Jack Denham - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jack Denham

Research paper thumbnail of Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces

Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces, 2018

Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes eve... more Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

Research paper thumbnail of The reification of structural violence in video games

Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 2019

The Grand Theft Auto franchise features prominently within existing research exploring graphic, v... more The Grand Theft Auto franchise features prominently within existing research exploring graphic, virtual, lawless, and damagingly realistic interpersonal violence within video games. Following a review of this literature, we empirically interrogate notions of the ‘realistic’ and the ‘violent’ during gameplay, finding that the undertones of systemic, structural, capitalistic violence are experienced by players as providing the gritty sense of the ‘real’ that the game has been criticised for. Using Galtung’s concept of ‘structural violence’ and Žižek’s notion of the ‘real’, we unpack structural violence as the forerunning violent experience in the open world game. Due to the hidden and subdued nature of this violence, often taken for granted and experienced passively, we argue that it is the most impactful player experience that simultaneously makes the game playable and contextualises violent game activities. For cultural criminology, our data suggest that embedded and discrete forms ...

Research paper thumbnail of The right to the virtual city: Rural retreatism in open-world video games

New Media & Society

This article uses Lefebvre’s spatial triad and his concept of The Right to the City to categorise... more This article uses Lefebvre’s spatial triad and his concept of The Right to the City to categorise open-world video games as contested virtual spatial experiences, interconnected with the non-virtual spaces in which they are produced and played and replete with the same spatial, capital forces of alienation to be negotiated and maintained. We use qualitative gameplay data ( n = 15), unpacking players’ journeys through Lefebvre’s conceived, lived and perceived spaces, to show, respectively, how open-world games can be (1) fundamentally about space, (2) spaces interconnected with the non-virtual world and (3) disruptive spatial experiences. In utilising The Right to the Virtual City and our players’ tendency to retreat into the wild spaces of our case study game, Red Dead Redemption 2, we evoke the same alienating forces of commodification and capitalism to which Lefebvre spoke, positioning open-world video games as both contested spatial experiences and opportunities to challenge spat...

Research paper thumbnail of Consumption (Number 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester)

Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Digital culture industry: a history of digital distribution

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 1369118x 2014 905617, Jul 3, 2014

Sample chapter

Research paper thumbnail of The Commodification of the Criminal Corpse: 'Selective memory' in Posthumous Representations of Criminal

For the last twenty years, you have been able to buy body parts of criminals on the internet. Thr... more For the last twenty years, you have been able to buy body parts of criminals on the internet. Through repeated exposure to the corpse in popular culture, the boundaries between real and facsimile are blurring when it comes to the cadaver, but ‘murderabilia’, a consumeristic arm of ‘dark tourism’, is often sold as the most authentic way to consume crime in the culture industry. Foltyn argues that in the process of consuming death, we are ‘creating corpse facts and fictions’ (Foltyn, 2008, p. 155). With regards to murderabilia, my contribution offers the concept of ‘selective memory’ as a way to understand how positive histories are enhanced in posthumous representations of criminal. A ‘selective memory’ augments these corpse fictions, more than the facts, making for lopsided representations of the criminal corpse. This paper of three parts analyses historical commodification of the criminal corpse, arguing that being dead has often been a prerequisite of achieving notoriety for criminals. Second, a case study of Charles Manson is used to showcase the brand-like qualities attached to successful criminal celebrities. Third, this case study is continued through news-media representations, to show that the criminal corpse is recalled with a ‘selective memory’, missing violent aspects and focussing instead on brand.

Research paper thumbnail of Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces

Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces, 2018

Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes eve... more Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

Research paper thumbnail of The reification of structural violence in video games

Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 2019

The Grand Theft Auto franchise features prominently within existing research exploring graphic, v... more The Grand Theft Auto franchise features prominently within existing research exploring graphic, virtual, lawless, and damagingly realistic interpersonal violence within video games. Following a review of this literature, we empirically interrogate notions of the ‘realistic’ and the ‘violent’ during gameplay, finding that the undertones of systemic, structural, capitalistic violence are experienced by players as providing the gritty sense of the ‘real’ that the game has been criticised for. Using Galtung’s concept of ‘structural violence’ and Žižek’s notion of the ‘real’, we unpack structural violence as the forerunning violent experience in the open world game. Due to the hidden and subdued nature of this violence, often taken for granted and experienced passively, we argue that it is the most impactful player experience that simultaneously makes the game playable and contextualises violent game activities. For cultural criminology, our data suggest that embedded and discrete forms ...

Research paper thumbnail of The right to the virtual city: Rural retreatism in open-world video games

New Media & Society

This article uses Lefebvre’s spatial triad and his concept of The Right to the City to categorise... more This article uses Lefebvre’s spatial triad and his concept of The Right to the City to categorise open-world video games as contested virtual spatial experiences, interconnected with the non-virtual spaces in which they are produced and played and replete with the same spatial, capital forces of alienation to be negotiated and maintained. We use qualitative gameplay data ( n = 15), unpacking players’ journeys through Lefebvre’s conceived, lived and perceived spaces, to show, respectively, how open-world games can be (1) fundamentally about space, (2) spaces interconnected with the non-virtual world and (3) disruptive spatial experiences. In utilising The Right to the Virtual City and our players’ tendency to retreat into the wild spaces of our case study game, Red Dead Redemption 2, we evoke the same alienating forces of commodification and capitalism to which Lefebvre spoke, positioning open-world video games as both contested spatial experiences and opportunities to challenge spat...

Research paper thumbnail of Consumption (Number 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester)

Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Digital culture industry: a history of digital distribution

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 1369118x 2014 905617, Jul 3, 2014

Sample chapter

Research paper thumbnail of The Commodification of the Criminal Corpse: 'Selective memory' in Posthumous Representations of Criminal

For the last twenty years, you have been able to buy body parts of criminals on the internet. Thr... more For the last twenty years, you have been able to buy body parts of criminals on the internet. Through repeated exposure to the corpse in popular culture, the boundaries between real and facsimile are blurring when it comes to the cadaver, but ‘murderabilia’, a consumeristic arm of ‘dark tourism’, is often sold as the most authentic way to consume crime in the culture industry. Foltyn argues that in the process of consuming death, we are ‘creating corpse facts and fictions’ (Foltyn, 2008, p. 155). With regards to murderabilia, my contribution offers the concept of ‘selective memory’ as a way to understand how positive histories are enhanced in posthumous representations of criminal. A ‘selective memory’ augments these corpse fictions, more than the facts, making for lopsided representations of the criminal corpse. This paper of three parts analyses historical commodification of the criminal corpse, arguing that being dead has often been a prerequisite of achieving notoriety for criminals. Second, a case study of Charles Manson is used to showcase the brand-like qualities attached to successful criminal celebrities. Third, this case study is continued through news-media representations, to show that the criminal corpse is recalled with a ‘selective memory’, missing violent aspects and focussing instead on brand.