This article uses the lens of cultural criminology to explore representations of the
seductions of crime (Katz, 1988) in Hollywood cinema. We use a specific film -
Chicago(Miramax Films, 2002) - to investigate the cultural embeddedness of
the emotional and sensual parameters that are said to constitute the foreground of
criminal activity. We suggest that the stated aim of cultural criminology - to
connect the phenomenal foreground of criminal acts to their material background - is
laudable but that there is also a pressing need to connect that foreground to
specific features of its cultural background. Our analysis of the film
Chicago exposes the social circulation of important cultural motifs that
help to make sense of why certain kinds of emotional and sensual features might be
attended to in accounts of the commission of crimes.
Best, S.
and
D. Kellner
(1991) Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations.
New York: Guilford Press
.
2.
Boorstin, D.
(1961/1971) The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in
America.
New York: Atheneum
.
3.
Braudby, L.
(1986) The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and its History.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
4.
Cavender, G.
(1999) ‘Detecting
Masculinity’, in
J. Ferrell
and
N. Websdale
(eds) Making Trouble: Cultural Constructions of Crime, pp.
157-178.
New York: Aldine de Gruyter
.
5.
Doane, M.A.
(1991) Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film, Theory.
New York: Routledge
.
6.
Dyer, R.
(1979) The Dumb Blonde Stereotype.
London: BFI
.
7.
Dyer, R.
(1982) Stars.
London: BFI
.
8.
Ely, M.
(1991) The Adventures of Amos ‘n’ Andy: A
Social History of an American Phenomenon.
New York: Free Press
.
9.
Ferrell, J.
(1996) Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of
Criminality.
Boston: Northeastern University Press
.
10.
Ferrell, J.
(1999)
‘Cultural Criminology,’Annual Review of Sociology25:
395-418
.
11.
Ferrell, J.
and
C. Sanders
(eds) (1995) Cultural Criminology.
Boston: Northeastern University Press
.
12.
Ferrell, J.
,
D. Milanovic
and
S. Lyng
(2001)
‘Edgework, Media Practices and the Elongation of Meaning: A
Theoretical Ethnography of the Bridge Day Event’
, Theoretical Criminology5(2):
177-202
.
13.
Filmsite
(2005) ‘All Time USA Box Office
Leaders’. Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice.html.
14.
Frow, J.
(1998)
‘Is Elvis a God? Cult, Culture, Questions of Method’
, International Journal of Cultural Studies1(2):
197-210
.
15.
Gabler, N.
(2004) ‘Toward a New Definition of
Celebrity’. Available at: http://www.learcenter.org/pdf/Gabler.pdf.
16.
Gillespie, E. (2005) Available at: http://www.whatzup.com/Archives/cover041300.html.
17.
Hayward, K.J.
(2004) City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban
Experience.
London: The Glass House Press
.
18.
Hayward, K.
and
J. Young
(2004)
‘Cultural Criminology: Some Notes on the Script’
, Theoretical Criminology8(3):
259-273
.
19.
Hobsbawm, E.
(1959) Primitive Rebels.
Manchester: Manchester University Press
.
20.
Kane, S.
(2004)
‘The Unconventional Methods of Cultural Criminology’
, Theoretical Criminology8(3):
303-321
.
21.
Katz, J.
(1988) Seductions of Crime. Moral and Sensual Attractions in
Doing Evil.
New York: Basic Books
.
22.
Keiser, R. Lincoln
(1979) The Vice Lords.
New York: Rinehart & Winston
.
23.
Kooistra, P.
(1989) Criminals as Heroes: Structure, Power and
Identity.
Bowling Green, OH: Prentice-Hall
.
24.
Lyng, S.
(1998) ‘Dangerous Methods: Risk Taking and the
Research Process’, in
J. Ferrell
and
M. Hamm
(eds) (1998) Ethnography at the Edge: Crime, Deviance and Field
Research.
Boston: Northeastern University Press
.
25.
Maxfield, J.F.
(1996) The Fatal Woman: Sources of Male Anxiety in American
Film Noir, 1941-1991.
London: Associated University Press
.
26.
Meyer, J.F.
and
G. Bogdan
(1999) ‘The Elders Were Our Textbooks: The
Importance of Traditional Stories in Social Control’, in
J. Ferrell
and
N. Websdale
(eds) Making Trouble: Cultural Constructions of Crime, pp.
25-46.
New York: Aldine de Gruyter
.
27.
Morrison, W.
(2004) ‘Lombroso and the Birth of Criminological
Positivism: Scientific Mastery or Cultural Artifice’, in J.
Ferrell, K. Hayward, W. Morrison and M. Presdee Cultural Criminology
Unleashed, pp. 67-80.
London: The Glasshouse Press
.
28.
O’Brien, M.
,
R. Tzanelli
,
M. Yar
and
S. Penna
(2005)
‘“The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts”: Crime in
the Melting P(l)ot in Gangs of New York’
, Critical Criminology13:
17-35
.
29.
Penfold, R.
(2003)
‘Krays Out, Barrymore in: The Rise and Fall of the Criminal Celebrity’
, Criminal Justice Review 2002-3,
Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds
. Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/ccjs/an_reps/15rep.pdf.
30.
Presdee, M.
(2000) Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime.
London: Routledge
.
31.
Presdee, M.
(2004)
‘The Long and Winding Road of Cultural Criminology’
, Theoretical Criminology8(3):
275-285
.
32.
Rich, R.B.
(1995)
‘Dumb Lugs and Femme Fatales’
, Sight and Sound5(11):
6-11
.
33.
Rojek, C.
(2001) Celebrity.
London: Reaktion
.
34.
Ryan, M.
and
D. Kellner
(1990) Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of
Contemporary Hollywood Film.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press
.
35.
Schickel, R.
(1985) Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity in
America.
Chicago: Ivan R. Dee
.
36.
Sherwin, R.K.
(2003)
‘Celebrity Lawyers and the Cult of Personality’
, New York Law School Review46:
517-526
.
37.
Turner, G.
(2004) Understanding Celebrity.
London: SAGE Publications
.
38.
Tzanelli, R.
,
M. Yar
and
M. O’Brien
(2005)
‘“Con Me If You Can”: Exploring Crime in the
American Cinematic Imagination’
, Theoretical Criminology9(1):
97-117
.
39.
Wager, J.B.
(1999) Dangerous Dames: Women and Representation in the
Weimar Street Film and Film Noir.
Athens: Ohio University Press
.
40.
Websdale, N.
(1999) ‘Police Homicide Files as Situated Media:
An Exploratory Essay’, in
J. Ferrell
and
N. Websdale
(eds) Making Trouble: Cultural Constructions of Crime, pp.
277-302.
New York: Aldine de Gruyter
.
41.
Wideman, J.E.
(1985) Brothers and Keepers.
New York: Penguin
.
42.
Young, A.
(1997)
‘Murder in the Eyes of the Law’
, Studies in Law, Politics, and Society17:
31-56
.
43.
Young, J.
(2003)
‘Merton with Energy, Katz with Structure: The Sociology of
Vindictiveness and the Criminology of Transgression’
, Theoretical Criminology7(3):
389-414
.
44.
Young, J.
(2004a) ‘Voodoo Criminology and the Numbers
Game’, in
J. Ferrell
,
K. Hayward
,
W. Morrison
and
M. Presdee
(eds) Cultural Criminology Unleashed, pp.
13-28.
London: The Glasshouse Press
.
45.
Young, J.
(2004b)
‘Crime and the Dialectics of Inclusion/Exclusion: Some Comments
on Yar and Penna’
, British Journal of Criminology44:
550-561
.
46.
Young, L.
(1996) Fear of the Dark: ‘Race’, Gender
and Sexuality in the Cinema.
London: Routledge
.
