From Villains to Clowns

Abstract

In the past number of decades, an increasing amount of visual texts featuring psychopathic serial murderers have transformed the serial killer into somewhat of a celebrity. Within this space, an interesting development has been the production and circulation of ‘serial killer memes.’ These memes containing images of infamous killers, accompanied by inserted text, transform pathologized experiences into sources of humor. By focusing on this ever-growing memescape, this chapter explores how in the post-9/11 climate, the figure of the serial killer has come to dominate the popular imaginary. The chapter examines various categories of ‘serial killer’ memes to understand how such a meme subculture risks normalizing the figure of the serial killer. The virality of the memes, the chapter argues, is a metaphor of what Mark Seltzer identifies as our ‘wound culture’ and the popularity of such a meme subculture reflects to a great extent the public’s ability to engage and negotiate with the monstrous.