The following master’s thesis deals with the analysis of premeditated murder as depicted in Italian cinematography and British literature. Under the guideship of Hegel’s (2003) concept of the artistically beautiful I examined acts of violence as if they were paintings, sculptures or other works of art. Before scrutinizing the above mentioned motion pictures, I turned my gaze upon Italian culture and art, which had always been imbued with the terrifying and horrifying. After that I asked myself, what are the contemporary social conditions that influence the display of violence against human bodies. Being granted satisfactory answers, I proceeded to learn what such depictions could tell us about ideological aspects, psychological backgrounds and artistic meanings implicated in their presentation. The second half of the thesis contains the evaluation of murder phenomena in the English detective novel. Furthermore, I have analyzed the poetical and psychoanalytical dimension of murder in Stevenson's Gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2009) and using De Quincey's work On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts (2015) explained why certain murders can be considered as aesthetic. The final chapter contains the anatomization of early news reporting about murderous crimes, as well as the deduction that tabloid journalism is responsible for advertising criminal acts. In conclusion, I find that the reproduction of homicide in diverse media and artistic genres enables the public to experience murder in a controlled manner, which confirmes Bataille's (2001) notion of transgression, Aristotle's (1959) reasoning, that by confronting such acts, we achieve catharsis, a purification of negative feelings, and Schatz’s supposition that societal fears can be confronted in genre film
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