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Aileen Wuornos. Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wuornos.jpg
Narrowing My Topic:
Since childhood, representation of women in the media and more specifically the sports media, has been a subject of interest for me. I began to recognize the use of certain stereotypes to portray these female athletes and how they can be harmful to the next generation of girls who watch them. This initially narrowed my search down to representation in the media but I came to realize that this has already been thoroughly looked into. Therefore, I knew I had to shift my focus to a new form of media. More recently, I have found a deep fascination in true crime media and the analysis of the psychology behind the criminals. I found that there was a lack of research done on female criminal portrayal within the true-crime documentary media.The combination of these two original ideas is what narrowed down my topic. While my initial idea only involved looking at portrayal of female murderers in true crime documentaries, I recognized I had to narrow it down because there is a vast variety of murders. I found that there was also a lack of research done on female serial killers because of their limited occurence in the first place. Therefore, I ultimately narrowed my research question down to: How are Female Serial Killers Portrayed in True-Crime Documentaries?
Previous Research:
My research topic has been largely guided by studies done by Christine Lo Guidice who is a current masters student in American and European literature, Patricia Easteal who is a professor with expertise in criminology and law, and Eileen Berrington who works in a center for studies in crime and social justice. These researchers identified specific themes in female criminals in various forms of written and televised media. They largely identify the portrayal of women as "mad, bad, or sad". To clarify, "mad" refers to the portrayal of these women as being emotionally unstable or mentally ill. "Bad" refers to the woman being portrayed as pure evil with no remorse. Lastly, "sad" refers to giving the killer no responsibility over their actions and purely blaming it on their circumstances. They also find that women are depicted as sexually seductive and have a high desire for power. Last, they find that there is often a lack of background for why a woman committed the crime. These core ideas have guided my research topic and have helped me identify specific stereotypes and themes I will be analyzing during data collection. These depictions have all helped lead me to what I will be focused on in my research. I will then apply these stereotypes to the media form of true-crime documentaries which is where the gap lies.
Mary Ann Cotton. Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Ann_Cotton.jpg
Methodology:
For my type of method, I plan on using content analysis. This involves collecting data from a form of media such as film and then analyzing it to identify themes or stereotypes that emerge from it. To begin, to collect the films I will be analyzing I will attempt to identify all one episode documnetaries done on female serial killers. I will look at as many streaming services as possible and find all of them. I will then randomly select 15-20 episodes to analyze for my research. To analyze the data, I will be using 8 previously identified stereotypes found in other forms of media on female criminals. These include the "mad, bad, or sad stereotype" , if they are sexually seductive, if they are calculated, if there is contextualization, if they have a double life, and if they have a need for power. To keep track of this, I will be using google sheets to write everything down. I will create a table to analyze what the narrators say and a separate one for what the interviewees say. In the tables, I will write down any quotes that demonstrate these themes within the according box on the table. I will also set aside a note taking space for visual depiction by actors and any other themes that I notice. To analyze this, I will look at both the presence of the themes and how often they appear in each of the documentaries. This will ultimately tell me if and which stereotypes appear the most within true-crime documentaries.
Relevance:
According to Edison Research, 84% of Americans over the age of 13 consume some form of crime media. This indicates the high relevance of this emerging type of media. With so many people consuming true crime in the modern day, the portrayal of women has the potential to significantly impact the views of the audience. Potentially harmful stereotypes that appear in other forms of crime media, could be present in documentaries which can influence the viewers. Therefore, this research is useful in identifying if and what stereotypes appear in this form of media as it can raise higher awareness. In addition, according to senior lecturer Tua Sandman, the public finds higher fascination with female killers in the media because they are more rare which can lead to higher sensationalization. This further signifies why it is important to become aware of the content and themes of documentaries because public fascination could cause those ideas to become more engrained in the opinions of modern day society. Recognition of the stereotypes is the first step in raising awareness of how viewers are intaking the information depicted in these documentaries.
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