Fatal attraction : the serial killer in American popular culture Bentham, AA Title Fatal attraction : the serial killer in American popular culture Authors Bentham, AA Type Book Section URL This version is available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/57498/ Published Date 2015 USIR is a digital collection of the research output of the University of Salford. Where copyright permits, full text material held in the repository is made freely available online and can be read, downloaded and copied for non-commercial private study or research purposes. Please check the manuscript for any further copyright restrictions. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at:
[email protected]. Fatal Attraction: The Serial Killer in American Popular Culture If a single figure can be said to exemplify American popular culture’s apparent fascination with violence, it is the enigmatic serial murderer. The mythos that has sprung up around the serial killer is both potent and ubiquitous; representations occur in various forms of media, including fiction, true crime, film and television, music, and graphic novels. So iconic is this figure, that one can even purchase serial killer action figures, trading cards and murderabilia.1 Notably, this is not an entirely niche market; CDs of Charles Manson’s music can be purchased from Barnes & Noble and, in 2010, Dexter action figures were available to purchase in Toys R Us. Indeed, the polysemic serial killer holds such a unique place in the cultural imaginary that he or she has in some ways come to be seen as emblematic of America itself.