Investigating The Relationship Between The Actual Reporting Of The Murders During Modern Popular Culture

Serial murders are not just part of the United States they also happen globally. There are many investigative tools that are used when working a serial murder case and we will discuss some of those. We will also discuss the problems with the media when it comes to serial murders. We will also talk about how the criticism of the public and media can affect serial murder cases.

Stephen King wrote the short story “Why We Crave Horror Films” explaining why our mind gets so excited during horror movies. He continues to make the statement “the horror film has become the modern public lynching” (paragraph 6) showing that no matter what generation a person is in the excitement of gore will always exist. King proves this statement discussing emotions and psychiatric points in his work.

Jack the Ripper was one of the most famous and renowned killers in history. Even though he was not the first serial killer, he was the first killer to strike on a metropolis setting. Jack the Ripper was in his prime at a time when the media had a strong control over society and society as a whole was becoming much more literate. Jack started his killing campaign at a time of political controversy between the liberals and social reformers along with the Irish Home rule partisans. The reports of Jack the Ripper were collected and reported by the police, but then the different newspapers with their political influences slightly distorted the stories to give them their own effect. It has been more the one hundred years since the last murder

General Purpose: To inform the audience about the psychological appeal of the slasher film, a brief history of the genre, and the links to urban legends and fairy tales.

Thesis Statement: A research paper of the mysterious and famous 19th century serial killer Jack the Ripper and how it is that the legend came to be.

A serial killer is traditional defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media.

Serial killers are a relatively rare, yet commonly publicized, part of our society. The media portrayal of serial killers skews the opinions and creates a stereotype of murderers for the public. James Knoll, MD states in his article, “Serial Murder: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective”, that no evidence supports the idea that serial murder is a “growing epidemic” as people believe it is (qtd. in Johnson-Sheehan & Paine, “Writing Today”, pg 332). This misperception of serial killing was exhibited in the way the media portrayed the “Hillside Strangler”, a murderer who was killing women in the Los Angeles area by strangling them and leaving them nude in the hilly areas in 1977. The articles reporting the

In ‘Richard III,’ conscience is something that is often scoffed at. Back in the scene with the two Murderers, it becomes very obvious what conscience meant to a male’s masculinity. Second Murderer gives a great little speech about the effects of a conscience. The meaning is quite clear –

“The third stage of narrative development was characterized by the appearance of rogues… relying on cleverness more than force, and motivated more by profits than by passion” (Williams 14). Rogues defied whatever came in between their pursuit, whether it be law or authority (Williams 14). In the third stage of criminal literature, the protagonists were all rogues despite of their unlawfully ways, they “aroused reader sympathy” (Williams 16). Williams described these rogues as “outsiders, existing apart from the social structure either by choice or by fate” (William 16). He also described these rogues as “individualistic, opportunistic, self-reliant” as well as “defiant of authority and entirely free” (Williams 16). William argues that the evolution of these narratives took place in three stages: the first being the “early execution sermons and final confessions”, the second being “the incomplete narratives of life and, finally the full length rogue narrative” (Williams 17). Williams’ article describes how criminal literature changed from “promoting obedience, [to] encouraged defiance” (Williams

The 2001 nonfiction, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper-Case Closed, is a novel written by author Patricia Cornwell. This novel follows Cornwell on her journey of solving the 1888 London crimes by the mysterious and unknown serial murderer claiming the name of Jack the Ripper. This killer, as told in the novel, did not only murder women who were prostitutes, but it is also said that he murdered non-prostituted women and children. While much research and investigation by law enforcement had still not identified the enforcer of these crimes, Cornwell explains how she uses her own specialized team of top forensic scientists and FBI profilers to identify the serial killer as the famous artist Walter Richard Sickert. Cornwell first began to suspect Sickert after looking in a book containing his art. After noticing the works of Sickert’s painting of Ada Lundberg, who is supposed to be singing, Cornwell instead saw the singer “screaming while menacing men looked on.” The author’s analysis concluded there was “morbidity, violence, and a hatred of women” in Sickert’s paintings. Unlike the many Ripper novels that came before Cornwell’s, this novel is written less to explain the crimes committed by the Ripper while giving the facts and suspected identities. In truth, it is more as an indictment for who the author believes the real murder is and why. While Cornwell uses some physical evidence to pin Walter to the crimes of the Ripper, such as his DNA matching the DNA found on the

Jack the Ripper has been accused of murdering five prostitutes in the East End of London. Each of these killings happened late at night with the bodies, badly stabbed and mutilated in most cases, found early the next morning. These five women have since been called the “canonical five”. There are many cases of people who believe Jack the Ripper

At first, the Ripper murders were a source of fascination to the public of Whitechapel and even more so in the rest of London. In her book The Invention of Murder, Judith Flanders found crime and murder can be a form of entertainment for people. She says, “Crime, especially murder, is very pleasant to think about in the abstract…It reinforces a sense of safety, even of pleasure, to know that murder is possible, just not here.” Those who were at a distance from the crimes lapped up the news reports like serials of fiction; their pleasure greater because the horrible stories were real. In Whitechapel, citizens visited the sites of the murders out of curiosity. The crime scenes became exhibits, and sometimes they returned to and retraced the path of blood the Ripper spilt. At first, it was a game to the public—a form of entertainment. Some members of the public attended victims’ funerals or traveled in groups seeking out the Ripper. Later, these groups became mobs on the hunt for the killer the police were unable to catch.

Jack the Ripper’s identity still remains unknown, even after a century his identity still remains unknown even after killing five poor prostitutes in 19th Century Britain. His murders, all violent showed some knowledge on anatomy but some doctors insist that no knowledge was used while in the process of dissecting the victims’ bodies. He terrified the eastern part of London but what we can say is that he was a social reformer. His murders attracted so much media attention because media was growing meanwhile with these happenings British government had to place laws to improve conditions for everyone.

When analyzing a character and their actions, perspective is an important element to consider. This coincides with point of view, which gives us further context of a character's actions. In Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", murder is a common theme in which the protagonists struggle to overcome the guilt they feel. The protagonists inevitably let their guilty consciences overpower them, leading them to their demise. Looking at these texts critically, focusing our attention on the perspectives of the given texts, gives us a comprehensive understanding of the character's actions.

In our third and final point that the appearance of the supernatural ghost shows up the character and drives home a certain moral effect. Here is a transparent clear reality of the universe that the activity like murder must be disclosed even if it done in a very cleverer and in the most secret way. As Hamlet says about the murder of his father, “For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak / With most miraculous organ.” (II.2).