Senior Lecturer
I gained my PhD from University of Sunderland in 2002. Since then I have worked at the University of Northumbria, UK and the University of North Texas, USA before returning to Sunderland in 2021.
My research mainly focuses on topics of crime in both fiction and non-fiction media. My early work explores how reviewers and viewers shape concepts of the gangster genre, how US media shape mythologies of the mafia, and how it promotes concepts of white ethnicity and masculine identities in such narratives. Since 2007 I have extended my research to also focus on authorship, ethics, and emotional engagement in documentaries. I am interested in how documentaries encourage compassion and/or how they retain a social purpose when engaging in highly emotive, or sensational topics.
My most recent publications have focused on gangsters in television series, nostalgic TV crime shows, and the social purpose of true crime documentaries. My newest book is a new collection of original scholarship titled True Crime in American Media (Routledge, 2023).
Teaching and supervision
I am module leader for:
- MED125 History of Cinema
- FIL207 Screening Nations
- FIL202 Film and Society
- MED324 Film and Feeling
Research interests for potential research students
I can supervise student research in areas related to crime, but have experience in theoretical approaches to gender, genre, and cognitive studies in both fiction and non-fiction media.
Research
I am currently researching areas of adaptation in true crime texts and media psychology related to gangsters on screen. I am also part of an AHRC bid to study narratives of crime and punishment at UK-based prison museums (due to start 2024).
Publications
Article
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2022) The Ethics of Bearing Witness: subject empowerment versus true crime intrigue in Kim Longinotto’s Shooting the Mafia (2019). Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics, 19 (3/4). pp. 21-27. ISSN 1742-0105
Larke-Walsh, George S. and Leeder, Murray (2021) Introduction to Teaching Dossier: Online Teaching. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (Summer). ISSN 0009-7101
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2020) Injustice Narratives in a Post-Truth Society: Emotional Discourses and Social Purpose in "Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four". Studies in Documentary Film. ISSN 1750-3280
Larke-Walsh, George S. and Oliver, Stephanie (2019) A Woman's Place in This Thing of Ours: Why there are no women bosses in American gangster films. Senses of Cinema, 91. ISSN 1443-4059
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2019) 'The King's Shilling': How "Peaky Blinders" uses the experience of war to justify and celebrate toxic masculinity. Journal of Popular Television, 7 (1). pp. 39-56. ISSN 2046-9861
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2017) Compassion in Kim Longinotto's Documentary Practice. Feminist Media Studies, 19 (1). pp. 147-160. ISSN 1468-0777
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2012) “Point Your Finger and Say, ‘That’s the Bad Guy’”: Performativity in Donal MacIntyre’s A Very British Gangster (2007). Journal of Film and Video, 64 (3). pp. 53-66. ISSN 0742-4671
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2012) The Family Curse: Mafia Identity as Inheritance in Abel Ferrara's The Funeral. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 40 (2). pp. 75-82. ISSN 0195-6051
Larke-Walsh, George S. and Kelly, Jana (2010) The ‘Problem’ of Brandon Teena: Ethics in the story Documentary. Journal of Information Ethics, 19 (2). pp. 33-51. ISSN 1477-996X
Book Section
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2022) "Don't Let Netflix Tell You What To Think!": Debates on Getting to Know the Accused/Convicted in 'Making a Murderer' and other Injustice Narratives. In: Critiquing Violent Crime in the Media. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 53-76. ISBN 978-3-030-83758-7
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2021) The Armchair Juror: audience engagement in the true crime documentary. In: Reclaiming Popular Documentary. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. ISBN 9780253056887
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2020) "Trust the Gene Genie": Nostalgia and ideology in "Life on Mars". In: The Best Murders are British: Essays on the International Appeal of English Crime Dramas. McFarland, Jefferson, NC, USA. ISBN 9781476679396
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2018) “The Godfather Legacy”: Homage and Allusion in Transnational Cinema”. In: A Companion to the Gangster Film. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA, USA, pp. 446-462. ISBN 9781119041740
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2018) Introduction. In: A Companion to the Gangster Film. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA, USA, pp. 1-20. ISBN 9781119041757
Conference or Workshop Item
Larke-Walsh, George S. and Chaplin, Elayne (2023) The Ethics of True Crime Adaptation: The Staircase. In: BAFTSS Annual Conference, April 3-5, 2023, University of Lincoln, UK. (Submitted)
Larke-Walsh, George S. and Chaplin, Elayne (2022) Adapting true crime events: teasing solutions to The Staircase. In: Association of Adaptation Studies Conference, February 16-17, 2023, Online. (Submitted)
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2021) Getting to Know the Convicted in True Crime. In: Crime Studies Network Presentation, January 2022, Online. (Unpublished)
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2021) Sharing images of death and grief: collaborative testimonies against the power of the mafia in documentary. In: British Association of Film and Television Studies Society Conference, April 20-22, 2022, St Andrews University, UK. (Unpublished)
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2021) Images of death and grief in true crime documentaries about the mafia. In: True Crime Conference, 23rd June 2022, Newcastle University. (Unpublished)
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2020) The Rise of the satellite character: Boardwalk Empire’s Nelson Van Alden. In: SCMS (Society for Cinema and Media Studies) Annual Conference, March 17-21 2021, Online.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2019) Injustice Narratives in a Post-Truth Society. In: Visible Evidence Annual Conference, July 24-28 2019, Los Angeles, USA.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2019) Transnational adaptation of a classic: The Godfather Trilogy. In: Literature Film Association Annual Conference, September 12-14, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2018) “The Part of Me that Dreams is Gypsy”: Rural Space, Place and Performance in Peaky Blinders (BBC, 2013-Present). In: Literature Film Association Annual Conference, Nov 29 - Dec 1, 2018, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2017) The Armchair Juror: audience engagement in true crime injustice narratives. In: Film Philosophy Annual Conference, July 4-6 2017, University of Lancaster, UK.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2016) The King’s Shilling: Post WWI Masculinity in Peaky Blinders. In: Film and History Annual Conference, Oct 26-30, Milkwaukee, WI, USA.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2016) The Cultural Value of Transnational Remakes: a discussion of Sarkar (2005, Ram Gopal Varma). In: London Film and Media Conference, July 7-9, London, UK.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2015) Ethics in the Essay Film. In: University Film and Video Association Annual Conference, Aug 4-8, 2015, American University, Washington DC, USA.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2013) New Vocabularies in Documentary Authorship. In: What is Documentary? Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, April 24-26, 2013, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA.
Book
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2023) True Crime in American Media. Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies . Routledge, London. ISBN 9781032123479
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2018) A Companion to the Gangster Film. Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 9781119041665
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2010) Screening the Mafia: Masculinity, Ethnicity and Mobsters from The Godfather to The Sopranos. McFarland, Jefferson, NC, USA. ISBN 9780786443116
Other
Larke-Walsh, George S. and Leeder, Murray (2021) Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. Special Editor to an edition of the Teaching Dossier focused on online teaching. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Larke-Walsh, George S. (2017) Armchair Jurors. Mediacommons.org.