Crime, Culture & the Media

Crime is an issue of great social, individual and cultural concern. This subject investigates some of the ways in which crime is represented, talked about, and interpreted in popular culture and the media. The subject focuses on two issues: first, the skills and techniques required to interpret representations of crime (such as those in newspapers, film, literature, art, and television); and second, the significance and implications of images of crime in popular culture and the media. The subject includes an emphasis on interpretive and analytical skills, covering film and television analysis, aspects of narrative criticism, and techniques of news media analysis. The subject engages with a broad range of case studies of crime as it is represented in popular culture and the media, including street art and graffiti, controversial artwork, drug use, sexual assault, terrorism, the Holocaust, homicide and family violence.