ABOUT THE PROJECT
This project began as a series of conversations. One of us (Ashley) specializes in popularized depictions of monsters and monstrosity—particularly in film and television. The other (Jessica) specializes in how media portrays the criminal justice system: lawyers, courtrooms, sentencing, juries, and everything in between. But we both realized through our conversations that there seems to be a logical foundation where our academic interests meet. The burgeoning sub-genre of the supernatural procedural drama seems ever present. Shows like Lucifer, Sleepy Hollow, Grimm, and Fringe (among many others) seem intent on meshing together the real criminal justice system in America with fantastical supernatural elements--for what possible reason? The police procedural finds vast success on its own terms, so why mess with something that doesn't appear broken?
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This is what we want to discover. At the end of the process, we hope to address why, and why now, we seem to rely on supernaturalism in our procedural dramas. Please submit your chapter proposals to supernaturalprocedurals@gmail.com by March 18, 2017. We welcome any proposals that meet the criteria in our Call for Proposals as well as inquiries.