Pop Culture, Trash TV and Serial Killers: The Work of David Schmid

    While sitting in the office of David Schmid, Ph.D., it isn't the bookcase overflowing with books about serial killers and crime fiction that stands out. It's the chalkboard scribbled with "You're the Best Dad Ever!" and the ‘I heart Dad' painted pictures that do.

    This is the chamber of a man deeply fascinated with and immersed in the subject of serial killers. Although his daughters, Lucia and Liliana, are too young to understand what their daddy does – and some might even deem his research to be a bit strange – Schmid is not embarrassed by the topic that captivates his interests. He is happy to pursue his passion.

    Schmid, an associate professor in the English department, has always had an insatiable curiosity to ask ‘why?' Even as a young boy, he had taken it into his own hands to satisfy his inquisitive mind. He has taught classes on subjects such as ‘Popular Culture' and ‘Crime Fiction' here at UB for over 17 years

    Schmid has authored one book on serial killers, titled Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture, as well as written over 10 essays. He also has two other books in the works. His goal has always been to inform the public – not sensationalize the subject.

    "I think every research focus has a personal dimension to it, [and it's] the reason why people end up writing about certain things," Schmid said. "I think, obviously because of the kind of stuff I write about, people assume…that [it] means some kind of traumatic event [happened] in my time."

    However, that isn't the case.

    Beginning in his homeland of England, Schmid's interests stem from being a first generation college graduate, and the first in his family to graduate high school. He said he wanted to do something that would be of interest to others, specifically his family. While attending the University of Sussex in England, Schmid was inspired to write his Masters thesis on serial killers after finding a book called The Lust to Kill, written by Deborah Cameron and Elizabeth Frazer.

    "He was classically trained in the English literary canon at Oxford while an undergraduate at Pembroke College," said Carrie T. Bramen, an associate professor in the English department, and Schmid's wife. "It is this strong foundation that has allowed him to do such innovative work in a range of cultural forms, regardless of whether the U.S. academy considers such forms lowbrow or highbrow. That distinction rightly bores him."

    When Schmid moved to the states in his mid 20s, his interest in the subject grew stronger after several high profile legal cases. He was also drawn to the subject with the release of movies like The Silence of the Lambs. He knew then that violence in America wasn't something to accept and ignore, but to explore and understand.

    "I think that doing the kind of research I do started off in some ways as an attempt to understand my adoptive [American] culture," Schmid said. "I still have that sense of sort of being a part of this culture but not from it…when you're researching a subject you have to be simultaneously very engaged with it and at the same time keeping it somewhat at a distance. And I suppose that's a pretty good way off describing how I feel about the U.S…Writing about something like this gives me a way to explore aspects of the culture that interest me."

    Early on in his devotion, Schmid realized the advantage of keeping his research separate from his normal, everyday life.

    "If you took everything to heart and let it have that big of an effect of you, I don't think you could do it," Schmid said.

    The one time Schmid said that the topic negatively affected him was while writing his Masters thesis on the famous British series of child murders, also known as the Moor Murders. The Smiths, at the same time had produced a song about the case called "Suffer Little Children."

    "After I wrote about that, I couldn't listen to that particular song anymore. It was just too creepy and it upset me too much," Schmid said. "I think that as long as one has the ability to compartmentalize what one does, you get by fine."