Criminology Goes to the Movies: Crime Theory and Popular Culture

by Nicole Rafter, Michelle Brown

Investigating cinema under the magnifying glass

From a look at classics like Psycho and Double Indemnity to recent films like Traffic and Thelma & Louise , Nicole Rafter and Michelle Brown show that criminological theory is produced not only in the academy, through scholarly research, but also in popular culture, through film. Criminology Goes to the Movies connects with ways in which students are already thinking criminologically through engagements with popular culture, encouraging them to use the everyday world as a vehicle for theorizing and understanding both crime and perceptions of criminality. The first work to bring a systematic and sophisticated criminological perspective to bear on crime films, Rafter and Brown’s book provides a fresh way of looking at cinema, using the concepts and analytical tools of criminology to uncover previously unnoticed meanings in film, ultimately making the study of criminological theory more engaging and effective for students while simultaneously demonstrating how theories of crime circulate in our mass-mediated worlds. The result is an illuminating new way of seeing movies and a delightful way of learning about criminology.

Genres: Nonfiction

236 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Nicole Rafter is Professor Emerita of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University.

She achieved her PhD in Criminal Justice from State University of New York. Albany sparked her academia career in feminist criminology. She began writing on delinquent individuals from the time of her very first publication in 1969.

In 1977 Rafter began teaching at Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice in Boston, Massachusetts. Here she developed one of the country’s first courses on women and crime as well as a course on crime films.

In 1999 she resigned her position as a full-time professor to focus on her writing projects. In 2002 she resumed teaching at the College of Criminal Justice with a graduate course in Biological Theories of Crime.

Her most recent two awards are the American Society of Criminology's Sutherland Award in 2009 as well as the Allen Austin Bartolemew award for Best Paper for Criminology's Darkest Hour: Biocriminology in Nazi Germany.

Reviews

[Diana Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read with a great topic. I loved the way the films were broken down, it made everything easier to understand and more fun to follow. It’s definitely more of an academic book, but even though I’m not a student, I still really enjoyed it and thought it was a great read.

[SJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for a class, but despite that obligation, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its style is accessible and often humourous, and its content is engaging and concise. I'm glad I found a copy of this to keep and re-read over time.

It excels at its mission to make criminological theory fun by linking a theory to a popular crime movie, and overall, this book is an objectively fantastic way to engage the 'criminological imagination'.

[Brackman1066 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so this wasn't actually "true crime," as it is more aimed toward criminology students and instructors. It was still fun and incredibly useful background for me as I begin to read and think about murder narratives and the work that they do.

[Paul Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun and interesting read!

[Kate Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my normal sort of read and I’m not really looking forward to the 1000 word essay on it but it counts and wasn’t the worst thing in the world