I don't wanna sound weird/racist, but the "contemporary true crime podcast" genre emanates a sinister MSNBC liberal whiteness I can't properly articulate. Is this off-base?
You have to subvert the genre to make something that isn't ghoulish. In the same vein, I'd say Murderville is alright because the "true crime" in question is a negligent or deliberate wrongful conviction rather than the murder they're convicted of
The media amplifies and sensationalizes random violence, creating a continuous stream of small and impersonal traumas in its largely suburbanite audience. They understand their complicity in the violence on a subconscious level, but cognitive dissonance prevents them from accepting this on a conscious level. This creates a feedback loop where they repeatedly seek out content to retraumatize themselves in an effort to regain control of their place in these narratives.
In my experience this is correct, my grandma was in her 80s watching murder documentaries in a neighborhood where the cheapest house was like 250k lmao
That may be generally true, but in my experience it is mostly women (not all 'white') who listen to it. I think it is a way of dealing with the the anxiety of being a woman in a world that makes them unsafe.
The podcasts don’t give safety tips, or offer self defense courses or practical advice. They revel in salacious drama and personal details of murder on a libidinal level. Let’s stop with this bullshit myth that true crime is “to protect oneself from murder”. It’s entertainment and titillation not serious defensive studies let’s be real.
I revel in violence too sometimes in my entertainment, in video games and action movies. But I don’t use real “true” violence to get off, I use fake and fictional violence at least
Yeah it just seems so very voyeuristic in a way. Especially the concept of real existing peoples hardships with crime, the criminal justice system, socioeconomics, all that jazz put on display for entertainment feels to put in a word: yucky. It seems like a view steps from human-zoo shit. Like just watch reality tv, at least those people sign up to be a mess for your entertainment.