The Women's Murder Club is Born

In the beginning of 1st to Die (Patterson, 2001), the main character, Detective Lindsay Boxer asks her friends to help her to solve a serial murder case. The two friends, Claire, a medical examiner and Cindy, a reporter agree and the "Women's Murder Club" is born.

Boxer thinks to herself: "...I knew it could work. We could reassemble whatever clues came out of the official investigation, share what we had, cut through the political cover-your-ass and the bureaucracy. Three women, who would get a kick out of showing up the male orthodoxy. More important, we shared a heartfelt empathy for the victims" (p. 140).

Note the mention of sharing information,  "male orthodoxy" and "empathy for the victims." 

Later in 1st to Die (p. 174), while sipping beers at Susie's, a regular meeting place for the club (at least in the novels), Lindsay thinks to herself: "The Women's Murder Club. This was good. No men allowed."

In Chapter 73 a new member joins the club, Jill Bernhardt, assistant district attorney. Before Jill officially joins the group, Lindsay notes:

Claire had met her [Jill] a few times when she testified at trials. They had developed a mutual respect for each other rise through their male-dominated departments. (p. 278)

Note: The novel is told in first person from Lindsay's perspective.


After Jill officially joins the group she asks what is the group named.  At this point in the novel Lindsay has not voiced out loud what she has thinking -- "Women's Murder Club."

Lindsay says: "We're sort of a murder club."

Jill suggests: "The Margarita Posse."  Margaritas seem to be their favorite drink at Susie's.

Clarie suggests: "Bad-ass Bitches."

Cindy says: "One day, we're all gonna be running things... Homicide Chicks... That's who we are.  That's what we do."

Lindsay echoed this in thought: "we were bright, attractive, take-no-shit women.  We were going to run things -- some day" (p. 280).

When comparing the novels to the TV series, we don't see this talk of the "male orthodoxy" in the TV series.  I wonder why?  :)  This seems to be safe for a novel, but not TV.  What is it about TV that would not allow this sort of talk to air?

Marriage of the Narrative Rhetoric Lit with Screenwriting Books

What do you get when you marry the narrative rhetoric lit with screenwriting books?
You get the theoretical mixed with the practical.
How to "marry" the two? Look for the common elements mentioned in both.
In the narrative rhetoric lit, Rowland (1999) writes that narrative rhetoric functions in six ways to persuade.
"1. Narratives add interest;
2. Narratives create identification;
3. Narratives function aesthetically to persuade;
4. Narratives encapsulate claims;
5. Narratives can be used to create an emotional response;
6. Narratives can transport us to another place and time." (p. 83).

Functions #2 and #5 are often mentioned in screenwriting books -- identification of the audience (Frensham, 1996, p.78-80), evoking emotion in the audience (Miller, 1998).

Bilandzic, Sukalla , Herrmann and Kinnebrock, 2008

Bilandzic, H. , Sukalla, F. , Herrmann, F. and Kinnebrock, S. , 2008-05-21 "What’s the Point of this Film? What’s the Point of this Genre? Analyzing Moral Messages of Genre Films" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Online . 2008-12-10 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p233990_index.html

"Abstract: Embedded in the surface story, moral messages in films convey important values and norms, and show which actions lead to success in life, and which do not. Very different stories may contain the same moral lesson. Regular viewers of narrative fiction are repeatedly exposed to both genre-specific and universal patterns of moral lessons. In the same way as violence or gender stereotypes cultivate an audience into adapting their world views to the television world, moral patterns may cultivate viewers in their moral thinking and acting. But how can moral messages in films be detected when they are most often implicit and hidden in the surface story? This paper presents an instrument for analyzing moral messages in films, which combines structuralist plot analysis from Narratology and heuristic categories from Grounded Theory. The instrument and its methodological foundations are described, and a detailed example is given to exemplify the application."

the above is from: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/3/3/9/9/p233990_index.html#get_document

Taru Comes To Abirpur

2008 Rogers Award for Achievement in Entertainment-Education

Albert Bandura: 2007 Everett Rogers Colloquium

Entertainment Education: Definitions

Entertainment Education is "the process of purposely designing and implementing a media message both to entertain and educate" (Singhal & Rogers, 1999, p. 9).

Entertainment education is "the intentional placement of educational content in entertainment messages" (Singhal & Rogers, 2002, p. 117).

"Entertainment-education (E-E) is the process of purposely designing and implementing a media message to both entertain and educate, in order to increase audience members’ knowledge about an educational issue, create favorable attitudes, shift social norms, and change overt behavior (Singhal & Rogers, 1999; Singhal & Rogers, 2002)" (Singhal, Cody, Rogers & Sabido, 2003, p. 5).