Browsing by Subject "Foucauldian discourse analysis"

Serial killing, although statistically rare, is frequently covered in news and entertainment media. Consequently, what has followed, is an extensive scholarly debate over the serial killer’s place in popular culture and the media as some have suggested that cultures promote serial killers by glorifying and overrepresenting them in the media. This thesis, guided by an interest in the problematic portrayal of this crime, explores the discursive portrayal of serial killers in two Finnish tabloids – Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat – by adapting a Foucauldian discourse analytical approach. Previous research has suggested that serial killers are most often portrayed as either monsters, celebrities or as mad or bad by the press. The celebrity portrayal of the serial killer is most often present in the American media, while the European media tends to lean towards a more monstrous portrayal. The results from this thesis correspondingly found that three Finnish serial killers; “the Serial Strangler”, “the Serial Drowner” and “the Poison Nurse” were most often portrayed as either mad, bad, or power hungry. The results presented in this thesis demonstrate how certain discourses are used to make sense of crimes that appear incomprehensible. These discourses determine how these offenders are seen by the public and place them in subject positions that in turn restrict their future possibilities of rehabilitation and reintegration. The discourses present in the Finnish tabloids tend to portray these serial killers as highly agentic, deviant individuals fully responsible for their violent crimes and thus beyond help. This thesis demonstrates that the Finnish portrayal of serial killers leans towards the more European kind: the Finnish serial killers were not glorified or portrayed as celebrities. Neither were they portrayed as killers motivated by fame, which suggests there are some cultural differences in the phenomenon. Serial killers do, however, even in Finland receive a lot of attention, exposure and recognition. Implications and meanings behind these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research possibilities are presented.