Captivated revisits a story that enthralled a nation in the Desert Storm era: how a 22-year-old woman in small-town New Hampshire may have engineered the murder of her husband at the hands of her teenage student. In the media circus that was unleashed—including a quickie movie and the Nicole Kidman–starring To Die For—Zagar locates the spectacular creation myth of reality TV and court TV. And he tells an almost archetypal tale involving gender typecasting, in which media reports consistently portrayed Pamela Smart, the defendant, as a sex-crazed, remorseless ice princess. Consistently stylish, Captivated fetishizes period detail, such as old TVs playing the torrent of trial coverage and a cassette recorder used by Juror #13, whose nightly audio diaries provide new revelations. While Captivated revels in the grimy particulars of this long-told case, it illuminates its meaning in new and unexpected ways. (PS) Sponsored by Holder Susan Slusher & Oxenhandler.