All-American TV crime drama : feminism and identity politics in Law and order: special victims unit / Sujata Moorti and Lisa Cuklanz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Moorti, Sujata, 1963- author.

Cuklanz, Lisa M., author.

Series:

Library of gender and popular culture ; 7.

Library of Gender and Popular Culture ; 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law & order: Special Victims Unit (Television program).

Feminism on television.

Identity (Psychology) on television.

Physical Description:

256 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, NY : I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2017.

Summary:

Why has Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) achieved popularity beyond any other American police procedural television series? How does its unique focus on sex crimes reflect currents in popular culture and feminist critique, and recast traditional crime narratives? This book is the first ever dedicated study of SVU and its treatment of sexual violence, gender and criminality. Through detailed textual and visual analyses of episodes, it reveals how elements of misogynist feminism and cultural revanchism manifest themselves in SVU, and shows how its use of forensic science offers new fables of objectivity. With chapters devoted to justice, racial and gender dynamics, and the show s spectatorship, this study is essential reading for students of media, criminality and the phenomenon of sexual violence.

Contents:

1 A Very American Story 14

2 Family Matters: Criminal Mothers and Fathers 50

3 The Violence of Race 75

4 A Foreign Affair: The Global Turn to Gaze at the Self 105

5 Images of Truth: The Science of Detection 134

6 Paratexts and the Afterlife of SVU 170.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781784534295

1784534293

OCLC:

970386881