American True Crime Streaming Shows about Serial Killers

Natasza Korczarowska

natasza.korczarowska@uni.lodz.pl
University of Lodz (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3130-128X

Abstract

According to Marc Ferro, sensational faits divers, such as stories about Jack the Ripper, are presented in cinema as symptoms through which the society can understand certain social and political issues. Adopting a similar assumption, the author analyses selected American true crime series – produced and distributed by various streaming platforms – in a broader sociopolitical context. The shows are placed in the paradigm of American “wound culture(Mark Seltzer) and 9/11 discourse (the proliferation of true crime genre as an expression of nostalgia for safe America before the WTC attack). The article proposes reflection on ethical questions (the fascination with serial killers as an example of David Schmid’s “natural born celebrities culture”) and on viewers’ active Participation (Stella Bruzzi’s “performative true crime”) as an attitude typical for the contemporary ‘culture of detection’.


Keywords:

true crime, serial killer, symptom, wound culture, active participation

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Published
2023-12-28

Cited by

Korczarowska, N. (2023) “American True Crime Streaming Shows about Serial Killers”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (124), pp. 139–160. doi: 10.36744/kf.1702.

Authors

Natasza Korczarowska 
natasza.korczarowska@uni.lodz.pl
University of Lodz Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3130-128X

Professor at the Department of Film and Audiovisual Media, Institute of Contemporary Culture, University of Lodz. She specializes in the history of Polish film, contemporary European cinema, and the problems of historiophoty. She published the books Ojczyzny prywatne [Private Homelands] (2007) and Inne spojrzenie [Another Way] (2013) – the latter devoted to the images of history in the Polish feature film after 1965. Since 2008 she has cooperated with the Polish Film Institute and the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute on the educational project Academy of Polish Film.



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