CRJS 481 MURDER MOVIES & COPYCAT CRIME Jacqueline B. Helfgott, PhD Seattle University Criminal Justice Departmen

1. CRJS 481MURDER MOVIES & COPYCAT CRIMEJacqueline B. Helfgott, PhDSeattle University Criminal Justice DepartmentWeek 3 – Murder as Art

2. The readings for this weekexamine the notion that aesthetic representation of murder is an alternate lens through which to understand the phenomenon of murder and the benefits of this perspective in understanding the phenomenon of copycat crime and the more general copycat effect on criminal behavior. J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

3. Aesthetic-Critical Analysis of Murder Murder is as much a “general cultural phenomenon” as it is a social, legal, or psychological problem that can be studied as a “morally neutral phenomenon” from an “aesthetic-critical” perspective in contrast to the traditional “moral-rational” perspective. This aesthetic-critical perspective provides: - An alternative perspective through which to makes sense of the relationship between crime and culture. - A framework for understanding the copycat effect on criminal behavior J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

4. “Murder as (Fine)Art” • The History of Murder as Art --Black discusses murder and crime in literature, the arts, and media reviewing the history of representations of murder in the arts • Variations in presentations of murder --The “artist-as-criminal” and “criminal-as-artist” phenomena. • The function of the aesthetics of murder -- “The figure of the criminal is all that remains in the modern age of the sacred and demonic characters of the age of myth”(p. 30) • A framework for understanding artistic representations of murder -- Black offers a “general typology of the aesthetics of murder”(p. 66). J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

5. General Typology of the Aesthetics of Murder MURDERER Psychological Confession VICTIM Suspense Thriller WITNESS Aesthetics of Murder DETECTIVE Detective Story/Murder Mystery J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

6. The Feminine v. Masculine Gaze • Explain what Black refers to as the “feminine” v “masculine” gaze. In popular culture, who’s usually the gazer? • How does a story’s perspective (in literature and/or pop culture) shape its message? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

7. “Murder as (Pure) Action” (or real murder as art?) • In Chapter 2, Black discusses the distinction between “pure” and “perfect” murder (p. 95), the relationship between aesthetic murder in fiction and fact, and DeQuincey’sperspective that “there are no pure murders, only perfect ones”in which the murderer’s motive is never discovered. • How can artistic representations of murder help to better understand real murder where there appears to be no motive beyond the murder itself? • Does Black’s analysis help to understand the popular fascination with “profilers” and “crime scene investigators”? Are profilers the by-product of an historical literary focus on the quest to discover the motives behind “perfect” murder? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

8. Aesthetic Murder in Fiction and Fact • According to Black, Dequincey’sidea of murder as art (although initially seen as outrageous) has come to be accepted as the only way to make sense out of murder. Black states: “Murder has defied explanation because to understand it would be to rationalize, and ultimately to justify it. However inclined people are at first to scoff at the idea of murder as an art form, they prove to be even more reluctant to accept murder as a fact of life or as a characteristic of human nature. As a result, the affinity between art and murder is far greater than all but a few artists and killers have been willing to admit” (p. 102-103). • What does Black mean by this statement? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

9. Murder as (Carnal) Knowledge • Chapter 3 addresses the murder witness/voyeur, the positive effect of aesthetic murder as a controlled way of containing murder, the idea that to “know” murder one must experience it -- that murder can’t be psychologically or legally explained, and the merging of irrational/rational in artistic presentations of murder. • According to Black, “The man who has never killed is a virgin” has been referred to as “one of the most terrifying sentences written in the mid-twentieth century (p. 120) and offers Jack Henry Abbott’s writing as an example of murder as cognition (p. 124).Black ends by saying that murder is a cognitive and creative act that establishes a transcendental relationship between murderer and victim. • What does Black’s analysis of murder as carnal knowledge offer to help understand copycat crime/murder? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

10. Murder and MimesisMark David Chapman and John Hinckley

11. In Chapters 4-5 Black explores aesthetic/media mediated murder through the cases of John Hinckley and Mark David Chapman. He suggests that their cases illustrate murder (and attempted murder) through mimeses (imitation) committed by individuals who live in the “aesthetic realm of the hyperreal” (in contrast to the “ethical realm of the real”). Hinckley and Chapman and the notion of murder as mimeses are contrasted with Mishima and Sade and the notion of murder as catharsis. J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

12. “The Aesthetic Realm of the Hyperreal” • The ethical and the aesthetic have been inverted in the 20thcentury. The social norm in postmodern society is no longer the ethical world of the real, but the aesthetic realm of the hyperreal (p. 138). • What is the “aesthetic world of the hyperreal?” • How does Black’s description of contemporary society (specifically during the ‘80s) compare with Oliver Stone’s description (from his interview on the NBK Director’s Cut)? • Do you agree/disagree with Black’s suggestion that the latter 20th century is aesthetic and hyperreal where life is indistinguishable from and unimaginable without art? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

13. The Hinckley and Chapman Cases • On December 8, 1980 Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon.He told authorities that the motive for the murder could be found in Salinger’s CATCHER IN THE RYE.He was obsessed with the book and saw himself as Holden Caulfield. Chapman initially pled insanity but later withdrew the plea and was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 to Life and in Attica and was recently denied parole. • On March 30, 1981 John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Reagan severely wounding Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Timothy J. McCarthy.Hinckley was obsessed with Jodie Foster, had seen TAXI DRIVERover 15 times, and was playing out the script of Taxi Driver. Hinckley was determined to be not guilty by reason of insanity and is presently at St Elizabeth’s hospital. J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

14. “Mimesis and Murder” • Taxi Driver and Catcher in the Rye were powerful stimulants that triggered a collapse of the “media junkies already tenuous sense of the distinction between ethics and aesthetics, reality and fiction” (p. 139) -- their actions were desperate attempts to restore the distinction between reality and fiction/ ethics and aesthetics. • Reagan and Lennon were perceived by Hinckley and Chapman (who lacked identity) as false doubles who had to be destroyed and both saw themselves as saviors (of prostitutes/children) as did the characters in the film/book (itself a patriarchal media mediated fantasy). Hinckley and Chapman were operating “under the influence of mass media”(p 138). J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

15. Some Interesting Connections Supporting Black’s Thesis • Among the books found in Hinckley’s hotel room after the assassination were Catcher in the Rye, Romeo & Juliette, and The Fan (and interestingly, Deniro played in the film version of this book in 1996). • Hinckley attended John Lennon’s funeral and Black suggests that the Chapman’s murder of Lennon was a “secondary script” for Hinckley. • Catcher in the Rye was found on Robert Bardo when he was arrested for the murder of actress Rebecca Shaeffer. J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

16. QUESTION • Black refers to the “media saturated” 80s as the height of hyperreality where the public trivialized the distinction between reality and the imaginary “to the point of irrelevancy” (p. 186). • Examples of what he’s talking about here? Are things better/worse now??? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University

17. “Catharsis and Murder” • Catharsis can refer to the murderer’s actions and the observers’ reaction though the generally accepted understanding of catharsis is the aesthetic experience of the spectator -- a release, cleansing, emotional purging in response to representations of murder. • Sade and Mishima are examples of cathartic “murder.” Sade’s writings were cathartic depictions of sadistic acts of domination and control that helped him endure prolonged imprisonment. Mishima’s suicide was a rehearsed “aesthetic death” – a “ritual enactment of a higher sacred law that combines and transcends the antitheses of law and transgression” (p. 209). • What does Black’s discussion of mimetic and cathartic murder contribute to the understanding of murder in contemporary culture? J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice Seattle University