Week Twelve

In Schmid's article he focuses on the social acceptableness of murderabilia. Murderabilia is the selling of serial killer artifacts such as artwork, personal effect, and letters. This topic has caused both outrage and fascination. There was so much outrage over eBay selling serial killer artifacts that it led to them banning it. There are now websites devoted solely to selling murderablila. How do these websites survive? People are fascinated by serial killers, they want to know what makes them tick, they are amazed by how ordinary they can be, and how bizarre their behavior is. I am personally one of these people I completely love the show criminal minds because they explore how these people think. At the same time however you wont see me on one of these sites trying to buy someones toenails. Schmid states that one reason we are so attracted to serial killers is that we are a wound culture. We drive slowly by car wrecks, love crime shows with dead and mutilated bodies, and relish in the idea of trauma.

In Conrich's article discusses the similarities and difference between serial killer films and slasher films. Both slasher ans serial films can meet the FBI's definition of a serial killer which is " an offender associated with killing at least 4 victims over a period greater than 72 hours". Differences though are slasher films focuses on groups of teenagers and shows deaths in progress. While serial killer films show the bodies post mortis. Police in slasher filma are either incompetent or not present. In serial killer films the police are committed, skilled and prepared to make scarifices.

In the Rafter chapter she differentiates the three different kinds of mass murder films. Slasher films have teens, uncontrollable and unkillable entities that get loose for a short period of time, are used as folktales to scare us, and are seen as semi-humorous.  Serial killer films have more character development, are set over a long period of time, the killers are repetitious and have a fine attention to details. I would also include that most serial killers are hyper intelligent such as in Silence of the Lambs. Lector is smart, polite, has immense character development, and has every last detail figured out. In psychopath movies the killer lacks a conscience, they are cold, cunning, and calculating, they are anti social and selfish.