Studiens syfte var att utifrån Nils Christies teori om det ideala offret, i kombination med ettgenusteoretiskt perspektiv analysera hur offer och gärningspersoner framställdes i TV-serien I Am a Killer. Den valda analysmetoden var tematisk analys. Studien visade att Christies idealtyper inte var vanligt förekommande, och att Christies icke-idealtyper var dominerande. Vidare visade studien att offer såväl som förövare inte framställdes olika utifrån deras könstillhörighet. Slutsatserna som gjordes var att Christies teori om idealtyper inte gick att applicera fullt ut på riktiga människor. I stället visade sig termen rollblandning vara mer tillämplig på verkliga människor och fall. Vidare var stereotypa idéer och föreställningar om män respektive kvinnor till viss del förekommande i materialet. Tidigare forskning gällande framställningen av kvinnliga offer och gärningspersoner samt manliga offer och gärningspersoner bekräftades till viss del men inte fullt ut. / The purpose of the study was to analyze how victims and offenders were portrayed in the Netflix series I Am a Killer, through Nils Christie’s theory of the ideal victim in combination with a gender theoretical perspective. The chosen method of analysis was a thematic content analysis. The study showed that Christie’s ideal types were not common and that non-ideal victims and offenders dominated. Furthermore, the study did not show that victims and offenders were portrayed differently based on their gender. The conclusions made were that Christie’s ideal types were not applicable in the realm of reality, the roles ”victim” and” offender” were generally intertwined which made the term victim-offender overlap more useful and accurate. Furthermore, stereotypical ideas regarding men and women were somewhat present in the material. To a certain extent that confirmed previous research regarding the portrayal of gender in media as well as in victimization and perpetratorship.

Syftet med följande uppsats är att undersöka hur unga kvinnor resonerar kringvarför de konsumerar true crime samt på vilka sätt de beskriver att konsumtionenpåverkar deras rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott. Uppsatsen syftar även till attundersöka hur unga kvinnor framställer kopplingen mellan kvinnorssocialiseringsprocess och deras rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott, i relation tillderas konsumtion av true crime. En kvalitativ ansats har tillämpats i form avfokusgruppsintervjuer för att besvara uppsatsens syfte och frågeställningar.Reflexiv tematisk analys har använts för att analysera materialet. Den tematiskaanalysen resulterade i tre identifierade teman. Det första temat var Lockelsen avtrue crime. De huvudsakliga resultaten för detta tema var att deltagarnakonsumerar true crime för att få förståelse för gärningspersoners motiv ochhandlingar, kunskap om vilka beteenden de ska tillämpa och vilka typer avpersoner de ska undvika för att förhindra att utsättas för brott, samt underhållning.Tema två var Faktorer som påverkar rädsla, där resultaten visade att deltagarnadiskuterade att konsumtion av true crime påverkade deras rädsla att utsättas förvåldsbrott på olika sätt. Främst geografisk- och tidsmässig närhet till brottsoffrensom porträtteras, samt identifiering med brottsoffren var faktorer som gjordedeltagarna mer rädda att utsättas för våldsbrott. Deltagarna kopplade även truecrime innehåll till sin egen verklighet och sin risk att utsättas för brott. Det tredjetemat var Beteende en som konsekvens av true crime och resultaten från dettatema visade att deltagarna beskriver förändringar i deras beteende efter att debörjat konsumera true crime, i form av skyddande och undvikande beteenden. / This bachelor thesis aims to investigate how young women discuss the purposesbehind true crime consumption and how they describe the impact of true crimeconsumption has on their fear of violent crimes. Furthermore, the thesis aims toinvestigate in which ways young women depict the association between women’ssocialization processes and their fear of violent crime, in relation to true crimeconsumption. A qualitative approach has been applied and the thesis aims andresearch questions were answered with the help of focus groups. Reflexivethematic analysis constituted the method of analysis which resulted in threecentral themes. The first being The appeal of true crime. The main results of thistheme showed that the participants consume true crime content to gain anunderstanding of the perpetrators’ motives and actions, knowledge regardingwhich behaviors to adapt in order to avoid victimization, and entertainment. In thesecond theme, Factors that impact fear of crime, the participants discussed thattrue crime consumption impacted their fear of violent crime in diverse ways.Spatial- and temporal proximity to the cases being depicted in true crime contentwas a main factor that contributed to heightened fear. Furthermore, theparticipants connected true crime content to their own reality and their riskassessment in relation to victimization. The third theme was defined as Behaviorsas a consequence of true crime consumption. Results from this theme showed thatthe participants describe changes in their behavior as a consequence of their truecrime consumption. Mainly the behavioral changes consisted of protective andavoidant behavior.

Murder is something that both horrifies and arouses interest in our society. The media is acontributing factor to the different portrayals of murderers, potentially affecting the public'sunderstanding of the crime and the perpetrators behind it. This study analyses the representation of female murderers in podcasts. The research questions are based on Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis. Thus, they aim to analyse how women are represented in podcasts, how the representations challenge or reproduce female stereotypes, andhow this can be seen problematic from a broader social context. This is done through a criticaldiscourse analytic perspective, where the aim is to understand how different linguistic choices andnarratives about female murderers can challenge or reproduce different discourses about women.To understand the deeper meaning of the text, we use a theoretical framework consisting offraming theory, gender theory, narratology and a theoretical understanding of stereotypes. The study is concluding that the female murderers included in the empirical material of the studyare portrayed as both emotionally driven as well as evil and vengeful. The former characteristic canbe linked to how the stereotypical woman is considered and the latter to the stereotypical femalemurderer. The consistent discourses that are interpreted from the empirical material are that thewoman is the weaker gender and that female murderers are the opposite of the stereotypicalwoman. The study is also concluding that this can be seen as problematic in a wider social context.This can influence the public's perception of the reality of female murderers and help to perpetuatethe discourses and stereotypes as well as gender roles in society. The study also finds that revengeis often portrayed as the motive for the murder even though there could be other underlying causes,such as women abuse and mental illness which were not discussed in the material. The conclusions of the study are that the empirical material reproduces the different stereotypesof what a woman is and is not. This can be further problematised by the fact that the work ofdissolving gender roles and stereotypes is halted or made more difficult. It is also possible tointerpret that those who benefit from this are the media who receive news with higher news value.The study is also concluding that there may be underlying motives for the murders that are hiddenin larger societal problems, such as the abuse of women and mental illness. Failure of the media toaddress such perspectives could be problematic for society and individuals by continuing to taboothese topics, which are currently major societal problems. / Mord är något som både förskräcker och framkallar intresse i vårt samhälle. Medier är enbidragande faktor till olika framställningar av mördare vilket potentiellt kan inverka påallmänhetens förståelse av brottet och gärningsmännen bakom det. Denna studie analyserarrepresentationen av kvinnliga mördare i podcasts. Frågeställningarna grundar sig i NormanFaircloughs tredimensionella modell av kritisk diskursanalys. De går således ut på att analysera hurkvinnorna framställs i podcasts, hur framställningarna utmanar eller reproducerar kvinnligastereotyper, samt hur detta kan ses problematiskt ur ett vidare socialt sammanhang. Detta görsgenom ett kritiskt diskursanalytiskt perspektiv, där syftet är att förstå hur olika lingvistiska val ochberättelser om kvinnliga mördare kan utmana eller reproducera olika diskurser om kvinnor. För attförstå textens djupare mening använder vi oss av ett teoretiskt ramverk bestående avgestaltningsteorin, genusteorin, narratologi samt en teoretisk förståelse av stereotyper. Studien visar att de kvinnliga mördare som inkluderas i studiens empiriska material framställs sombåde känslostyrda samt onda och hämndlystna. Den förstnämnda egenskapen kan kopplas sammanmed hur den stereotypa kvinnan anses vara och det sistnämnda med den stereotypiska kvinnligamördaren. De genomgående diskurserna som tolkas ur det empiriska materialet är att kvinnan ärdet svagare könet och att kvinnliga mördare är en motsats till den stereotypa kvinnan. Studien visaräven att detta kan ses problematiskt i en större social kontext. Detta då det kan influeraallmänhetens verklighetsuppfattning om kvinnliga mördare och bidra till att befästa diskursernaoch stereotyper samt genusroller i samhället. Studien visar till sist även att hämnd ofta porträtterassom motivet till mordet trots att det kan finnas andra bakomliggande orsaker somkvinnomisshandel eller psykisk ohälsa vilket inte diskuterades i materialet. Studiens slutsatser är att det empiriska materialet reproducerar de olika stereotyperna kring vad enkvinna är och inte. Detta kan vidare problematiseras genom att arbetet med att upplösa genusrolleroch stereotyper stannar upp eller försvåras. Det går även att tyda att de som gynnas av detta ärmedier som får nyheter med mer nyhetsvärde. Studiens slutsats är även att det kan finnasbakomliggande motiv till morden som döljer sig i större samhällsproblem som kvinnomisshandeloch psykisk sjukdom. Om medier inte tar upp sådana perspektiv kan det bli problematiskt församhälle och individer genom att fortsatt tabubelägga dessa ämnen som idag är storasamhällsproblem.

The Bronco Chase and arrest of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, and his subsequent criminal trial became one of the most captivating, mass-mediated events of the last decade of the twentieth century. Simpson's iconic celebrity status and his race as an African-American inflamed the notoriety of the crime. An insatiable spectatorial desire for Simpson and narratives concerning his alleged involvement in the Brentwood murders engulfed the American public and American culture for thirty-two months. An excessive scrutiny of his identity by the media, law and order professionals and the populace generated a racially charged discursive cacophony. The memoir Simpson published during his remand to raise funds for his defense expenses, I Want to Tell You: My Response to Your Letters, Your Messages, Your Questions, allows for a productive critical study of everyday rhetoric and the commodity fetishism of celebrity. Released in late January 1995, during the first week of the prosecution�s opening statements in the criminal trial, I Want to Tell You was Simpson's first public comment following the nationally televised reading of his suicide note and his spectacular arrest on June 17, 1994. The intercalation of Simpson�s narrative utterance with 108 of the more than three hundred thousand letters he received from June to December 1994 as Los Angeles County Jail inmate 4013970 is a practical manifestation of the use value and exchange value of fame. The reciprocity of the epistolic, the phatic demands of address, the etiquette of fan mail and hate mail, the gift of the written text, vulnerable and resonant, reveal an adherence to the symbiotic dynamic of the celebrity-fan, writer-reader, dyadic relation and its currency. Plying his trade as idol of consumption, as spectacle, as genre, Simpson capitalised on the cultural condition of his name and his face as objects of desire. The racialised flesh of Simpson's African-American male body became a site and a sight for narrative and inscription within a pay-per-view marketplace of reification, prosopopoeia, gazeability and criminality.

The Bronco Chase and arrest of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, and his subsequent criminal trial became one of the most captivating, mass-mediated events of the last decade of the twentieth century. Simpson's iconic celebrity status and his race as an African-American inflamed the notoriety of the crime. An insatiable spectatorial desire for Simpson and narratives concerning his alleged involvement in the Brentwood murders engulfed the American public and American culture for thirty-two months. An excessive scrutiny of his identity by the media, law and order professionals and the populace generated a racially charged discursive cacophony. The memoir Simpson published during his remand to raise funds for his defense expenses, I Want to Tell You: My Response to Your Letters, Your Messages, Your Questions, allows for a productive critical study of everyday rhetoric and the commodity fetishism of celebrity. Released in late January 1995, during the first week of the prosecution�s opening statements in the criminal trial, I Want to Tell You was Simpson's first public comment following the nationally televised reading of his suicide note and his spectacular arrest on June 17, 1994. The intercalation of Simpson�s narrative utterance with 108 of the more than three hundred thousand letters he received from June to December 1994 as Los Angeles County Jail inmate 4013970 is a practical manifestation of the use value and exchange value of fame. The reciprocity of the epistolic, the phatic demands of address, the etiquette of fan mail and hate mail, the gift of the written text, vulnerable and resonant, reveal an adherence to the symbiotic dynamic of the celebrity-fan, writer-reader, dyadic relation and its currency. Plying his trade as idol of consumption, as spectacle, as genre, Simpson capitalised on the cultural condition of his name and his face as objects of desire. The racialised flesh of Simpson's African-American male body became a site and a sight for narrative and inscription within a pay-per-view marketplace of reification, prosopopoeia, gazeability and criminality.

abstract: The mass media genre known as true crime is dismissed often as a more sensational, less reliable iteration of traditional crime journalism. Consumer and editorial confusion exists because there is no overarching criteria determining what is, and what is not, true crime. To that extent, the complete history of true crime’s origins and its best practitioners and works cannot be known with any certainty, and its future forms cannot be anticipated. Scholarship is overdue on an effective criteria to determine when nonfiction murder narratives cease to be long-form crime reporting and become something else. Against the backdrop of this long-evolving, multi-faceted literary/documentary genre, the researcher in this exploratory, qualitative study seeks to (a) examine the historical tension between formal journalism and true crime; (b) reveal how traditional journalism both reviles and plunders true crime for its rhetorical treasures; and (c) explain how this has destabilized the meaning of the term “true crime” to the degree that a more substantive understanding needs to be established. Through a textual analysis of the forms and functions of representative artifacts, the researcher will suggest that a Theory of True Crime could be patterned after time-tested analytic codes created for fiction, but structured in a simple two-stage examination that would test for dominant characteristics of established true crime texts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 2017

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka berättarkomponenter som skaparna av The Keepers använder i serien, hur de fungerar tillsammans och hur de möjliggör ett långt dokumentärt berättande. För att komma fram till ett resultat har vi gjort en narrativ analys och en visuell narrativ analys med hjälp av teorier som diskuterar filmatiseringar, animationer, modus och dramaturgi. Resultatet visade att kombinationen av ett klassiskt dramaturgiskt berättande tillsammans med moderna berättarkomponenter i The Keepers skapar spänning och engagerar tittaren i det långa berättandet. Kombinationen av berättarkomponenterna gör att avsnitten hänger ihop väl och leder tittaren framåt genom alla sju avsnitt och serien.

In this thesis, I outline the changing shape of the reenactment in the contemporary true crime documentary to illustrate a burgeoning crisis of epistemology and anxieties about the authority of evidence in the Digital Age. I examine two works—The Jinx and The Imposter—that deal with evidence in formally similar but ideologically opposite ways. Logic in the Digital Age prioritizes an ever-widening collection of increasingly more precise artifacts and details, which supposedly paint a more complete picture but end up highlighting what is unknown more often. Key to this examination is the adoption of classic Hollywood thriller techniques (e.g., non-traditional narrative structures that emphasize subjectivity, twist endings that create uncertainty and doubt, etc.) which indicate a shift away from the traditional “cool” rhetorical control of social realist documentaries towards the emotionally charged manipulation of the thriller. This shift cannot be sufficiently explained by the overarching progression of the documentary towards more reflexive and performative modes. Rather, at the center of this shift is the use of stylized reenactments that share both the thriller’s preoccupation with subjectivity and uncertainty and digital logic’s pervading heterogeneous makeup. This shift troubles the mastery true crime docs implicitly claim to offer through evidence and the authority of the American criminal justice system in a different way than the more self-reflexive modes of documentary. To resolve the trouble, these films appeal less to evidence and more to emotional certainty and pathos as a way of judging guilt and innocence, shifting the way concrete evidence is understood.

Creating, producing and listening to podcasts has become an increasingly popular way for cultural transmission. Among an infinitely number of genres true crime has been rising in popularity during the last decade. By consuming true crime- podcasts we also affirm the relevance of the cultural exchange. The aim of this study is therefore to examine what this contemporary cultural exchange consists and in what way the transmission affect the actors.  The study was implemented by interviewing creators of true crime- podcasts as well as women consuming numerous podcasts within the genre. By applying Bourdieus theoretical concepts combined with Boltanski and Thevenots theory about orders of worth in the analyses of the empirical material we can acquire a profound understanding of individual practices as well as how they legitimize their actions. From the comprehensive material generated from the interviews we found some distinctive results. First, the creators aim to educade, inform and engender a reflective practice within the consumers. The podcastconsumers assigned that they are listening to true crime- podcast in the purpose of entertainment and the acquisition of information. Also, they keep listening although many of them have experienced feelings of fear and have become more cautious towards their surroundings. The cultural exchange that takes place within the podcast is the creation of meaning and reflection itself.

Denna studie har i syfte att nå utökad kunskap inom genren true-crime, dess historiska utveckling samt senaste tillskott. Studiens metodik består av såväl en litteraturstudie av tidigare forskning som en narrativanalys av serien The Tiger King. Tre kompletterande frågeställningar har framställts i syfte att vägleda studien och dess disposition. Det teoretiska ramverket består av genreteori och teorier i narrativanalys från Gerard Genette och Ian Punnett. Litteraturstudien, som är presenterad kronologiskt, identifierar ett antal intentionsmässiga utvecklingar för true-crimes historia. Dessa intentioner består av sensation, verklighetsrapportering, underhållning samt oskyldighetsrevolution. Den narrativa analysen av serien the Tiger King är uppdelad och analyseras kronologiskt utefter sina sju avsnitt. Analysen tyder på en stundvis avsaknad av narrativa aspekter som är väsentliga för true-crime och inslag av såväl sensationella som underhållande intentioner. Resultaten av litteraturstudien och den narrativa analysen sammanställs för studiens tredje frågeställning där the Tiger King behandlas utifrån genrens historiska utveckling. Förändringar i narrativets tidsaspekter, mängden avbildade aktörer och porträtteringen av rättsväsendet identifierades i studiens jämförelseanalys. Genrens mest uppseendeväckande förändring var dess porträtterande av offer och anklagade, samt hur dessa roller blivit ombytta. Dessa resultat leder studien till en diskussion kring genrens framtida utveckling och att the Tiger King kan innebära att true-crime genren återgår till underhållande intentioner. Studien diskuterar slutligen huruvida utvecklingarna inom genren dessutom tyder på en större samhällsförändring av attityderna mot brott och straff.