Toward a Theory of True Crime Narratives: A Textual Analysis

Description

Toward a Theory of True Crime Narratives vivifies how nonfiction murder stories are told, what role they play in society, and in the form of true crime why they remain enduringly popular internationally on every platform. This book establishes for the first time the actual line―or dotted line―between mainstream journalism and the multimedia phenomena of true crime. Presenting a stable definition of what is―and what is not―true crime will either challenge or justify Truman Capote’s claims regarding the creation of a "new journalism" with In Cold Blood, and accordingly expose the reluctance of the promoters of NPR’s Serial, HBO’s The Jinx, and Netflix’s Making a Murderer to refer to their products as such. This research codifies true crime texts of various types on multiple platforms―radio, television, print, digital, and film―to reveal the defining characteristics of the genre. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 9 Securing the Scene......Page 10 The Background Check......Page 14 2 The Exploratory Study: A Proper Search......Page 25 Interrogating the Texts......Page 31 Selection of True Crime Narratives: “The Usual Suspects”......Page 34 Summation......Page 91 The Prosecution: The Critic’s View......Page 93 The Defense: True Crime as a Justice Mechanism......Page 94 A Review of the Evidence......Page 95 Summation......Page 102 A Theory of True Crime......Page 104 The International Man Hunt Is On......Page 110 Accomplices After the Fact: NON-narrative True Crime Writing......Page 112 The Final Sentence......Page 113 References......Page 120 Index......Page 131