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- Convenors:
-
Regina F. Bendix
(Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
Christine Hämmerling (University of Göttingen)
Brigitte Frizzoni
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- Formats:
- Workshops
- Location:
- V303
- Sessions:
- Thursday 12 July, -
Time zone: Europe/Paris
Short Abstract:
Crime series are enjoyed by millions around the globe. Simultaneously civil societies strive to combat crime. This workshop investigates diversely mediated mystery formats and their audiences, focusing on the tension between the fictional pleasure and political undesirability inherent to crime.
Long Abstract:
Detective stories, crime series, and police-serials are enjoyed by millions of readers and viewers around the globe and hold a place of importance for a sizable number of a given population. Simultaneously civil societies strive to combat crime as a source of anxiety and unrest. This workshop "investigates" the place of crime formats in diverse media in everyday life with a view toward the tension between the fictional pleasure and political undesirability inherent to crime.
Drawing on media anthropological perspectives and ethnographic work, we invite contributions that address questions on the nature and reception of crime-based entertainment. The overall question - does fictional disquiet lessen feelings of actual insecurity? - might be addressed under topics such as the following: How are crime formats consumed, experienced and perceived in specific socio-cultural settings? Under what political or social circumstances do people enjoy crime fiction? Does the popularity and nature of police series differ depending on what kind of political systems its consumers inhabit? Is it a genre most at ease within democracies? To what extend do crime mysteries shape recipients' understanding of disquiet? How are images of marginality and mainstream communicated to and perceived by mystery audiences? What role does gender play with regard to real versus fictional crime perception and issues of public and private safety? How does seriality and (relative) predictability interface with cultural experiences of uncertainty? What is cozy about a thriller?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 12 July, 2012, -Paper short abstract:
A crime is committed, everyday life is disrupted, reality shifts – the genre is a locus classicus of social, political critique and existential exploration. The criminal incident sets a chain of events into motion where the investigation is the revolving door into past and future of all those concerned and relief and horror alike accompany abrupt, forced changes of established patterns. Crime generates all kinds of questions and routines, beliefs, certainties, emotions, attitudes and actions are unravelled and subject to interrogation. The first certainty of crime as event is that the perception of individual and social reality changes and doubt and belief exchange place. Analysing TV crime series from the UK between the 1990ies to the present this contribution suggests that the popularity and success of serial crime is based on the genre-inherent doubles of certainty and uncertainty and the pleasure to participate in violent upheaval.
Paper long abstract:
A crime is committed, everyday life is disrupted, reality shifts - the genre is a locus classicus of social, political critique and existential exploration.
The criminal incident sets a chain of events into motion where the investigation is the revolving door into past and future of all those concerned and relief and horror alike accompany abrupt, forced changes of established patterns. Crime generates all kinds of questions and routines, beliefs, certainties, emotions, attitudes and actions are unravelled and subject to interrogation.
The first certainty of crime as event is that the perception of individual and social reality changes and doubt and belief exchange place.
Analysing TV crime series from the UK between the 1990ies to the present this contribution suggests that the popularity and success of serial crime is based on the genre-inherent doubles of certainty and uncertainty and the pleasure to participate in violent upheaval.
Paper short abstract:
Since 1971, the crime serial "Tatort" airs on German tv on Sunday evening. Drawing from participant observation at public viewings, interviews and weekly online viewer comments, the paper argues that responses to Tatort reveal the boundaries of what kinds of crime may be tolerably fictionalized.
Paper long abstract:
The German crime serial "Tatort" has aired since 1971 on German tv. It features an ever growing number of inspector-teams from different German states (as well as on occasion Austria and Switzerland), and is produced in federal style by different public tv stations. The popularity of the show is so solid that in addition to new episodes on Sunday evenings, Tatort repeats can be seen on 2 to 4 other weeknights on various channels, there are DVDs available of select investigative teams, an aficionado website caters to ardent fans and the Facebook site receives considerable traffic and commentary on new show days.
For a year and a half we have accompanied and interviewed Tatort viewers in their homes, at public viewing sites and on the internet. Often quite close to actual crimes or issues burning at or near the surface of public discourse, Tatort "Krimis" occupy a peculiar mixture of roles for viewers. Most prominent among them is not the genre crime fiction but rather the position within the weekly calendar; Tatort marks the end of the weekend, looked forward to and simultaneously laden with that impending sense of a looming work week. Drawing esp. from weekly online comments viewers exchange, we will argue that responses to Tatort reveal the boundaries of what kinds of crime may be tolerably fictionalized. Tatort (and perhaps a great deal of crime fiction) extrapolates from the myriad of potential uncertainties and threats in everyday life foci - such as speedy detecting, banter with pathologists, or character flaws of the detectives - that render the complexity of crime into a manageable relief. Viewer displeasure with certain types of crime reveal, in turn, where the pleasure in fiction is jeopardized and inches too close to real or imagined criminal, social situations that are intolerable.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the guilty houses of the infamous criminals Fred and Rosemary West (United Kingdom), Marc Dutroux (Belgium) and Josef Fritzl (Austria). The aim of this cross-national comparative research is to explore which role the houses of the West’s, Dutroux and Fritzl fulfill in the collective memory of these traumatic, highly-mediated affairs, searching for general tendencies in the process of dealing with these physical-material locations associated with death and suffering by local authorities, neighboring residents, local entrepreneurs in the tourist industries and visitors. Expanding on the work of the Dutch artist and writer Armando, who introduced the concept ‘guilty landscape’, the term ‘guilty houses’ is introduced to refer to the evil homes of these criminals. In total, 32 in-depth interviews have been carried out with spokesmen of the local governments, neighboring residents, local entrepreneurs in the tourist industry and tourists that visited the houses. Additionally, a content analysis is conducted of relevant newspaper articles and articles on the internet and on-site observations of the houses are executed. Results show that the houses of the West’s, Dutroux and Fritzl fulfill a problematic role within the collective memory of these affairs. For the majority, the houses serve as a symbolic reflection of the cruel events that happened within them. Therefore, a strong need to forget can be identified, often accompanied by the decision to demolish the houses by the municipalities. The extensive media attention to the gruesome cases appeared to play a remarkable role in why tourists visited the houses. Overall, it can be concluded that not only the West’s, Dutroux and Fritzl carry their share of guilt, feelings of guilt and shame seem to spill over to its spatial surroundings with the guilty houses playing the leading role.
Paper long abstract:
This paper focuses on the guilty houses of the infamous criminals Fred and Rosemary West, Marc Dutroux and Josef Fritzl. The aim of this cross-national comparative research is to explore which role the houses of the West's, Dutroux and Fritzl fulfill in the collective memory of these traumatic, highly-mediated affairs, searching for general tendencies in the process of dealing with these physical-material locations associated with death and suffering. Expanding on the work of Armando, the term 'guilty houses' is introduced to refer to the evil homes of these criminals. In total, 32 in-depth interviews have been carried out with spokesmen of the local governments, neighboring residents, local entrepreneurs in the tourist industry and tourists that visited the houses. Additionally, a content analysis is conducted of relevant newspaper articles and articles on the internet and on-site observations of the houses are executed. Results show that the houses fulfil a problematic role within the collective memory of these affairs. For the majority, the houses serve as a symbolic reflection of the cruel events that happened within them. Therefore, a strong need to forget can be identified, often accompanied by the decision to demolish the houses by the municipalities. The extensive media attention to the gruesome cases appeared to play a remarkable role in why tourists visited the houses. Overall, it can be concluded that not only the West's, Dutroux and Fritzl carry their share of guilt, feelings of guilt and shame seem to spill over to its spatial surroundings with the guilty houses playing the leading role.