Web Sleuths in Contemporary True Crime Documentaries

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyze the web sleuth and its depictions in the contemporary true crime documentaries I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. Web sleuths – private citizens who conduct independent research and investigative efforts on criminal cases online and in conjunction with others – encapsulates the popularity of the true crime genre, as well as its participatory nature in a popular culture occupied with violence, crime and detection. While both the true crime genre and the web sleuth are well known in popular culture and scholarly discourse, this thesis seeks to contribute further by understanding the figure through its depictions in two contemporary true crime texts. In doing so, I discuss the ways in which the texts depict, situate and relate to the somewhat controversial and contentious web sleuth figure, a phenomenon that is so intrinsically linked to the genre itself. Performing a comparative textual analysis of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, I specifically examine and interpret the series’ differing tone – the attitudes the texts imply to the web sleuth. In doing so, I argue that their respective depictions are somewhat paradoxical. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, while regarded as sensitive and handling its subject matter with care, arguably refrains from critically engaging with the somewhat controversial aspects of websleuthing. Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, while justifiably critiquing the web sleuths in the case of Elisa Lam, ends up participating in the sensationalism it reprimands the web sleuths for.