The Oxford Encyclopedia of Crime, Media, and Popular Culture

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Art Works ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Crime News ◽  
True Crime ◽  
Popular Television ◽  
Historical Moment

Over 120 scholarly articlesCrime and punishment fascinate. Overwhelming in their media dominance, they present us with our most popular television programs, films, novels, art works, video games, podcasts, social media streams and hashtags. This encyclopedia, a massive and unprecedented undertaking, offers a foundational space for understanding the cultural life and imaginative force and power of crime and punishment. Across five areas foundational to the study of crime and media, leading scholars from five continents engage cutting edge scholarship in order to provide definitive overviews of over 120 topics. In the context of an unprecedented global proliferation in the production of images, they take up the perennial and emergent problems of crime's celebrity and fascination; stereotypes and innovations in portrayals of crime and criminals; and the logics of representation that follow police, courts, capital punishment, prisons, and legal systems across the world. They also engage new, timely, and historically overlooked categories of offense and their representations, including child sexual abuse, violence against women, and human trafficking. A series of entries on mediums and methods provide a much needed set of critical approaches at a historical moment when doing media and visual research is a daunting, formidable undertaking. This is also a project that stretches our understanding of conventional categories of crime representation. One example of this is homicide, where entries include work on the ever-popular serial killer but also extend to filicide, infanticide, school shootings, aboriginal deaths in custody, lynchings, terrorism and genocide. Readers will be will be hard-pressed to find a convention, trope, or genre of crime representation that is not, in some way, both present and enlarged. From film noir to police procedurals, courtroom dramas and comedies to comic books, crime news to true crime and reality tv, gaming to sexting, it is covered in this encyclopedia.

Popular Culture and Religion in America

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Schofield Clark ◽  
Seth M. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Entertainment Media ◽  
Lifestyle Choices ◽  
Cultural Tensions ◽  
Justice Movements ◽  
Popular Television

“Popular culture” is a term that usually refers to those commercially produced items specifically associated with leisure, media, and lifestyle choices. To study religion in popular culture, then, is to explore religion’s appearance in the commercially produced artifacts and texts of a culture. The study of popular culture has been a catalyst of sorts in the context of studying religion. Some have speculated that with the increasing presence of religion in commercially produced products and specifically in the entertainment media, religion may be reduced to entertainment. Others, however, have argued that religion has always been expressed and experienced through contemporary forms of culture, and thus its manifestation in popular culture can be interpreted as a sign of the vitality rather than the demise or superficiality of contemporary religions. Popular culture is worthy of study given its role in cultural reproduction. The study of popular culture and religion encourages scholars to consider the extent to which popular cultural representations limit broader critical considerations of religion by depicting and reinforcing taken-for-granted assumptions of what religion is, who practices it and where, and how it endures as a powerful societal institution. Alternately, popular culture has been explored as a site for public imaginings of how religious practices and identities might be different and more inclusive than they have been in the past, pointing toward the artistic and playful ways in which popular religious expression can comment upon dominant religion, dominant culture, and the power relations between them. With the rise of an ubiquitous media culture in which people are increasingly creators and distributors as well as consumers and modifiers of popular culture, the term has come to encompass a wide variety of products and artifacts, including those both commercially produced and generated outside of traditional commercial and religious contexts. Studies might include explorations of religion in such popular television programs as Orange Is the New Black or in novels such as The Secret Life of Bees, but might also include considerations of how religion and popular culture intersect in practices of Buddhism in the virtual gaming site Second Life, in the critical expressions of Chicana art, in the commercial experiments of Islamic punk rock groups, and in hashtag justice movements. The study of religion and popular culture can be divided into two major strands, both of which are rooted in what is known as the “culture and civilization tradition.” The first strand focuses on popular culture, myth, and cultural cohesion or continuity, while the second explores popular culture in relation to religion, power, and cultural tensions.

scholarly journals CONTEMPORARY RECEPTION OF EDDIC THEMES IN NEW MEDIA: VIRTUAL 'NORDIC' IDENTITIES, CASE STUDY: DARK AGE OF CAMELOT

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-54
Author(s):  
Ester Jiresch ◽  
Vincent Boswijk
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
New Media ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Identity Constructions ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Poetic Edda ◽  
Popular Television

This article discusses the most recent (twenty-first century) development in reception and adaptation of Nordic mythology (particularly referring to the Prose and Poetic Edda) and the appropriating of Nordic identities (stereotypes) that is taking place in the so-called new media. In the last two decades the reception of Nordic mythology or Nordic 'themes' in different new media like film, comic books, heavy metal music and computer games has exploded. New media are generally considered expressions of 'popular' culture and have therefore not yet received much scholarly attention. However, since those media are growing notably and especially computer games (console and online applications) reach an enormous audience.Scientific interest in them has increased in recent years. Miller mentions the 'sexiness of Vikings in video games, the pretense of Viking-like settings for popular television programs […]' (Miller, 2014, p. 4). The case study is Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC – Mythic Entertainment 2001) which is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that is currently (2015) still available to play online. We will show examples of themes (characters, narratives, objects etc.) deriving from Eddic texts and how they are represented and deployed in the game. Since the representation of 'Nordic' identity is a key feature in the game's construction, it will therefore be addressed as well. The fictional world of DAoC consists of three realms – Albion, Hibernia and Midgard – that are at war with each other. Their (human) inhabitants are respectively based on medieval Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Norse tribes that differ distinctively in their character traits. Our goal is to elaborate on the representation of identity traits of the fictional 'Norse' races (as defined by the game) that appear in DAoC. We will scrutinize if and how the game uses older or more current concepts of (national) identity. In order to do so, an overview of Scandinavian / Nordic identity constructions that have been popular and / or widespread from antiquity will be presented, via medieval sources to romanticism and nineteenth century nationalism until current discussions of national identity.

scholarly journals The gastronomic show in the TV program grid: typological features

Moldoscopie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludmila Rusnac ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Tv Program ◽  
The Media ◽  
Popular Television ◽  
Television Formats

Gastronomic culture is becoming more and more evident in the media sphere. Taking different forms – aesthetic, imagistic, stylistic, informative-communicative, this kind of content is situated among the most rated programs that form the broadcasting of television stations, especially commercial ones. Culinary shows are among the most popular television programs to which the local public has access. The purpose of this research is to establish the structural-discursive particularities of culinary programs, as well as to realize a typology of these television formats. The gastronomic shows placed on the broadcast on the local and retransmitted television stations that have at least one gastronomic show on the grid were subjected to a content analysis.

scholarly journals Violations of Journalistic Ethics in Television Programs as a Subject of the Modern Russian Television Criticism

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7486-7489
Keyword(s):  
Talk Shows ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Channel One ◽  
Ethical Violations ◽  
Ethical Violation ◽  
Popular Television ◽  
Television Journalists ◽  
Television Criticism

The article reveals and studies the regularity and quality of coverage by television critics in newspapers of the journalistic professional ethic violations in television programs of five most popular television channels (“Channel One”, “Russia 1”, NTV, STS and TNT). Using the content method and comparative analysis, the authors of the article found that out of 1583 published in three years the topic of journalists’ ethical violation was covered only in 228 articles (14.4% of the total number of articles). Of the ten authors who regularly analyzed the content of television channels in the Russian press, only four critics did not remain indifferent and tried to draw public attention to violations of ethics on the part of television journalists. I. Petrovskaya, the reviewer from Novaya Gazeta, covered this issue more often than other critics. The most common ethical violation revealed by critics was the discussion in talk shows of not always proven mysteries from personal life of media people on the occasion of their passing. However, there were no special public discussions about the cases and reasons for ethical violations between critics and authors of TV projects, as well as critics and the audience. The article concludes that at present, apart from a public discussion of such cases, television critics have no opportunity to influence on the situation and change it. The authors of the article also concluded that there is a need for further constant and objective reflection of the quality of journalistic work at various levels, especially the practice of regional television journalism. The results of the study supplement the conclusions through the examples from the current practice of the Russian television criticism to the results in the articles and scientific literature of S.K. Shayhitdinova (2007), A. Kaun (2014), P.B. Orlik (2014), J.R. Linder, K.A. Lyle (2011).

Serial Killing and Representation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip L. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Serial Killer ◽  
Serial Killers ◽  
Serial Murder ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Serial Killing ◽  
True Crime ◽  
Jack The Ripper

Serial killing is an age-old problem, though it was not popularly known by that name until the 1980s. It took the rise of mass media and the mechanisms of mass production to create the conditions for the rise of serial murder in the modern world. The mass media representation of a series of murders arguably dates back to the notoriety accorded to the so-called Jack the Ripper killings of prostitutes in London in the autumn of 1888. The Ripper murders stand at a particular nexus in the representation of true crime, where fact and legend immediately fused in popular media to create a terrifying new modern, urban mythology of a preternaturally cunning human super-predator: one who strikes from the shadows to commit ghastly murder with impunity and then retreats back into that darkness until the next atrocity. Since the days of Jack the Ripper, a ghoulish pantheon of other serial killers has captivated the public imagination through representation in media: the Zodiac Killer, David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy Jr., Henry Lee Lucas, Richard Ramirez, and Jeffrey Dahmer, just to name a few. However, the term “serial killer” did not enter the American popular vocabulary until the 1980s, so in another sense, the true representation of what we now know as serial killing could not begin until it had this latest, proper name. In tandem, as cultural consciousness of serial murder expanded, fictional serial killers proliferated the media landscape: Patrick Bateman, Norman Bates, Francis Dolarhyde, Lou Ford, Jame Gumb, Mickey and Mallory Knox, Leatherface, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Dexter Morgan, Tom Ripley, and a host of others. Serial killers as they exist in the popular imagination are media constructs rooted in sociological/criminological/psychological realities. These constructs originate from collective fears or anxieties specific to a particular time and place, which also means as times and the cultural zeitgeist change, the serial killer as a character epitomizing human evil is endlessly reinvented for new audiences in popular media.

The Concept of American Exceptionalism and the Case of Capital Punishment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Garland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Preliminary Discussion ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Twenty First Century

This chapter aims to distinguish the various meanings of American exceptionalism and clarifies what we might mean when we invoke this phrase. It also discusses what the American exceptionalism concept implies for the study of crime and punishment. To begin, the chapter first presents a preliminary discussion on the concept and its meanings. It then examines American exceptionalism by means of a close analysis of a specific penal phenomenon that is often invoked as proof that the United States is, indeed, exceptional: America’s retention of capital punishment into the twenty-first century. Here, the chapter argues that while America’s current stance on capital punishment may be anomalous in international terms, it is not an instance of American exceptionalism.

Refugees and Migrants in Contemporary Film, Art and Media

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deniz Bayrakdar ◽  
Robert Burgoyne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Modes Of Representation ◽  
Art Works ◽  
Contemporary Film ◽  
Aesthetic Engagement ◽  
Historical Moment

Migration in the 21st century is one of the pre-eminent issues of our present historical moment, a phenomenon that has acquired new urgency with accelerating climate change, civil wars, and growing economic scarcities. Refugees and Migrants in Film, Art and Media consists of eleven essays that explore how artists have imaginatively engaged with this monumental human drama, examining a range of alternative modes of representation that provide striking new takes on the experiences of these precarious populations. Covering prominent art works by Ai Weiwei and Richard Mosse, and extending the spectrum of representation to refugee film workshops on the island of Lesvos as well as virtual reality installations of Alejandro G. Iñárritu and others, the chapters included here focus on the power of aesthetic engagement to illuminate the stories of refugees and migrants in ways that overturn journalistic clichés.

Black Adolescents’ Television Usage and Endorsement of Mainstream Gender Roles and the Strong Black Woman Schema

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nkemka Anyiwo ◽  
L. Monique Ward ◽  
Kyla Day Fletcher ◽  
Stephanie Rowley
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Gender Role ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Television Viewing ◽  
Black Adolescents ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Strong Black Woman ◽  
Popular Television ◽  
Selection Of

This study investigated the associations between Black adolescents’ television usage and their endorsement of mainstream gender roles (MGR) and the strong Black woman (SBW) schema, which characterizes Black woman as emotionally strong, independent, and self-sacrificing. A total of 121 self-identified Black adolescents completed survey measures assessing their endorsement of the SBW and MGR, their viewership of 29 popular television programs (17 targeted to mainstream audiences and 12 targeted to a Black audience), and their total hours of weekly television viewing. Viewing Black-oriented programs was associated with stronger endorsement of SBW. However, viewing mainstream programs was associated with lower endorsement of MGR, specifically for boys. These findings offer some of the first indications of potential relations between Black adolescents’ gender role schemas and the racial makeup of the television programs that they view. We discuss possibilities that youth’s selection of television programs may strengthen the development of the SBW or that youth who embrace the SBW schema may select programs that fit the schema.

The people’s detective: true crime in Dutch folklore and popular television

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 635-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stijn Reijnders
Keyword(s):  
True Crime ◽  
Popular Television

scholarly journals Adolescents’ Objectification of Their Same-Sex Friends: Indirect Relationships With Media Use Through Self-Objectification, Rewarded Appearance Ideals, and Online Appearance Conversations

2020 ◽  
pp. 107769902095972
Author(s):  
Laurens Vangeel ◽  
Jolien Trekels ◽  
Steven Eggermont ◽  
Laura Vandenbosch
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Television Exposure ◽  
Popular Television ◽  
Self Objectification ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Appearance Ideals

The current cross-sectional study among adolescent boys and girls ( N = 640, Mage = 15.47, SD = 1.63) examined whether exposure to popular television programs and Facebook predicts the extent to which adolescents objectify their same-sex friends. Two pathways were tested to explain these relationships. The first included internalization of rewarded appearance ideals and self-objectification. The second included appearance conversations with friends on Facebook. Results revealed that adolescents’ television exposure and Facebook use only indirectly predicted friend-objectification through their engagement in appearance conversations on Facebook. The relationship between television exposure and friend-objectification was also fully mediated by internalization and self-objectification.

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