engleski

Of Monsters and Men: Crime Fiction Allure and Popular Culture

Crime fiction genre, in all of its variations such as detective fiction, courtroom drama, mafia novels and police procedurals, firmly holds the throne as the most widely written and read genre today. Even within television art, TV series with the highest viewing rates pertain to crime genre. Given its subject matter – human nature at its worst – our fascination with the genre is perplexing and in need of explanation. Why is crime fiction so intriguing and inviting, given that, for the most part, it depicts experiences we would never consider desirable in real life? Contemporary crime fiction gives us a direct access to the evil that men do, as we watch or read about serial killers, rapists, kidnappers, and other kinds of psychopaths doing unspeakable horrors to unsuspecting human beings. This new variation of the old Hume’s problem – why do we take pleasure in tragedy – is given a new rendition in crime fiction, considering that emotions inspired by crime fiction range from pity and sympathy for the victims, to the disgust and anguish over the criminals capable of committing such atrocities, to the helplessness and despair we feel when we realize just how pervasive the evil is. It is confusing that such subject matter keeps attracting our attention and rewarding our aesthetic interests. In addition, the artistic qualities of crime fiction are, arguably, lower than those of other literary genres, mostly in light of crime fiction’s formulaic nature and one-dimensional depiction of characters. To some philosophers, this not only implies that there is no aesthetic pleasure to be gained by getting imaginatively involved with crime fiction, it also implies the overall preference for ‘bad’ art. One of the most popular explanations on offer as to why this is the case – according to which we take pleasure in tracking down the criminal or in monitoring police’s progress if we already know who the bad guy is – is impoverished, I claim, as it neglects not only the artistic and aesthetic qualities of crime fiction, but, more importantly, a distinctive kind of engagement these works invite. Taking into consideration some of the most recent developments in literary cognitivism and literary Darwinism, I offer a more benevolent reading of crime fiction, one that emphasizes various aspects of the genre which explain its aesthetic appeal and ground its artistic value. One such aspect concerns the use of crime genre as a tool for social commentary, and as an instrument of probing various ethical conundrums that pervade our everyday lives and contemporary culture. Focusing on contemporary TV series pertaining to crime fiction, my analysis shows that contemporary TV crime fiction bears striking resemblance to some of the most outstanding literary specimens of the genre. On the whole, it is a highly complex genre, which encompasses intriguing story-lines, a probing insight into contemporary culture, and powerful philosophical questions.

Crime fiction, popular culture, aesthetic appeal, artistic value, literary Darwinism

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