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Making a genre: the case of the contemporary true crime documentary

Bruzzi, S; (2016) Making a genre: the case of the contemporary true crime documentary. Law and Humanities , 10 (2) pp. 249-280. 10.1080/17521483.2016.1233741. Green open access

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Abstract

This article looks at the current documentary obsession with true crime stories, arguing that ultimately this heterogeneous series of individual texts loosely constitute a genre. Bookended by The Staircase from 2004 (the genre's touchstone or foundational text) and Making a Murderer from 2015 (the genre's most notorious example to date), this discussion will look at a diverse range of examples (series, podcasts, one-off documentaries) that nevertheless share common concerns around the law and how it can be represented, the truth, evidence and miscarriages of justice. Examples discussed also include: The Kick (2005), The 10th District Court (2006), Serial (2014) and The Jinx (2015). Even the title sequences are beginning to resemble each other – and those of related drama series – posing more questions about generic and media identity. True crime documentaries are hugely popular; they also serve justice, in that several of these television series, podcasts and web broadcasts have had a direct impact on actual cases.

Type: Article
Title: Making a genre: the case of the contemporary true crime documentary
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/17521483.2016.1233741
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17521483.2016.1233741
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Real crime series, television documentary, Netflix, Making a Murderer, The Jinx, Serial, The Staircase, Michael Peterson, Robert Durst, Adnan Syed
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1564752
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