Playing Dead: Feminist Readings of TV Crime Drama

Our television screens are populated with crime dramas, some focusing on the independent investigator, others on the police, and still others on the technicians who help secure evidence. In this course we will explore the cultural beliefs and biases implicit in these shows. Using a feminist lens, we will explore the grammar of this genre in terms of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Who gets defined as the criminal, who the victim, and why? What makes crime dramas pleasurable, and why do we watch them even when they are formulaic? How have they changed over time? 3 hrs. sem.