Abstract
This essay overviewed debates among social theorists and researchers regarding models of ideology and cultural representation that developed in favour of a stress on the uncertain and contradictory reception of cultural items. These have included the popular genre of male crime and violence featured in commercial film and television series. There is often no obvious core "message" in the scripts and characters of these, including those claiming to depict real life stories, and characters from criminal gangs and law enforcement bodies. Popular representations of mythic crime figures like London's Kray brothers and the New York mafia in the Sopranos series, illustrate this ambiguity. Viewers may be repelled or drawn to a wide range of criminal and crime fighting characters reflecting deviant violent or more disciplined aggressive masculinities. Yet the most typical depictions and plot lines reproduce racially dubious and pro-punitive accounts of crime and criminality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Oxford Encyclopedia of Crime, Media, and Popular Culture |
| Editors | Nicole Rafter, Michelle Brown |
| Place of Publication | U.K. |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780190494698 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780190494674 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
