She just snapped

Snapped, a documentary style show profiling female killers, is one of Oxygens longest running hit franchises. This thesis analyzes, through both the frames of feminist theory and rhetoric, the way the show perpetuates and plays upon the myth of feminine evil as well as the stereotype of women as weak, hysterical agents in need of control. Snapped showcases women who start out as seemingly normal but then enact horrendous crimes. The use of women that the audience can identify with but then later fear creates a cathartic experience in which female audience members can be vicariously cleansed of any dangerous animosity they may possess. The show portrays the many extreme examples as the norm for lethal female violence, but this disregards the fact that a majority of women killers act in self defense. The show distorts the reality of violence against women and supports a stereotype of inherent female criminality.