Gangsters, Narcos and Wise Guys: Crime, Representation and Media

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

University of Galway - Gangsters, Narcos and Wise Guys: Crime, Representation and Media This module examines how crime, criminality, and justice are represented across news media, television drama, and film, and how these representations shape public understanding, cultural identity, and political debate. Focusing on gangster, organised crime, and narco narratives, the module explores how crime is constructed not only as social reality but as a mediated cultural form. Through critical engagement with news reporting, popular culture, and long-form television drama, students will analyse how media representations frame issues such as violence, masculinity, power, race, class, gender, policing, and social order. The module interrogates whether media portrayals of crime function as accurate reflections of social conditions or as distorted narratives that contribute to moral panic, stigmatisation, and policy formation. Drawing on media studies, cultural criminology, and communication theory, the module treats crime as a system of representation rather than a set of isolated events. Students will evaluate how different media forms — including tabloid news, prestige television, and cinematic crime narratives — invite audiences to sympathise with, normalise, or condemn criminal figures, and how these representations circulate within wider political and cultural contexts.