Femininity on trial: decoding female violence in true crime documentary

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the treatment of criminally accused women and girls in 2000s crime documentaries. I argue that although the HBO documentaries I Love You, Now Die and Beware The Slenderman challenge established tropes associated with criminally accused women and girls, the documentaries do not disrupt patterns within patriarchy that penalize and vilify nontraditional embodiments of femininity. The 2000s brought a new era of representation for criminally accused men. The emergence and popularity of injustice narratives positioned true-crime documentaries as agents of social change. Androcentric films facilitated in-depth exposés that highlighted wrongful convictions and systemic corruption in the American criminal justice system. Beware The Slenderman and I Love You, Now Die challenge portrayals of allegedly violent women and girls as mentally ill, inherently evil, and particularly susceptible to corruption. The documentaries awareness of established tropes signals a potential reevaluation of patriarchal understandings of female crime. However, I Love You, Now Die and Beware The Slenderman reinforce correlations between criminality and gender performance. Unlike the male-centered injustice narratives of the 2000s, crime documentaries featuring accused women and girls normalize patriarchal gender roles rather than examine systemic failings.