We live in a content saturated media landscape. Since the birth of Netflix's streaming service in 2007, there has been a steady exponential explosion of online media and media platforms. It seems that every month we have a new streaming app, and every app offers dozens to hundreds of brand new original series and movies. Society has gone from being at the receiving end of a monocultural conveyor belt, to scavengers in a wasteland of varied and disparate small scale and blockbuster offerings. Media companies have had to change their entire approach to the way they create content for audiences, because they have to fight tooth and nail for just a second of attention.

The things that do float to the surface these days are assigned unusual adjectives. They’re called ‘“binge-worthy,” “addictive” — they’re characterized more akin to the way we talk about narcotics, than traditional pieces of art. Streamers aren’t in the business of making movies or television, they’re in the business of stealing your attention.

In the wake of this media overhaul, there is one genre that has come out on top, one genre that has captured the attention of millions, and consistently sits at the top of the charts. That genre is True Crime.

Aidan Healey is a Senior here at UNCW, and he has been examining the murky depths of this cultural phenomenon. Sifting through dead bodies and murder weapons, his senior thesis is dedicated to the analysis and unearthing of the origins of the True Crime genre. He has traced a line all the way back through the decades, to the mid-century novelist Truman Capote, and his infamous “non-fiction novel.” Capote’s In Cold Blood, he believes, is the catalyst for all of our bloodlust and intrigue for scandal; it is the beginning of popularized crime dramas and macabre documentaries. Today, he is here to discuss all things Capote, True Crime, streaming and the intriguing liberties taken in nonfiction storytelling.