VICTIM OR MURDERER? - Discourse, representation & stereotypes in true crime Marie Eriksson Media and Communication Studies: Media activism, strategy & entrepreneurship Bachelor Thesis Malmö University Faculty of Culture and Society Spring Term of 2021 Supervisor: Matts Skagshöj Victim or Murderer? - Discourse, Representation & Stereotypes in True Crime Media & Communication Bachelor Thesis 2021 Abstract This study explores the true crime documentary Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story and aims to investigate the protagonist Cyntoia Brown in relation to how her character and story is represented. Due to the consistent rise of awareness in equal rights, as well as the steady increase of black representation in popular television, one might think that it would reflect positively in mass media. Although there have been few changes to representation, the findings that are to be presented suggest otherwise. Narratives within television still heavily relies on stereotyping and following societal norms, which this study desires to expose through a discourse analysis. Keywords: discourse, representation, stereotypes, black women, true crime, anti-heroism Title: Victim or Murderer? - Discourse, Representation & Stereotypes in True Crime Author: Marie Eriksson Bachelors thesis in Media and Communication Studies, 15 hp Faculty of Culture and Society Malmö University Supervisor: Matts Skagshöj Examinator: Per Möller Spring Term of 2021 Marie Eriksson 1 Victim or Murderer? - Discourse, Representation & Stereotypes in True Crime Media & Communication Bachelor Thesis 2021 Table of Contents 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Purpose and research questions ..................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Research questions ...................................................................................................................... 5 3. Contextualization ............................................................................................................................... 6 3.1 Race and gender discrimination in the United States.................................................................... 6 3.2 The Cyntoia Brown story................................................................................................................ 7 3.3 Injustice in America's justice system.............................................................................................. 8 4. Previous research .............................................................................................................................. 9 4.1 Representation of race and colorblindness in television ............................................................... 9 4.2 Black women and stereotypes in television ................................................................................. 10 4.3 The antihero narrative .................................................................................................................. 10 4.4 Findings and summary ................................................................................................................. 11 5. Theoretical framework ..................................................................................................................... 12 5.1 Discourse theory .......................................................................................................................... 12 5.2 Representation theory .................................................................................................................. 13 5.3 Feminist theory............................................................................................................................. 15 5.4 Affective disposition theory .......................................................................................................... 16 6. Method and material ........................................................................................................................ 18 6.1 Multimodal critical discourse analysis .......................................................................................... 18 6.2 Material ........................................................................................................................................ 20 6.3 Ethical discussion ........................................................................................................................ 21 6.4 Validity and reliability ................................................................................................................... 21 6.5 Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 22 7. Result and analysis .......................................................................................................................... 23 7.1 Story plot and narrative ................................................................................................................ 23 7.2 Social actor analysis .................................................................................................................... 28 7.3 The portrayal and stereotyping of Cyntoia Brown ....................................................................... 32 8. Summary and discussion ................................................................................................................ 40 8.1 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 40 8.2 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 41 9. References ........................................................................................................................................ 44 Marie Eriksson 2 Victim or Murderer? - Discourse, Representation & Stereotypes in True Crime Media & Communication Bachelor Thesis 2021 List of figures Figure 1 .................................................................................................................................................... 19 Screenshot 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Screenshot 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Screenshot 3 .......................................................................................................................................... 28 Screenshot 4 .......................................................................................................................................... 30 Screenshot 5 .......................................................................................................................................... 33 Screenshot 6 .......................................................................................................................................... 34 Screenshot 7 .......................................................................................................................................... 36 Screenshot 8. ......................................................................................................................................... 36 Screenshot 9. ......................................................................................................................................... 37 Marie Eriksson 3 Victim or Murderer? - Discourse, Representation & Stereotypes in True Crime Media & Communication Bachelor Thesis 2021 1. Introduction Media has the power to manifest discourses, norms and stereotypes within our society. It dictates how we perceive the world, what we believe to be “the truth” and influences our ability to predict right from wrong. Cyntoia Brown is a victim of prejudices manifested by harmful stereotypes. In 2004, she was at 16-years-old sentenced to life in prison for killing Johnny Allen, a man who had allegedly solicited her for sex. A decade later, her case went viral on social media due to the public demanding mercy upon her harsh sentence. The true crime documentary Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story follows her conviction, sentence and release, after serving 15 years in prison. True crime documentaries often seek to make an emotional impact, seek justice or exonerate an innocent person. Correspondingly, the Cyntoia Brown story is no different. By adopting a common narrative style for morally complex characters, the documentary predominantly strives to gain sympathy and make an emotional impact through an antihero narrative. Hypothetically, these types of documentaries should as a result influence our society in a positive way. Maybe even have the possibility to diminish prejudices and stereotypical beliefs. Unfortunately, harmful stereotypes towards ethnic minorities are not easily erased. This study will further investigate how Cyntoia Brown’s representation in Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story is manifested by discourses, norms and stereotypes. Possibly the very same reasons why black women like Cyntoia Brown are convicted in the first place. There are many motivating factors to why studying representation in true crime documentaries is