Serial Killers
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the threat of serial and mass murder became a topic of great popular and academic interest in America. While there is no murder "epidemic," as hyperbolic writers and law-enforcement officials claimed in the mid-1980s, the apprehension of high-profile serial killers (such as David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Henry Lee Lucas) and an apparent upswing in mass shootings in schoolyards, post offices, etc., served to bring the problem to public attention. In a capitalistic mass-media age where sensational news stories increase ratings and sell advertising time, the "random" killer (especially the serial murderer) provides good source material. He also inspires generations of fiction writers,who simultaneously view him not only as an artistic metaphor for any number of social ills but a guaranteed moneymaker. Literally thousands of fiction and nonfiction ("true crime") novels and films centered on multiple killers have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars during the past twenty years in America alone. One of the most recognizable of these is the Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, which is based on a best-selling novel by Thomas Harris. Harris, in turn, was inspired to create his memorable work of fiction by his research into the lives of real-life serial killers and the law-enforcement agents ("profilers") who pursue them.
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