Dr. Douglas MacLeod, Associate Professor of Composition and Communication, has authored a chapter in the newly published “Serial Killing on Screen: Adaptation, True Crime and Popular Culture,” a book that explores the representation of real-life serial murders as adapted for the screen and popular culture.
Situated at the nexus of film and screen studies, theatre studies, cultural studies, criminology and sociology, this interdisciplinary collection raises questions about, and implications for, thinking about the adaptation and representation of true crime in popular culture, and the ideologies at stake in such narratives.
The collection discusses the ways in which the adaptation of real-life serial murder intersects with other markers of cultural identity (gender, race, class, disability), as well as aspects of criminology (offenders, victims, policing, and profiling) and psychology (psychopathy, sociopathy, and paraphilia).
Dr. MacLeod’s entry, “Sweet Uncle Charlie: The Unsuspecting Killer in Shadow of a Doubt” examines legendary director Alfred Hitchcock’s affinity for depicting murder on screen. The 1943 film follows the story of teenager Charlie, played by Teresa Wright, who slowly begins to suspect that her uncle is the killer being sought by authorities in their small town.
Dr. MacLeod teaches intercultural communication, script writing, visual media, cinema, mass media, and composition and literature courses. He has presented on various subjects at conferences, including The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock, Marathon Man, empathy in the Digital Age, stand-up comedy as a tool for composition writers, and Oliver Stone. He is also widely published, having produced book chapters (on such topics as religion and cinema and Bonnie and Clyde); encyclopedia entries; and book reviews for various print and online academic journals, including Film and History, Scope, Warscapes, and The Journal of American Studies of Turkey (among many others).
“Serial Killing on Screen: Adaptation, True Crime and Popular Culture,” edited by Sarah E. Fanning and Claire O’Callaghan, is part of the Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture series published by Springer International Publishing. It is available through major booksellers, online at www.springer.com, and at the Van Wagenen Library on SUNY Cobleskill’s campus.
