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On 27 January 2023 a missing person alert was raised for Nicola BulleyBulley, Nicola, a woman who disappeared after dropping her daughters off at school. Lancashire Constabulary issued an appeal for anyone who may have seen NicolaBulley, Nicola or had any information about her disappearance, but within days social media was rife with videos and posts speculating not only about Nicola’s disappearance but her home life and her relationship with her partner. This chapter examines the intersections between forensic fandomForensic fandom and digital witnessingDigital witnessing. Jason Mittell identified forensic fandomForensic fandom as a ‘mode of television engagement encouraging research, collaboration, analysis, and interpretation’ (Mittell, J. (2009a). ‘Sites of Participation: Wiki Fandom and the Case of Lostpedia.’ Transformative Works and Cultures 3. http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/118/117 .) requiring viewers to ‘dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the complexity of a story and its telling’ (Mittell, J. (25 February 2009b). To Spread or To Drill? Just TV. https://justtv.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/to-spread-or-to-drill/ .). Although initially referring to narrative storytelling such as Lost or Battlestar Galactica, forensic fandomForensic fandom clearly has applications to true crimeTrue crime fans who use social media platforms to highlight, share and interrogate moments within the larger crime and its context to establish the motive, circumstances and ultimately perpetrator. We argue that social media users co-opted Lancashire police’s appeal for information as a form of proxy digital witnessingDigital witnessing. TikTokTikTok users positioned NicolaBulley, Nicola as a protagonist within a true crimeTrue crime story, using data they ‘uncovered’ to craft a narrative in which they also played central parts, ultimately interfering with the resolution of the case and parasitic perpetuating a true crimeTrue crime narrative which doesn’t actually exist.

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Playing Their Own Private Detectives: Digital witnessing, Forensic Fandom and True Crime Narratives

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Bethan Jones,
  • Steff El Madawi

摘要

On 27 January 2023 a missing person alert was raised for Nicola BulleyBulley, Nicola, a woman who disappeared after dropping her daughters off at school. Lancashire Constabulary issued an appeal for anyone who may have seen NicolaBulley, Nicola or had any information about her disappearance, but within days social media was rife with videos and posts speculating not only about Nicola’s disappearance but her home life and her relationship with her partner. This chapter examines the intersections between forensic fandomForensic fandom and digital witnessingDigital witnessing. Jason Mittell identified forensic fandomForensic fandom as a ‘mode of television engagement encouraging research, collaboration, analysis, and interpretation’ (Mittell, J. (2009a). ‘Sites of Participation: Wiki Fandom and the Case of Lostpedia.’ Transformative Works and Cultures 3. http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/118/117 .) requiring viewers to ‘dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the complexity of a story and its telling’ (Mittell, J. (25 February 2009b). To Spread or To Drill? Just TV. https://justtv.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/to-spread-or-to-drill/ .). Although initially referring to narrative storytelling such as Lost or Battlestar Galactica, forensic fandomForensic fandom clearly has applications to true crimeTrue crime fans who use social media platforms to highlight, share and interrogate moments within the larger crime and its context to establish the motive, circumstances and ultimately perpetrator. We argue that social media users co-opted Lancashire police’s appeal for information as a form of proxy digital witnessingDigital witnessing. TikTokTikTok users positioned NicolaBulley, Nicola as a protagonist within a true crimeTrue crime story, using data they ‘uncovered’ to craft a narrative in which they also played central parts, ultimately interfering with the resolution of the case and parasitic perpetuating a true crimeTrue crime narrative which doesn’t actually exist.