124265 KO Critical Media Analysis (2023S)

From their contemporary coverage in newspapers through twentieth-century reimaginings and investigations, and all the way up to the twenty-first century, the serial murders that occurred in 1888 in Whitechapel, London have retained a hold on the crowds’ imagination. The violence of the events, the short timeframe over which they happened, and the fact that they remained unsolved all contributed to the instant – and long-lasting – sensationalised appropriation of the events by popular culture. The nickname given to the murderer, ‘Jack the Ripper’, was propagated through the twentieth century via retellings, fictionalised adaptations of the events, and investigations by so-called ‘Ripperologists’ that express both a morbid fascination and an insatiable desire to find answers.
While the Whitechapel Murders are an undeniable part of the history of the metropolis, cultural historians have noted a shift in their representation across media over the past century. As the serial killer figure circulates within popular culture, it seems to separate from its victims, who quickly become forgotten or ignored – and the morbid fascination is all that seems to remain, in a move from potential cultural heritage to dark tourism.

In this course, we will examine the representation of the case across media from 1888 all the way to 2022. Background and facts related to the Whitechapel Murders will be provided during the first sessions of the course, before we begin to investigate the continuous sensationalisation of the case, on the page and on the screen but also in the city, as gruesome walking tours and museums reuse and draw on Jack the Ripper imagery to attract an audience. Looking at various examples across different eras, the course aims to analyse the mechanisms of the phenomenon and to draw attention to the very topical controversies over the recently developed notion of dark tourism. In doing so, it will contribute to the modern re-evaluation of the representation – or rather, misrepresentation – of victims of historical injustice, carried out, among others, by Hallie Rubenhold in her work _The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper_ (2019).

Trigger warning: in this course, we will discuss violent murders and analyse their various representations across media over the past centuries. This will sometimes involve graphic depictions (whether in writing or visual) of blood, organs, and mangled bodies. While it will not be the core of each of our session, you must be aware that this will be the case and decide to take this course only if you feel able to work with such content.