Gaynor, S (2023) What else can I add? Inverting the narrative through female perspectives in Falling for a Killer, My Favorite Murder, and Murder, Mystery and Make Up. In: Larke-Walsh, G, (ed.) True Crime in American Media. Routledge, New York, pp. 180-196. ISBN 9781032123479

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Abstract

His name, his actions, and his sentencings are synonymous with popular true crime. His story has been told and retold, imbuing him with almost superhuman qualities. In asking “what can I add?” Bailey Sarian succinctly sums up at the start of her retelling of the much-requested Ted Bundy case that there is seemingly nothing more to contribute in the recounting of this tale. This chapter will explore what is added when this horrific story is retold from the female perspective, when unlike most depictions of Bundy, the narrative is inverted to explore the female victims and their lives, and the cultural shifts during the 1970s gender wars. It will explore what is added when female voices unpack this tale without presenting this killer as a genius.Taking three case studies from across American media which all focus on the same case, this chapter explores the differing modes of contemporary true crime via the female perspective: comedy and mocking in a recording of a live podcast in 2017 from My Favorite Murder (Hardstark and Killgraf 2017); the video on demand documentary, Ted Bundy: Falling for A Killer (Prime Video, 2020) directed by Trish Wood; and YouTube content creator Baily Sarian's video from her Murder, Mystery & MakeUp series, “1 Of America's Most Notorious, Ted Bundy,” from March 2020, marrying the traditionally gendered forms of true crime and makeup application. This chapter makes the case that there is much to be added to this well-worn tale, when those that were either directly affected speak out or usually unheard voices create their own spaces to speak. I argue that Bundy's monstrous power is taken away, and autonomy, agency, and identity are given back to the women whose lives he destroyed.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in True Crime in American Media on 01/06/23, available online: http://www.routledge.com/True-Crime-in-American-Media/Larke-Walsh/p/book/9781032123479#
Uncontrolled Keywords:	True crime; Media Communication; Gender; Popular culture
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN4699 Journalism
Divisions:	Humanities and Social Science
Publisher:	Routledge
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	18 Sep 2023 14:44
Last Modified:	01 Dec 2024 00:50
DOI or ID number:	10.4324/9781003225638
Editors:	Larke-Walsh, G
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20809

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