Crime and Culture

Cinema and television have become immensely popular and influential cultural forms. This subject investigates the relationship between crime and culture by focusing on representations of crime and justice in film and television. The subject considers these representations in the context of recent debates about the cultural construction of crime in criminology, socio-legal studies, cultural studies and film theory. It will develop the skills necessary for analysing images of crime and justice in film and television and will also examine a number of case studies (including television crime drama, police procedurals and trial movies, cinematic fascination with the serial killer, cinematic representations of 9/11, and the cinematic depiction of violence and gender).

• 1Understand a range of theories and methods concerning cultural representations of crime
• 2Comprehend examples of the cultural construction of crime
• 3Comprehend some of both the cultural dimensions of criminology and criminal justice and cultural representations of crime in popular culture
• 4Understand some of the problems and complexities relating to the interpretation of cultural representations of crime and justice
• 5Communicate effectively in oral and written formats.