In 1888 a series of brutal murders shocked London. The killer was never caught but his name has become synonymous with murder and misogyny – Jack the Ripper. The murders were avidly reported in the press and captivated the public but alongside fear an entertainment industry developed. Residents of streets near the murder sites rented window space out and a waxwork show complete with red paint stained models opened on Commercial Road. It is not then a surprise that film embraced Jack the Ripper as a character.

Many theories have been put forward regarding the identity of the killer, from royalty to artists with ever more convoluted motives. This class will consider who the killer is on screen, not who the killer was in reality but who he, and in some films, she becomes on screen. How one unidentified serial killer can project fears and anxieties on screen that have carried over since the late nineteenth century.

In this class I will examine the Ripper’s screen presence as arguably one of the most recognisable characters on screen. An audience presented with a man in a top hat and cape, carrying a Gladstone bag emerging from a fog bound street identifies this character as the Jack the Ripper. I will consider the iconography of this costume and setting as each element borrows from tropes across the horror genre connected to class, gender, madness, medicine, the gothic and the Freudian theory of the uncanny.

While the source material for many iconic horror characters such as Dr Frankenstein and Dracula is literature the Whitechapel murders are fact not fiction. While we do not know who the killer was we know a great deal about the victims, the detectives who investigated the killings and the scene of the crime – the East End of London. What shall emerge during this talk is that film sacrifices the truth of these people and place to further the development of the character of Jack the Ripper.

For in these films it is always 1888 in Whitechapel, women will scream, detectives will fail and it is all about Jack. This class will include stills and clips from films including From Hell, Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Hands of the Ripper, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, The Ruling Class, Jack the Ripper (Franco) and Murder by Decree.

Please note these are live events – they cannot be downloaded and watched later, so please be sure you are available at the time and timezone the classes are being offered in before registering.