Televisual forensics on the edge of chaos: postgenomic complexity in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Bull, Sofia

doi:10.1093/screen/hjv002

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…The emergence of the forensic crime drama genre has triggered a productive wave of literature, particularly on the impact of forensic television, namely, CSI that has become a canonical material for televisual scholarship (Bull, 2012, 2015a, 2015b, 2016, 2019; Gever, 2005; Tait, 2006). One might fairly characterize the show as a forerunner in conditioning societies making them more desensitized to surveillance.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Situated in crime labs and equipped with extensive and expansive technologies, the team of criminalists (alternatively referred to as CSIs in the current study) represents everything citizens need for an ideal world where crimes are solved in situ and social order is restored. To dare say, the aesthetics of forensic evidence in CSI is manipulated to evoke, articulate, and dramatize a web of forensic gazes and camera shots in liaison with science-related ideologies of relevance to the forensic turn (Bull, 2012, 2015a, 2015b, 2016, 2019; Parker, 2013). Arguably, the ever presence of unique forensic gazes and camera shots, in their multiple representations, is what gives the philosophical panoptic and post-panoptic views on power and surveillance such deep rooted and enduring influence in the show.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theorizing the forensic gaze and the CSI shot in the multimodal ensemble ofCSI: Crime Scene Investigation(2002–2015)

Elyamany

2021

Convergence

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CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ( (2002–2015) CBS, Alliance Atlantis Communications, CBS Paramount Network Television, Jerry Bruckheimer Television.) marks a paradigm shift in the post-9/11 forensic visual culture, ostensibly presenting physical evidence as a system of surveillance and control; the team of criminalists as ideologically complicit with state power; and high-tech forensic gadgetry as infallible and conducive to the culprit. In the melodramatic narrative strands, sophisticated plotlines, and spectacular performances of forensic science, CSI heavily rests on a novel and meticulously elaborated aesthetics that redefines the conception of gaze and camera shot in the weaving of episodes across the different seasons. A more nuanced comprehension of CSI’s visual forensic discourse is, therefore, necessitated to fully understand the cultural significance of these offerings. To this end, extending the work of Kress and Van Leuween on the systems of gaze and social distance in light of the Foucauldian and post-panoptic views on power and control, the article introduces fine-grained taxonomies of the forensic gaze and camera shot as fundamental aesthetics closely tied to post-9/11 extensive surveillance discourse. Resituating CSI in the broader context of the post-panopticon, the study argues that the drama series operates in a hybrid surveillance mode that surpasses conventional readings of panopticism, straddling the line between the physical and the digital in the contemporary age.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theorizing the forensic gaze and the CSI shot in the multimodal ensemble ofCSI: Crime Scene Investigation(2002–2015)

Elyamany

2021

Convergence

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The Style of Nordic Noir: Bordertown as a Stylistic Adaptation of the Prototype

Seppälä¹

2020

Nordic Noir, Adaptation, Appropriation

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Nordic noir is a buzzword that is unavoidable in virtually all discourses surrounding contemporary Nordic crime films and television series of certain style. Nordic noir is an oxymoron. The word Nordic is closely connected to the five welfare states and the good life, according to statistical reports. The 2019 World Happiness Report ranked the Nordic countries among the ten happiest countries in the world, Finland being number one. Contrary to such measures, the French word noir (black) stands for dark crime fiction that expresses a pessimistic world view. The term comes from the publishing imprint série noire that in 1945 began to publish hardboiled detective fiction, the bulk of which was written by American authors such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.After the Second World War, French critics applied the term film noir to gloomy Hollywood films, many of which were adaptations of hardboiled literature. As these films were stylistically innovative in their use of elements such as chiaroscuro lighting, canted compositions and flashbacks, the word noir became a key concept in debates on film and television style.The concept of Nordic noir was popularized by British literary critics to talk about translated Scandinavian crime literature after Stieg Larsson 's Millennium (2005's Millennium ( -2007 trilogy had become a worldwide phenomenon. Actually, this brand of popular literature was mainly Swedish (Bergman 2014, 11). At the turn of the 2010s, the concept was repeatedly used in discussions concerning popular Scandinavian crime films and television series (Hansen and Waade 2017, 5) akin to Forbrydelsen (The Killing, 2007 and Bron/Broen (The Bridge, 2011. These were not just any works in the crime genre, but ones that had an international appeal. Thus, Nordic noir should not be defined as a synonym for Nordic crime fiction. The global popularity of The Killing and The Bridge encouraged Nordic filmmakers and television producers to adapt and appropriate their conventions in the hope of reaching large audiences. Today, the concept of Nordic noir is more commonly associated with Nordic crime films and television series than with literature. I build on Julie Grossman's (2015) view of adaptations as looking forward, so that the identity of the phenomenon does not lie in the original but in the adaptation. To fully comprehend how film and television producers have engaged with literary tradition, moreover, it is productive to understand Nordic noir as a style. Style can be understood as the systematic and significant use of the techniques of the medium (Bordwell 1997, 4). In the context of film and television, employing a specific style is a way of producing crime films and television series in an identifiable manner as

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Introduction: A Cultural Forum on Genetics

Bull

2019

Television and the Genetic Imaginary

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Televisual forensics on the edge of chaos: postgenomic complexity in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Theorizing the forensic gaze and the CSI shot in the multimodal ensemble ofCSI: Crime Scene Investigation(2002–2015)

Theorizing the forensic gaze and the CSI shot in the multimodal ensemble ofCSI: Crime Scene Investigation(2002–2015)

The Style of Nordic Noir: Bordertown as a Stylistic Adaptation of the Prototype

Introduction: A Cultural Forum on Genetics

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