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Autoptic vision and the necrophilic imaginary in CSI

University of Canterbury, New Zealand

CSI changes the way television drama looks in the multiple sense of its high production values, its novel autoptic and anatomic imagery and the gazes it configures for the viewer. In these ways CSI showcases the performance of forensic science, trades on an appetite for CG effects and, through its graphic depiction of ruined corpses, draws imagery from Gothic horror. This article examines the role of the corpse within CSI. How are the viewer's access to the corpse, and violent death, mediated through the gazes of the CSI's and the special effects used by the show's producers? How might this rendering of science and death contribute to a broader public imaginary? I theorize pedagogic and necrophilic gazes upon the gendered, raced and predominantly youthful corpse and elucidate that which is effaced by them.

Key Words: autopsy • corpse • CSI • death • forensics • necrophilic gaze • representation of science • television • visual media

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