Sex, Scandal, and the Creation of Victimhood in User-Generated True Crime

• In Event: Crime and Cinema

Abstract

In the presentation, I will explore how true crime content creators on YouTube, TikTok and Spotify interact with the key themes of sex, scandal, and sensation. I will show primarily how the producer’s individual perception of what true crime is, what it should be, and what role these themes should (or, in some cases, should not) play, ultimately shapes how they present victims in the content that they create.

To do so, I will investigate the role that the traits of gothic sensationalism has long played in the genre – heightened emotion, black-and-white morality, scandalous love affairs, and a lascivious delight in the gore and horror of other people’s suffering. From In Cold Blood, to My Favourite Murder, the desire to entertain and inspire horror, after-all, have played far more of a role than any great commitment to the facts of the homicide.

However, as more and more of society reckons with the consequences of its ideals, is that still the case?

Drawing upon my PhD thesis, I will use data from recent interviews with high-profile creators to highlight a growing conversation within true crime about moral responsibilities to the murdered and, for the first time, show how content producers play an active role in both the recent growth of “ethical true crime” and its moves away from overt, heavily fictionalised sensationalism. I will present an individualised look at the decision-making and creative processes involved in user-generated true crime and by doing so, show how a greater consideration of socio-political structural theorems like rape culture, gender-based violence and necropolitics, brushes aside the scandal to look far more closely at the reality.

Author

• Cassidy Victoria Smith, University of Glasgow