Week Twelve Blog

This weeks class discussion was particularly interesting covering the topic of serial killers and the media!

David Schmidd's article goes into detail about muderabilia and our fascination of serial killers and how they become famous, and become both feared and reveared by the American culture. So why sell muderabilia? Most of the people who buy these things are actually our typical average joe. The way in which popular culture treats serial killers is intersing because we condemn them for their inhumane actions, but we also are in awe of how somebody would go against all social norms and values and commit such heinous crimes. What it takes to become famous or a celebrity changes over time and our ideas of what it means to be a celebrity has changed over time. No longer do you have to noble in your pursuits to become famous, but you can also become famous for simply doing anything that grabs the publics attention, including commit crimes. Serial killers are also used in the media as inspiration for intersting literature, televison, films, politicians, policy makers, etc. Sometimes serial killers admit to thrive off the attentiont they recieve from the media that it fuels their desire to continue to commit crimes and motives and propels their actions. I thought it was interesting to think about the mixed feelings we have about serial killers and how they become famous. We feel a multitude of different emotions about serial killers including: repulsion, attraction, fascination, admiration, and condemnation

Ian Conrich talks about murderabilia as well, how it all started, and why our society has such a long standing fascination with serial killers. 1980's when incidences of serial killers became more prominent, did the hyper awareness of serial killers emerge. We started seeing more serial killers pop up out of no where preying on innocent people, which made Americans feel unsafe wherever they went. There were only a handful of serial killers during this time period, but it was enough for Americans to develop a fascination with them, increasing their fame and celebrity-status. This is about the time when we also see muderabilia pop up on the internet. Many people see this as just another result of our increasing consumerism in our capitalist country, where virtually everything and anything can be bought and sold on the internet nowadays. If we can buy almost anything, why not buy some serial killer muderabilia for your home? It could add an intersting touch and could possibly even be used as a conversation piece for your houseguests.

I thought that Silence of the Lambs was equal parts intersting and frightening. It gives us an insight into the mind of a serial killer cannibal (hannibal lecter) and Buffalo Bill. Both of these serial killers are creepy and evil in their own way. Hannibal is refined, gentelmanly, smart, clevel, cunning in the ways in which he commits crimes. The motive he has behind killing people is different than Buffalo Bills. Buffalo Bill is portrayed as a sloppy, pschologically troubled, confused, and creepy serial killer who just murders young girls to get their skin to make his lady suit. He doesn't seem to have the same joy or pleasure in killing people for the same reason as hannibal kills. The relationship dynamics between the criminal investigator Clarice, and Hannibal were interesting. She gets to ask Hannibal questions about the investigation trying to find Buffalo Bill, and He is almost like a father figure to her and their relationship somewhat sentimental and touching. He decides to leave Clartice alone because he says the world is a more interesting place with her in it. He gets joy in helping her solve the case and find Buffalo Bill, and even though he kills other people in the movie and eats them, he is fond of Clarice and sees her as a valuble person to have around in the world.

In the Rafter chapter 3 she talks about the difference between slasher, serial killer, and psycho films. Slasher films are often more gory, bloody, and violent, and use scare tactics to keep the viewers on edge. These movies are filled with suspense and use the same genre conventions throughout most of the slasher films. The killer is our for the mere fun of killling, and is less methodical and meticulous than a serial killer would go about his murders. Serial Killer movies go more in depth into the characters development, and give us an insight in the inner workings of the serial killers mind, and shows us the procedural and reapeted steps that they go through in the murders they commit. In Psycho films, genre conventions rely on ideas of abnormal psychology as the cause of the violent criminal behavior.

As i was browsing CNN.com I found an interesting article about hate crime in the country:
http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/14/fbi-racial-bias-motivates-most-hate-crimes/?hpt=ju_c2
Crime reports show that more than half of all hate crimes are motivated by a racial bias. There were a total of 2600 anti-black offenses, 679 anti-white offenses, and 681 anti-hispanic offenses. there has also been a few incidences of  anti-Jewish hate crimes in the country where offenders set cars on fire, and offensive graffiti found on park benches. The next largest category for hate crimes against relgion was anti-islamic. The level of hate crime has remained relatively stable in the country according to the 2010 report put out by the FBI. It was also reported that violence crime like murder and rape has dropped 6% since 2009.