[Commlist] cfp: Murder Media Symposium

Murder Media Symposium
Call For Papers:
Liverpool John Moores University, 18th April 2025.
The recent /Dahmer: Monster/ (Netflix, 2022), /The Long Shadow/ (ITV, 
2023), /No Man of God/ (Sealey, 2021), and /Beyond Reasonable 
Doubt/ (BBC Sounds, 2017), stand as some of the latest examples of the 
long and rich history of true crime content. The Murder Media Symposium 
will explore approaches to contemporary true crime and murder media 
texts, and the industrial, production, and fan cultures that surround 
such material.
This symposium aims to explore critical approaches which help us to 
understand contemporary true crime and murder media in the quickly 
shifting media landscape. The  true crime genre is found across all 
media platforms, from legacy media, right the way through to grassroots, 
self-start-up and participatory forms. In the past, true crime has 
largely been ignored by critics, as it has been viewed as lurid, cheap, 
and sensational. Key scholarly works on serial killers have shone a 
light on the problematic place they hold in popular culture, some with 
the same status as celebrities (Schmid, 2005), and the fascination held 
over crime scenes and evidence (Seltzer, 1998; Bruzzi, 2016). Murder and 
crime media has reaped the rewards of digital cultures (Horecks, 2019) 
and has developed new approaches to even the most well-known cases 
(Gaynor, 2023).
Fans of this content are more visible than ever, creating their own 
spaces to profess their enjoyment of such content on social media. With 
true crime being made away from legacy media, these stories and cases 
are being told in new ways: engaging with comedy to navigate the more 
gruesome aspects or utilizing laughs to undermine the previous modes of 
true crime which made celebrities out of serial killers. Contemporary 
murder media draws on established genre conventions of horror, Gothic, 
and procedural dramas, and inserts real life killers into fictional 
narratives to explore alternate timelines and conclusions to the stories.
Proposals are invited for 20 min papers on topics that explore murder 
media and true crime content, its paratexts, practices, and fan 
cultures. Topics can include but are not limited to:
·      True Crime Documentary / Drama / Film
·      Grassroots true crime
·      True Crime and digital media – YouTube / Reddit
·      True Crime podcasts
·      True crime hybrids (Comedy, fantasy, horror, Gothic)
·      True Crime fandoms
·      True Crime comics
·      True crime and streaming
·      True crime and backlash / ethics
·      Serial killers in other media (appearing in video games, in drama 
series e.g. /American Horror Story/ and Ramierz)
·      Serial Killer fans
·      Murderabilia
·      Serial killers and celebrity culture
·      True crime and social media
·      True crime and perspectives: Who’s story is being told?
·      Unpacking the real from the not real
·      True crime and people of colour
·      True crime and LBGTQIA+
·      Unheard voices / silenced voices
·      True crime and the supernatural
·      Internet sleuthing
·      Forensic fandom
·      The use of archive material to tell stories / change the narrative
·      True Crime as mainstay of television
·      Crime and comics
·      Transnational crime
·      True crime and journalism
·      Trailers, promotional materials, or clickbait
Please send abstracts of around 200 words along with a short bio by 
20th December 2024, to Dr Stella Marie Gaynor at Liverpool John Moores 
University.
(_S.M.Gaynor /at/ ljmu.ac.uk) <mailto:(S.M.Gaynor /at/ ljmu.ac.uk)>_
Applicants will be informed on or before 20th January 2025
The symposium is open to all. It will be of interest to academics and 
researchers interested in true crime, film and media studies, cultural 
studies, communications, criminology, journalism, and anyone who is 
interested in true crime. Registration will be free. If you have any 
questions, please email Dr Stella Gaynor on the above email.


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