deaths of the innocent people, but dies himself. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co.

The third and final type of violence serves as a way to move the plot along and develop the characters. It is of the same nature as the other two forms, but with an unrelated past. Such violence is usually rather morally neutral and fully resolved with few consequences, furthering the idea that violence is a product of past wrongdoing.

Themes of Fringe Violence

Science, or more accurately fringe science, is the theme present in all violence in the series. The mystery and danger of fringe science is key to the suspense and action revolving around Fringe Division. We see the importance of fringe science to the show directly in the title sequence, with text such as "Teleportation", "Precognition", and "Psychokinesis" which clearly tie in with the pseudoscience the Fringe Division deals with. The title sequence even eludes to the overarching plot in the "reintegration" of the FRINGE letters at the end by referring to the spontaneous existence of objects in relation to the parallel universe. In addition, the mysterious and futuristic music composed by the creator, J.J. Abrams, gives the series a pseudoscience feel. To enhance the mystery, a few images from the glyph code (from which the divider to the right is constructed) in Fringe appear briefly. The violence is themed, therefore, as mysterious, complex, pseudoscience titularly dubbed fringe science.


The Fringe title sequence above displays the main themes of Fringe right at the beginning of each episode, and sets the tone of the episodes. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Company

Science - Good or Evil?

Dr. Walter fighting fire with fire by using fringe science to right the wrongs done by others using fringe science. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co.

Violence in Fringe is based around the exploitation of fringe science, which in some ways is an allusion to the exploitation of science and technology in the real world. In a sense, Fringe explores the morality of science, specifically related to its capability to aid and enhance the damage caused by violence. Each episode is a battle between Fringe Division and criminals, and the victor is whoever utilizes fringe science to its fullest potential. This seems to suggest that even though the violence is rooted and dependent on fringe science, it is not the science that is causing the violence. In the same way, Fringe Division is not tapping into some inherent good in fringe science to defeat the criminals, but rather simply using it as a tool. The violence would thus exist regardless of fringe science, and fringe science's only danger results from being in the wrong hands. In the real world, some people argue that science and technology are detrimental to the world, and that we should live without it. But by extending the claims based off of Fringe, one can conclude that it is not the science that is the problem, but rather the people and how they use the science. In this sense, science and fringe science are not necessarily good or evil, but rather morally neutral with morality being dependent on how they are used.