teaching writing // writing teaching

Reading Genre: True Crime

Warren Wilson College

 

Murder and mayhem, graphic descriptions and gore: true crime dominates as a genre across literary, podcast and film mediums. But why? In this class, we explore American true crime from its colonial origins to the gory genre’s recent renaissance in podcasts and documentaries such as My Favorite Murder and Casting JonBenét. We will ask what differentiates true crime from other genres, whose crimes are put in the spotlight, and how to define the ethical obligations of true crime’s truth.

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