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The spectacle of fearsome acts: crime in the melting p(l)ot of Gangs of New York.

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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/01/2005
<mark>Journal</mark>Critical Criminology
Issue number1
Volume13
Number of pages19
Pages (from-to)17-35
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

This paper explores the multi-layered representations of violence and crime in the recent Hollywood film Gangs of New York [Scorcese (2003) Miramax]. We use our exploration of this film to suggest that popular culture, even through its most mainstream products, can be seen as a critical criminological space where alternative views of law, crime and the state are made available. Rather than understanding Hollywood movies simply as vehicles for disseminating conventional mores, we suggest that they can furnish ritical (and complex) points of view on law and crime and that the project of a critical criminology can be strengthened by engaging more forthrightly with these ubiquitous cultural forms.

Bibliographic note

25% contribution RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Social Work and Social Policy & Administration