Whites are the basic humans, at least in the realm of visual representation that Dyer focuses on (and which he argues forms much of the basis for how we think about the world). Whiteness is seen as the norm, but a norm which has no real form such that anybody who falls outside of it is automatically and unrecoverably marked by their inability to meet its basic criteria. He conceives of whiteness as a cultural void, a non-identity which allows other aspects of identity (sexuality, gender, religion, (dis)ability, etc.) to come to the fore. Richard Dyer’s purpose in White is to examine what had previously gone relatively unexamined in the realm of cultural criticism and identity-based investigations into the meanings and constructions of race, specifically whiteness. His books include Stars Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society Now You See It: Historical Studies in Lesbian and Gay Film Only Entertainment The Matter of Images Brief Encounter White Seven The Culture of Queers Pastiche Nino Rota In the Space of a Song and La dolce vita.Summary & Implications: What is the author’s project and why is it important now? What’s the narrative about the field that’s emerging from the reading? What narratives are silent? Whose voices are silent? He has been a visiting professor in Philadelphia, Naples, Stockholm, New York Bergamo and Bloomington Indiana and has lectured very widely internationally. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and received awards from the Society for Cinema and Media studies, Harvard University and the University of Bordeaux. Richard Dyer is Professor Emeritus at King’s College London and Honorary Professorial Fellow at St Andrews University. This presentation will focus on serial killer films and reference a number of titles including And Soon the Darkness (UK 1970), Las horas del día (Spain 2003), Seven (USA 1995) and Sombre (France 1998). The seriality of serial killing – the temporal form of narratives of multiple murder – touches on perceptions about the organization of time in modern culture and the fears and also pleasures it affords.

Much of what makes it so resonant is the very naming of it ‘serial’. Serial killing is an extremely rare form of homicide that is nonetheless culturally ubiquitous.

Now you see it richard dyer