Final Thoughts

Ok so it seems people aren't happy after all then!

In my opinion, we all did a fair and equal amount of work.

I offered to do the powerpoint in the first week, everyone agreed that they would tell me how they wanted their slides and I would put it all together. I offered to do this because when we joined together as a group, NO ONE SPOKE! I had to start all the discussion. So I went away and made a start.

Then Charlene emailed me saying that we should all put the powerpoint together at the same time as a group. This is fair enough, but when we first met up in the learning centre, only me and Raj had completed our slides and brought them in. No one else had done this.

Charlene then decided she would do exactly what I had offered to do in the beginning.



Second meeting...Charlene was not there. Raj sat at the computer and filled in our parts of the handout sheet with all of us (minus Charlene) contributing our sections.



What annoys me about this whole situation is that no one who has had a problem has spoken to me face to face. When we met up, everyone was nice as pie to each others faces. If Charlene had discussed her thoughts with the group instead of ranting about it after the presentation we might have been able to sort something out.



Emma, I apologised at the time and I do so again now for the late reply by email, other assignments were also due at this time.



What have I learnt?

1. Never assume people are being honest. If they appear to be friendly, they might still have a problem with you.

2. I agree with Charlene, I don't like relying on other people for a decent grade.

3. I think the presentation went well overall, we ALL contributed equally.

4. Next time I will be very wary about who I am in a group with. I want to work with people who want to do well and will be honest and speak the truth face to face, rather than through emails and blogs.



Thankyou Mark for all your help and great lectures and trip to London!



Well done to EVERYONE. We ALL did well.

oooooook then... just a few things for whoever marks this..

errrm.. not entirely sure why there seems to be a slight tension but as i said in my post earlier i thought the presentation went good.

For whoever is going to grade this:

1. Everybody in the group researched and put together their own sections including the slides and talk they delivered
2. There was a slight disagreement in the early stages as to who would be putting together the completed slides for the final presentation that was shown; as we seem to be naming names, Cat offered to do this but Charlene thought it would be better for everybody to do it together. We had a meeting after this in which we showed our slides to each other.. Charlene took these away and said she would put it together. If this was a problem then I think an email or post on here stating this or asking for others to pull in would have been beneficial instead of struggling through it alone.
3. Re. the handout, during the second group meeting, we looked at the final presentation and completed half of the handout we needed to give in at that point. Emma completed the rest along with the concluding slide with email responses..

Personally, i think we probably could have done with meeting up maybe a day or two before the presentation and cleared up any problems that seem to have aired now as all in all i thought this was a pleasant experience of group presentations.

Thanks to Charlene and Emma for making certain that the presentation and handouts were completed to a high standard and thanks to Kate, Kiri and Cat for doing what I thought was a fair share of the work also.

Final thoughts

Hey guys,
I thought the presentation went well. I was surprised at how well due to last minute panic.I feel that i have learnt a great deal from carrying out research about not only Jack the Ripper, but in terms of research skills which i feel i will be able to carry on into other assessments.My most interesting find was the representation of the Ripper in children's fiction, which shocked me a bit. If i could change anything it would of been more depth in our conclusion, agreeing with Charlene's thought about Meena's question. I was a bit annoyed about the lack of email/blog respond during the final week from a few members of the group, again agreeing with Charlene's views about the sharing of the work, but luckily these problems did not effect how our actual presentation was on the day.

Well done to everyone, hope our hard work pays off when we get our grade x

In response to Kiri's comment, about the work being shared. That was the problem, Cat offered to do the powerpoint and the handout, whilst a few of us felt it should be done TOGETHER and that was mine and Emmas response. We did not suggest that we wanted to do it all, just that it was group work and therefore contributed by all members. In terms of my other post about the week leading to the presentation, the comment that me and Emma was left to sort it out overall, was that Emma had emailed everyone and posted on here, about the conclusion and the handout. Raj me and kate was the only ones to do respond to this. It was quiet hard to get in touch with everyone. So my comments were about the fact that me and Emma was left to worry about the powerpoint and the handout the day before as not everyone had responded to email or blog in the final week and i thought had a more laid back attitude, therefore i feel that my comments were justified. Everyone did their fair share in their part of the presentation, just not overall in terms of bringing it all together. The point of this blog was/is for reflection of our presentation and our last post was to reflect what we would do differently or what we have learned, so my comments were adhering to what the blog especially the last post aims were. In terms of how much effort particularly me and Emma did put in to this presentation compared to others is only highlighted by Emmas upseting rant the night before, because Cat and Kiri had not contacted her back and even more so by the amount of posts and extreme and constant blogs/discussions we posted on here show our effort at trying to bring the group together as a whole, and to involve everyone, it is not our fault if some other members were not as enthusiastic or putting in the amount of effort we thought this presentation deserved and that we were working at. As unlike my history debate this presentation was graded as a whole and not individual therefore it is fair that the work was disturbited evenly as everyone benefits from the same grade, therefore we did try to involve everyone, but this i found very difficult when people are putting less effort/unwilling to do so and wants to sort everything out over email to avoid group meetings etc. I was not saying that everyone did not take part/contribute well enough in their individual parts, but in a way were more concerned with their individual area, then bringing it all together etc/ working in a group which was the aim of the assessment! and this is something i would of changed and i feel me and a few other members have learnt from, for future presentations.

On a more positive aspect Well done to everyone, as on the day i felt that it was brought together quiet well x

Overall

To respond to Charlene's post about Emma and her being left to do most of the work......I feel this is unfair on Cat as she offered to put the presentation together herself but was told not to, as Charlene believed that this would not work, however Charlene then took control herself and ended up doing exactly what cat had originally offered to do.

Overall I think that the presentation went really well, and I think that considering we didn't run it through because of Charlene being ill the week before it went well. I thought Kate's introduction with all of the gruesome facts was brilliant and you answered Meena's question really well Kate!

Hope everyone has a nice Christmas!
x

afterwards.....

Okay,
so our presentation went quite well and smoothly. I was very pleased by the response from Mark and Meena. I felt that we explored the topic in depth. Meena's question about why objects such as figures, games etc, and why people exploit Jack the Ripper, threw me a bit because throughout each of our parts we explained that their is a market for such items mainly due to the many open interpretations of who the Ripper was/ what exactly happened, therefore it can be explored and exploited in many different ways. Also i felt at the time this was shown by Cat, who talked about many Americas thinking the Ripper was a fictional character etc. However after the presentation i thought about this more, i realised Meena's point and thought what we could of done to improved it further. I think that even though we all included why we think people exploit the Ripper, we did it briefly and did not highlight its importance in any significant way. Therefore if we could of changed anything, it would been to include a section/ slide(s) exploring why people exploit the Ripper, and why there was a market for this, looking at different reasons etc.

As this was the first presentation i have really done at uni for an assessment. I have learned quite a lot, heres a quick list.
1. That i don't like relying on other people for my grade, as other people have different acceptances of what is a 'good' grade for them etc.
2. It made me realize that in group work, its not always equal like it should be. Even though we all did our own individual research etc, and all worked equally hard in that particular sense. I did feel that the work overall was not Shared equally, and that Me and Emma in particular was left with the task of bringing it all together, or left with the fear that it wouldnt of been if we hadn't of done this.
3. In a more positive aspects, presentations make you research/prepare weeks in advance because other people are relying on you, and you don't want to make a fool of yourself in front of other etc on the day. Another advantage of this is its less rushed and it gives you the opportunity to find lots more.
4. Also that presentations etc, are not really scary or nothing to get really stressed about which i thought they would be. Whilst im on this point, i also believe that they dont have to be as boring as you think. Our particular topic i found extremely interesting and with the use of visual aids, clips etc, you can create something good.
5. Finally that the use of a blog alongside presentation topic is an EXTREMELY good idea, it keeps the whole group in touch. It makes you find/research something every week sometimes more which consequently helps your presentation, and makes sure its not left to the last minute.

Okay so thats enough from me. I'll look forward to finding out our grade for all our hard work. I've really enjoying ranting my opinions about all different aspects of the Ripper. He's a few links for the musical clips we used in the presentation, because i haven't pasted them on here before




http://www.rippershow.com/video.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pYIZvP5Qn4 Jack the musical (opera)

Take care everyone x

Well Done

Hey,
Just wanted to say a big well done to everyone. Thought the whole presentation ran smoothly and no one messed up even though we thought we would. Just wanted to say a big thank you to Emma for making sure everything was prepared and doing the handout.

Will see you all soon x

Post-presentation...

Well the presentation is all done and i think it went extremely well!!

Everybody did their bit and from initial reactions i think we've managed a good grade

Just wanted to say well done and thanks to everyone for pulling together and doing their fair share of the work..

Happy holidays

Raj x

Update : I have just finished the handout for tomorrow and two of the quotes...not sure if they came Kat or Kiri have no references its just the quote on there! I really need you to send me the reference for them...or if not change the quote you're using, as it's going to look rubbish if we hand in quotes with no references. I have emailed everyone and left a message up on here yet not everyone's sorted it which has knarked me a bit as i have been left with the handout to finish and the majority of the conclusion to write on my own...and now I am out to work at 8pm. So what's done is done if you don't send it me before tonight, what else can i do but to keep it how it is. Sorry to rant but come on.

The night before and victorian britain.

Okay, its the night before the presentation, im a little nervous, but i'm sure it will go well. Since not everyone has bothered to email Emma back, shes got the final copy of the power point and i will have one too.

Instead of everyone switching and messing on the pc, Emma is going to be in control of it. Hope thats Ok. If its not tough, you should email back! lol.

Its not about our presentation, but i thought i would share some details on my history module Victorian Britain lecture, last week. Lecture topic was on Victorian Underworld, and of course heavily concentrated on Jack the Ripper. It was mostly discussed that the murders became a symbol of social, cultural and political anxiety. Strangely enough the respond to the murders during the time actually made more women vulnerable. Social purity groups and police response to prostitution in the area was to actually close 200 brothels in the East End in 1887. This had the opposite affect, instead of creating safe area for women, it made hundreds of them homeless and result in working on the street hence making them more venerable to attack! This was done by the police who should of had the attitude of safety and protecting, but all this really shows is the attitude of 'not in our area' and pushing them elsewhere. Mainly due to the fact the victims were seen responsible for their own fate!

What also interested me in the lecture, was the fact prostitutions of the time were considered a social evil and asylums were actually set up to deal with the problem. In 1880 there were 20,000 prostitutions in the city of London, and instead of them being seen as a somewhat Victim, to be so desperate to sell their bodies. It was their clients who were seen as the victim, as prostitutions were perceived as sexual contaminators. Sometimes Women were humiliated by being arrested and forced into an examination to see what 'diseases' they had. Whilst men was left scot free.

The Ripper murders articulated the fears pf the Victorians, concerning gender, class and ethnic relations. The Murders were often used to denied women access to public space and to reinforce the image of the 'angel of the house'

I thought the lecture was quite interesting, because it concentrated on the Ripper and the consequences at the time, not just in terms of the Ripper in popular culture we know and what a presentation is based on.


See you all bright and early tomorrow. I'm looking forward to our work being finally shown, and in a way to be over.

x

Thursday

Hey all.
Hope everything is on track for you all. Just one question tho, are we meeting for a run through before Thursday or we just going through it before we go on???

See you thurs if not
Kate x

Hi,

If everyone e-mails me their concluding line (emma.robins@wlv.ac.uk)I don't mind sorting it out on the powerpoint. I had a bit of crisis today when I lost my memory stick :s Luckily I have it all saved to my desktop. I can save it all up on my memory stick if everyone wants?

Also need a source each for the bibliography so if you can email me that. Then I will sort it out and e-mail the completed powerpoint to everyone so you know when/ where you are in the presentation

+ anyone decided who is going to control the powerpoint?

Emma

Random things...

Hey all

First things first... there's only one Ricky Hatton!! was gutted last night (or rather early this morning 4.20am start = not good for my sleeping pattern). On the plus side Amir Khan KOed his opponent in 72secs.. crazy stuff!!

Anyways.. just thought id check in to see if everyone has their conclusion liners sorted?! Group meeting was kinda random this week lol but main thing is we more-or-less sorted with the presentation.. just wondering who has the final setup of the slides cuz there was something said about, i think charlene, changing something on hers...?

Hope everyone is well..
See y'all on thursday

p.s. charlene if you still got a cold have a shot of whiskey with honey and hot water.. its magic!

presentation and christmas looming... what about the Ripper?

Hey all,

I have not received email with everyone’s slides. I have just changed basic stuff such as background and font etc. I haven’t messed with anyone’s section. However Raj’s and Kiri’s slides look a bit full, however I assume by your previous post you have changed this. Emma your pictures finally work yay!

I have typed up what I’m going say in my part, it’s a page and half (opps). Don’t worry it is mostly bulletin points. I think I might go for good old-fashioned flash cards in the presentation. Kate your idea of a voice recorder in terms of being able to play it back is good. Unfortunately I don’t have one, and I don’t like hearing back my own voice!

After a lot of researching for my section on musicals, I have decided to concentrate on four very different musicals. The strangest one being a VERY JACK THE RIPPER CHRISTMAS is set Christmas in a Music Hall in Whitechapel during the Ripper Murders of 1888. It is a burlesque show, and setting the murders around Christmas, which is meant to represent a time of birth and joy, shows how varied the use of the ripper has become. How extreme his representations are, and how far people are willing to exploit the use of the Ripper.

Another interesting musical I have included is JACK’S HOLIDAY set in 1920’s, where Jack has escaped; he’s across the Atlantic killing people in America. This musical represents two main important points. One being that the Ripper is feared years later. The second being the Rippers worldwide exploitation, and importance. The Ripper’s murders in London, our known throughout the world as people are exploiting the ripper as a somewhat ‘brand’.

To some extend the Ripper is seen as an iconic figure, can it be jealously that this attention and media focus even 120 years later is on London. Are other countries somewhat jealous that Britain had the first modern famous serial killer?

Jack the Ripper Progress Update

I have now finished my slides for the presentation. I agree with Cat and Raj when they say that we should keep the bullet points on the slides brief so that we have more to talk about. Else we will just be relaying the same information, which would be pointless.
Just thought I would give you all an update of where I'm at.
See you all Thurs!

Slides and voices

Hey all I doubt I'll be adding anything to my slides unless people think I should? I'm also wondering if any one has a good voice recorder to bring in on Thursday, that way we can record ourselves (not that I like my own voice) and see how others will hear it as we will probably be concentrating on our own bits to be worrying how it sounds altogether. Although if any one thinkg this is a saft idea, speak up as I'm not afraid of criticism. See you all soon x

Hey,

I have finally finished my slides woo! I only have three slides and they're all mainly pictures as I thought it would be easier if I had anything to change in terms of what I am going to say (still am a bit wobbly over what to say) I've emailed everyone a copy of my part so let me know what you think and also if the pictures are actually working! I agree with minimising the presentation down in terms of text as I think we're gonna end up running over the time if we try and fit everything in.

See you all on Thursday @ 11

x

Hey hey

Yeah I've got the room slip thingy.. We got same room as last week so its MD027 and its booked from 11 till 1pm.

Thanks for mailing the presentation, it's coming along nicely hope it goes ok on the day though! I agree with Cat about maybe having less text and possibly using less slides but we could always see hoe it goes when we run through. I'll need to re-arrange the layout on my first game slide as some of the text is overlapping and the picture needs to be scaled down a little. Also the bibliography sounds like a good idea.

I'll have a copy of the links for the games so if we do have time we could show them.

Righty, happy essay writing/presentation giving.. see ya thursday
xx

Presentation Work

Thanks for your last blog about the presentation.

I have got your email but for some reason the powerpoint won't save to my usb so will have to use someone elses for the actual presentation. Hope that's ok.

I like the slides, although I would suggest that Charlene might try and use fewer slides and Kiri could put less text on hers. Up to you guys though, just a suggestion.

Raj, the games you found are wicked! Hours of fun killing people. :P

I booked a room in the learning centre for next week. It's the same one I think. Raj has got the slip to keep safe. Hope we don't have to eject anybody this week. Lol.

Take care all, see ya soon. :)
X

jack the ripper power point/ study group work today

okay guys, the order so far for our presentation, obviously this can change round if people want.

is 1. Kate- intro
2. Catherine- figures
3. Raj - games
4. Kiri- tourism
5. Emma-literature
6. Charlene- Musicals/clips
7. To conclude- to be decided

i have emailed you all the presentation put together so far, cause im not sure everyone saved it on the usb pen etc. A few of us afterwards, changed the font in all of them, so it matches etc. Ive done a black,red and white background for now(following Catherine's section) But we can change stuff like that next week if people don't like it. Also if we want to add effects to it etc, we can sort it out next week. Emma you need to add you pictures to it, as they still not transfered or saved properly from your macbook! argh how annoying. We need to do a conclusion,so if anyone/ everyone want to start thinking what we can include. And we can do the sheet we need to hand in next week too. If everyone writes down any website and books they used so we can have a selection from all areas on the bibliography. Also Emma suggested we do a bibliography at the end of the power point, which i think is a good idea.

If you change or add to the presentation, email it to everyone if possible, so then we don't have to mess around on pc on Wednesday. We can concentrate on rehearsing it, and thinking of possible questions and answers we might be asked. We need to think of time limits, and who wants to do pc etc. Also im a bit worried that my clips etc wont work and their are important in terms of my section, plus on the presentation advice section on wolf it has a section describing the material used, it includes clips and videos etc. So if possible i think it would be good. Also i know were not going have a enough time, but i think maybe we could show an example of the games during Raj's section would be good.

Email or post on here what study room number we've got for next week

see you all soon x

The Vicitms of Mr Ripper

As I've been looking up for the facts for the introduction to our presentation I have come across a few facts that I didn't know. For starters all of his victims were strangled which was mainly to stop them from screaming out linking with the fact that on all occassions no such sounds were heard on the nights of the murders, and also there were murders that took place before which are not ruled out of the "ripper" murders. For instance the christmas of 1887 saw the murder of "Fairy Fay"(although her real name is never stated) who was found with an metal instrument forced into her body, and like the other 5 victims was brutaly mutilated she was taking a short cut home from Mitre square which also links in with Catherine Eddowes' murder. When I typed in her name on google the first link to pop up was Jack the Ripper, which shows how much she is associated with him, meaning this could of been his very first attack or even experiment. Although there is no official documentation of this apart from a newspaper article.

Annie Millwood, Ada Wilson both claimed to be stabbed by a man in the early part of 1888, these may well of been experiements of "Jack the Ripper" both women survived their attacks. Emma Smith who was attacked by a group of men, although some think it may only of been one man, later died in hospital she also like "Fairy Fay" had an object rammed into her, this time it was in ther vaginal area, and Martha Tabram, who was murdered and stabbed more than 30 times on the 6th August (not long before the murder of Mary Ann Nichols) may of been the first victims of "Jack the Ripper" along with "Fairy Fay".

Found another one!

http://www.activehistory.co.uk/fling/quizzes/yr9_jack_ripper/quiz.htm - this one is online and it has been made by a group of year 9 students. It takes the format of 'who wants to be a millionaire' and so has 15 main facts from the case and if you answer all 15 correctly then you get to shoot your teacher out of cannon!

Something that i found interesting in the online game i mentioned in my previous post is that the gamemakers have incorporated other fictional crime-related characters in the game. As i progressed in the game, i had to fight a tag-team of Sherlock Holmes and Watson and then in level to i had to fight Jekyll as in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Jekyll managed to kill me.. Jack is dressed in the traditional cloak and hat that has now become his uniform.

There are card games that can be bought and also board games. Surprisingly, most of these things appear on American sites and are fairly recently manufactured.

Moving off the game topic, I came across this when I was searching 'Jack the Ripper games' in eBay:

The description was 'The London terror, Jack the Ripper immortalized in these throwing daggers. Stainless steel and a set of three.' Seems like a weird and painful game. They're going for about a fiver if anyone is interested, by the way!!

Games and all of that...

Heya guys

Just been reading the other posts, didn't realise how interesting Jack-related things actually were!
I've spent my arvo looking at Jack the Ripper games on the net and have found quite a few...

http://www.acmewebpages.com/karen_a/ripper.htm - this video game actually won awards for gameplay and focuses on the idea of Jack in the future... Guess what the slogan is for this game... Jack's Back!! How funny is that?!

http://uk.pc.ign.com/objects/552/552553.html - this is another video game.It's on PC format and wasn't as popular as the first game. It's like a cat-and-mouse style, with the player taking on the role of a reporter trying to nail Jack, who for some reason or another is in New York.

http://www.peginc.com/Games/Savage%20Worlds/Rippers.htm - yet another role playing game.. but by the looks of it, i think your supposed to play this like you play trading cards... kind of complicated though.

http://www.addictinggames.com/jacktheripper.html - you can play this game online and its hilarious, just spent like half hour on it.. yeah, i know, i need a life..

Anyways, thanks for booking the study room.
Will see y'all in lecture in the morning..

Presentation Rota

Charlene, thanks for booking the study room. Will see you all there.

So, I checked the rota on WOLF that Meena put up but our group doesn't appear to be on there. Asked Mark and he doesn't know why either. However, there is a section entitled ROGUE GROUPS, so I guess we come under that bit. Which week would people prefer to do? I would suggest second week as I have another presentation to do next week as well as his one. What does everyone else think? Also, we could use tomorrows session to put it all together and run through it the week after if we do the actual presentation on the second week.

In time for tomorrows meeting I will write down what I'm going to say in class. I' guessing at one A4 side each in order to fit everyone in? Then we can run through it or whatever everyone wants to do.

See ya all tomorrow anyway.

Cat.X :)

Exploiting The Ripper

I think some very interesting points have been raised in the last two posts. I agree with what Charlene discusses, in particular I think that it is interesting that people at the time took the "not on our soil" attitude. It raises many arguments as to how accurate the policing was at the time of the murders. Earlier in the module when Mark gave the lecture on crime and policing he highlighted that it was an early establishment and that it was mainly private policing. This leads me into contemplating how accurate the evidence actually is. It seems that at the time a lot of finger pointing was done yet no actual suspect was charged. Do you think that at the time it was maybe used to peoples advantage? i.e. the media. Even today people use it to their advantage in the world of consumerism(films/books/tv). It seems to occur with lots of crimes in modern society today, one of the main examples that comes to mind is 9/11 and how that was exploited in films such as World Trade Centre...and all of the documentaries/tv programmes that have been made.

As Kiri points out, it is interesting to find out just how many ways that Jack the Ripper as a name has been exploited through consumerism. The My Chemical Romance T-shirt is a great example as to how popular bands can use such a terrible subject, although as I have previously discussed is it so horrific these days? I think that in modern society people may accept it as just a name rather than a murderer.

I found a very interesting book that will be useful to everyone for our presentation 'Jack the Ripper: A Bibliography and Review of the Literature' by Alexander Kelly. This book covers almost all of the topics that we are covering, not just literature. It raises some great points about each topic so I will bring this to our group work session on Thursday.

The Ripper as a foreigner, and his image.

Whilst researching for my part of the presentation, I came across Gary Covilles book on Jack the Ripper in popular entertainment. What interested me was the lack of depth to the witnesses’ accounts at the time and more importantly how the image of the Ripper was created from these vague accounts. Many suspects in the Ripper murders were foreign for example kosmiski who was a polish Jew and Ostrog who was Russian. Why did the Victorian public and police convey and believe that the Ripper was foreign? The attitude often portrayed for this was that such a terrible crime could not have been committed by an Englishman.

After much reading around the Jack the Ripper case, what came across was that foreigners were often frequemtly blamed or used as a scapegoat for all sorts off crime. Evidence of the Ripper being foreign is often with very vague descriptions. Covilles book indicates this well, with witnesses often stating that ‘he spoke in a foreign accent’ or that he just looked foreign. Jack the Ripper casebook website shows the witness accounts descriptions; in particular at the scene of Annie Chapman’s murder, most indicate the identity as foreign. Emily Walter states that he was ‘foreigner aged 37’ whilst Elizabeth Long states that he was a foreigner of "shabby genteel." Coville argues that the Rippers’ description as a foreigner was ‘fabricated by a commiteed of officals hoping to stave of criticism of police inaction’. These descriptions of the Ripper are extremely vague, and can be said to be not describing who the Ripper was, but the image of who we want him to be. As the image of Jack the Ripper creates an exciting tale that at the time helped sell newspapers. The use of this dark image of the Ripper is often the typical image and representation of the Ripper used today in numerous popular entertainments, such as films, tv, computer games and action figures. The uncertainty of the witness accounts of the Ripper only highlight even more so that the Rippers identity is completely unknown, and its creation made a more exciting tale of the murders of whitechapel, this has carried on to a high degree throughout the hundred and twenty years following the Ripper’s murders.

http://www.casebook.org/witnesses/

Coville, Gary, 1949- Jack the Ripper : his life and crime in popular entertainment

Jack the Ripper in Tourism.

For my part of the presentation I have been looking at the tourism that Jack the Ripper still generates today. When I typed "Jack the Ripper walks" into Google I could not believe that there were so many. There are loads to choose from, from guided factual walks to ghost walks and also like Mark told us the walk where you buy a guide book and then do the tour yourself.

When I went to the London Dungeons a few years ago there was a whole section in there about Jack the Ripper with the police photos on the walls. In the merchandise shop afterward they were even selling Jack the Ripper t-shirts. When I looked for an example of one of the t shirts that they had to put on here I found this t-shirt. It is a My Chemical Romance t-shirt but then advertised as "My Chemical Romance - Jack the Ripper"

It still after all the things we have learnt in this module, amazes me that people are so fascinated with the Ripper. I often wonder why and think that it is a bit sick to be interested in a killer but then I, myself find the subject so fascinating as it intrigues me that he was never caught. We will never know the true identity of Jack the Ripper and that is why he is so popular because people enjoy all of the speculation around his true identity.

Jobs done so far for the presentation

Thanks for jotting down who's doing what in the presentation. I've just emailed you all the slides I have done for it so far so ou can all add your bits as and when you do it.

Also, has anyone booked a room in the learning centre for next week yet? Can you let me know when and where etc?

I've just looked on the criteria thing and it says we've got to hand in an A4 sheet with the facts outlined on it. I don't mind putting this together unless anyone else wants to do it, again, let me know.

Thanks a lot...see ya next week.
:)

Jack the Ripper ornaments??!!!

Whilst researching my area of the presentation - figurines, I was interested to see that most of them focus on portraying the idea of Jack (hmmm...I'm on first name terms with Jack the Ripper?!) being a doctor. Almost all of them are covered in blood and carry a bag - presumably with weapons or tools in it, and most are wearing a top hat. Some are more scary than others. The Living Dead Doll is not as scary as Macfarlane's Monster figure. It is somewhat disturbing that Jack should take the form of a doll - usually something considered a children's toy - although not a very nice one. One of the images I found went as far as to show a prostitute lying at the feet of a knife-wielding Jack...weird. Another image showed inside the bag Jack carries, he has a series of knives and even a human heart as an accessory.

In fact, the review comments about this particular figure is quite strange. He describes this doll as if he worships it or something. I'll put the link at the end of this blog but here's a taste of what this guy had to say:

"If you're into murderers/serial killers, monsters, horror, and all that great stuff as it is, I know it's a figure you'll absolutely love."

The figurines range in price between about £8-£40. I cannot begin to imagine paying for a figurine of a serial killer. Why would someone want one? Perhaps because of the infamous nature of the character. So that they can say they've got a figure of Jack the Ripper. This is to me quite odd. However, there is clearly a world-wide market for such figurines and some people have obviously chosen to make a lot of money out of Jack's 'popularity'.

Links:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mwctoys.com/images/review_ripper_4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_112305b.htm&h=533&w=400&sz=26&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=_UxYD-66DYlHcM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djack%2Bthe%2Bripper%2Bfigure%2Baccessories%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://www.amazon.co.uk/McFarlane-Jack-The-Ripper/dp/B000246M6U/ref=sr_1_1/026-9566824-1101258?ie=UTF8&s=toys&qid=1195854763&sr=8-1

Jack the Ripper in Children's fiction...what next?

After todays session I went away to research how Jack the Ripper has been exploited within literature and different types of literature used. I was very shocked in how many different search results I pulled up just from looking at Google's search results. After spending a lot of time searching through lots of different websites I found some very interesting results under the topic: Children's literature. It shocked me that such a brutal subject has in fact been turned into a book in which a child may engage with. In my opinion I think that the author may use Jack the Ripper as the main subject as it is a universally known subject which pulls in a certain audience especially when it comes to the horror genre, whether it be adult or children's fiction.

One of my most interesting finds was Darkside by Tom Becker. Here is a link to give you the main idea of the book:

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=4315850
I was interested to see how the author had adapted such a gruesome idea into a Children's horror book. The main character in this book discovers a place where Jack the Ripper's children rule. I think that in context it is quite a strange subject matter to include in a children's book, but maybe it is a topic that has become a lot less fact and a lot more fictional since it was such a long time ago.

Our presentation and organistation

Okay, as decided today our topic is to be

'Jack The Ripper as brand' in particular looking at how people make money out of the Ripper, and why their is market for it.

As discussed were split it up into different sections, all concerning on one part.
Heres a list who's doing what in case you didn't write it down, and just to confirm it and make sure everyone is happy.

1. Intro and facts - Kate
2. Tourism - Kiri
3. Literature - Emma
4. Games- Raj
5. Action Figures- Cat
6. Musicals - me (Charlene)
   

The use of the media in terms of making money, i will have a research on a bit more and see if we can include that in our presentation, particularly as suggested by Mark in recent times.
we've agreed that our conclusion is to be brought together by everyone, as of course its really important. If i find any links or books that are important to a certain aspect i will post on here and email, as i'm sure everyone will if they come across something important.

If everyone can do they research for next week and bring it with them so we can bring it all together, a few of us went and booked a study room which is MD127 for Thursday 29th November ( next week) 11am to 1pm. The presentation criteria is on wolf in detail if anyone whats to look, i have printed it off and will bring it next week so we know were not off topic etc. see you next week x

who is jack the ripper, the media and an iconic figure

After looking at the previous blog and the links (Cat's) I browsed through the BBC website for any interesting more recent news or interpretations of Jack the Ripper. What I found interesting was that in 2006 using new profiling techniques, investigators created a picture of what they believe the 19th Century murderer would have looked like.(see picture above)

In the article it states ‘…the Ripper was between the ages of 25 and 35, between 5ft 5ins and 5ft 7ins tall. He was also of stocky build.’ These details used by newer profiling techniques are still extremely vague, with a huge ten year age possibility, quite a difference in height, and not really certain of the Rippers gender. To me this means the ripper could have been absolutely anyone, and the fact the Metropolitan Police states, "This is further than anyone else has got," he said. "It would have been enough for coppers to get out and start knocking on doors... they would have got him”. Highlights a number of things, firstly in reality the case is no closer to being solved, it emphasises that the ripper could have been anyone. But more importantly it shows how the media uses and hypes up the Ripper case in order to have a story, even nearly 120 years after the event. The Ripper is a very interesting, exciting and more importantly can help sell stories. As still to this day with modern profiling techniques there are still many theories and uncertainty about the Ripper, leaving it very open to interpretation and a somewhat blank canvas which for the media is a plus, as they can constantly go back to the case and rewrite over and over again as many different stories as they wish until or if the case is ever closed. It is the mystery and uncertainly then sells these stories and keeps the media and the public interested.

Looking at the media interests in the Ripper made me wonder about the public’s interest in the case and how this had changed. Our presentation topic of the Ripper as a brand and more importantly how it makes money will certainly highlight this. As unless there is a market for such items as video games, actions figures (showed in my previous post) and tourism it terms of the many different companies that offer many different types of jack the ripper walks, these huge choices would not exist. This highlights the huge public interest in the Ripper and the money that is and can be made out of it. What interested me was that even though the Ripper was a serial killer, people love the iconic figure of the Ripper and enjoy the many items/events you buy. To some extend British people are somewhat proud that the Ripper was British and it happened it Britain, as the story is well known and used throughout the world. The BBC website shows this in article stating that ‘Jack the Ripper has been voted the worst Briton of the last 1,000 years’ in there BBC history magazine. It highlights that to the public jack the ripper is the worst Briton in terms of his actions, but he is an iconic British figure who still this day remains a mystery and world wide known figure.

If you want to read the article yourself ( i suggest you do its very fascinating) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6164544.st (the article Cat suggested)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4663280.stm ( jack the ripper 'worst Briton')

If I find anything else worthy ( which i'm sure i will) i will post more links

Jack the Ripper's Impact on Television

I was very surprised to learn that Jack the Ripper has been used in so many different types of television programmes. In many cases, these have been sci-fi style programmes that involve visions of Jack the Ripper committing his crimes, or Jack the Ripper possessing the body of a character in the programme. I found the concept behind the Star Trek clip we watched during lecture quite disturbing. In it, Jack was like a gas ball who entered people's bodies and repeated the killings in a different time. The idea of Jack being timeless makes his infamy even more powerful. This idea is a true one though, the story of his crimes is told by older generations to youngsters repeatedly.

However, some television programmes take a more humorous view on the Ripper. In one television programme, Jack is somehow in the body of the Loch Ness Monster! Perhaps by mocking the Ripper, we are not so scared by the truth behind his actions in reality.

I do not particularly like the depictions of Jack the Ripper on television. I prefer the realistic portrayals in film, such as From Hell.

Lol, dunno what happened with the pictures on this blog...they're not in the right places at all...

Here are some links I found that were interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ripper_jack_the.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6164544.stm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article687489.ece

Jack the ripper in general

Jack the ripper, if he was male, has made a huge impact on society. I generally feel that he was taking some form of revenge on the women he attack and that possibly he had already chose these women. I'm not too sure if he was a surgeon as such, but it is clear that he was an educated man otherwise it would be a miracle that he performed the 'surgery' so well. One of the main reasons why I think there is a brand of Jack the ripper is the high fascination the world has with him, considering it was over 100 years ago nobody can really understand how he managed to go undetected. Although this is not only the reason as not so long ago there were quite a few prostitutes murdered and this did not make such a huge impact as Jack the ripper has. It must be due to the brutality of the murders, as I have seen the pictures of these I do not recommend it to those who are easily offended.

Jack the Ripper in music.

The lecture on Thursday was about how Jack the Ripper is represented in music. I don't know whether it was just me that was shocked that he has been represented so widely in music.

Why is it that people find him so fascinating that they write songs about him and why is it we want to listen to these songs?

It was interesting to learn that the Ripper is used heavily in rock music with bands such as Motorhead, Morrisey and Nick Cave and the bad seeds writing and performing songs about him. Most of the songs written about him are make orientated and the singer takes on the persona of the Ripper, this alludes to male predators and highlights male violence and sexuality.

The other genre that Jack the Ripper is used a lot in is Rap music, I think that Rap artists do this because of the danger and threat that the subject provokes.

Apart from the Screaming Lord Sutch song I had never heard a song about Jack the Ripper and I can't believe that there are so many around, even songs that are just instrumental with no lyrics or narrative.

The other thing that was odd in my mind was the fact that there are so many musicals on Jack the Ripper. It amazes me that people find these entertainment.

Musicals and music about Jack the Ripper just shows us people's continued fascination with Jack the Ripper.

Films, television and making a lot of money

I think it's an interesting topic as to how the name Jack the Ripper has become popular within our society especially through use of the media. It seems that as a society we have become almost obsessed with knowing peoples business especially when it comes to murder in the daily news on television/ in newspapers etc. Instead of walking away knowing the fact that someone has been murdered people are adament to know specific details. Maybe to a certain extent we are becoming desensitised to gruesome murders and it may possibly stem right back to the horrific murders that Jack the Ripper committed such a long time ago. Looking back to when the murders had taken place, I think I agree with the point that Cat previously made about him choosing prostitutes as his victims and maybe it was not taken as seriously as it could have been.

I think important points have been raised in the past few lectures on the representation of Jack the Ripper. One of the main points that interested me was how it is represented in film. Everytime I hear the name Jack the Ripper I immediately think of its representation in the film 'From Hell'.



In this particular film he is a surgeon and a highly intelligent individual. From a moneymaking point of view releasing a film on such a popular theme/ topic it is almost certain that it will gain atleast the interest from people who are interested in this particular topic but also there is a wide scope for what type of film you could make including the popular genres of psychological thriller and horror.

Musicals, toys and ideas.

http://www.rippershow.com/index_page.html)

This week’s workshop topic was the representation of Jack the ripper in music and television. What interested me was the huge amount about of musicals based on Jack the Ripper, noticing that a lot of them are actually American musicals, showing the vast impact and reputation Jack the Ripper has around the world. What is more shocking is the enormous variety of music types that involve Jack the Ripper. When searching the Internet I found Yours truly, Jack The Ripper which was described as " an enchanting fusion of Rock Opera, physical theatre and eerie historical fact”. Highlighting even more so that all different musical genres of songs about the Ripper existed and these are portrayed even more so in musicals to create more entertainment. Ripper as a brand, a form of making money is very strong.

In terms of our presentation topic we discussed a number of options

- The representation of Jack The Ripper internationally (this could potentially be more narrowed down, to representation in particular country, e.g. America.

- ‘Jack the Ripper in twentieth century’ looking at how he’s used in modern terms, compared to Victorian era.

‘Jack the Ripper as a brand’ analyzing the use of the Ripper to make money by looking at the walks available, and even toys and games.

I thought I would share some pictures I have found of the Internet of figures.









and you can even buy add ons! What shows even more so how Jack the ripper is a brand , is that even though some of these figures were available from specialist websites, i found the card game, and a figure on amazon.com.
Here are a few links if you want to have a nose
http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_112305b.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Rummy-Case-Jack-Ripper/dp/B00000JIHC

http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Ripper-Action-Figure-9/dp/B0002Y0QXK

http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/3737.shtml

FIRST POST!

So...I'm posting the first blog!
Well to be honest, I don't actually know what we're supposed to discuss...possibly the weekly lectures.
Last weeks lecture was about who Jack the Ripper might have been, and then we went on the walk around London.
Personally, I favour the suggestion that Jack the Ripper was a doctor of some sort. He certainly had a good level of knowledge about the human body. If I was a serial killer, I wouldn't know where to start with regards to removing organs etc. Jack the Ripper remains a mystery. He must have been extremely clever and cunning to evade capture. Some might say that the prostitutes he murdered deserved their fate. Although I believe the fact that he chose to kill prostitutes shows him to be not quite as cunning as I previously thought. Jack the Ripper obviously knew that not much notice would be taken of the murders of these women and so was quite confident in his undetection.
Well...don't really know if what I've said here amounts to anything but I thought we ought to get started on this blog thing. Answer me if you want to...Lol.