ºìÐÓÊÓƵ

Topic

Emerging Tropes: Race, Gender, and Monstrosity Master Frames in Podcasts’ Depiction of Serial Killers

Department of Sociology

Date & location

• Tuesday, December 3, 2024

• 1:00 P.M.

• Cornett Building

• Room A317

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Sean Hier, Department of Sociology, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Midori Ogasawara, Department of Sociology, UVic (Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Jentery Sayers, Department of English, University of Victoria 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Charles Curry, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, UVic

   

Abstract

Race and gender are socially constructed identities that have severe ramifications on individuals lived experience, hence their conceptualization as master statuses. For a long time, researchers have noted that these constructs drive media frames, particularly in media reports on delinquency and crime. These frames have been explicated to be advantageous and detrimental, the implication being dependent on the race or gender of concerned individuals. However, this age-long report of race and gender as determinants of media frames have been contested in recent studies. Nonetheless, these literatures lack an intersectional approach to the contemporary understanding of the deterministic role of race and gender in the framing of crime by the media. Therefore, I investigated this lacuna by focusing on the framing of an extreme form of violence- serial killing. Given the increased prominence of the podcast media in society today, the impact of the race and gender of serial killers was simultaneously examined on three known aspects of media frames- race master frames, gender master frames, and monstrosity master frames, drawing samples from true crime podcasts. Race and gender master frames were approached using the stereotypes associated with whiteness, blackness, femininity, and masculinity while monstrosity master frames were approached in terms of celebrity monster and evil monster depictions. Data were analyzed using thematic discourse analysis and results revealed a non-traditional use of race and gender master frames in the depiction of serial killers, what I called the colonization of hegemonic race-based narratives, and monstrosity master frames proved to be dependent on both race and gender.