When the drama is real, the public will be captivated

Tomorrow, when the murder trial of Henri Christo van Breda begins, the public will turn its gaze to the archetypal rich kid sitting in the dock.

In a country where murders are common, it takes a certain kind of "recipe" to get the public obsessed, and this case has the hallmarks of a psychological thriller: a rich family in their opulent home; a night of savagery that leaves three family members dead and one so badly wounded she cannot recall what happened; and a fifth member who survives relatively unscathed.

"Following such trials is like looking inside the psychological mansion of the wealthy," said Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk, a senior lecturer in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town.

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"And the public fascination has a lot to do with class, wealth and privilege. Here is this beautiful-looking family with extreme wealth - and here is the one kid who has possibly done the most terrible thing imaginable. This will inevitably attract excessive attention."

This won't be the first time - or the last - that South Africans settle in for a true-life courtroom drama.

Scott Bonn, a criminology professor and author at Drew University in the US, called the public's fascination with such trials entirely natural.

"People receive a jolt of adrenaline as a reward for witnessing terrible deeds," he wrote. "As a source of popular culture entertainment, it allows us to experience fear and horror in a controlled environment where the threat is exciting but not real."

As a form of true-life entertainment, it reflects the types of characters in films.

Leading up to a conviction in 2009, the country sat glued to the trial of Najwa Petersen, accused of murdering her music icon husband Taliep.

Here was the archetypal "black widow", perceived by the public as a cold-hearted killer who had betrayed her roles as a mother and wife.

Petersen's high cheek bones, cold stare and beautiful headscarves became the staple diet for a public hungry for details.

When her husband's life-insurance policy first showed up as a possible motive, the sin of greed added to the intrigue.

A black widow who kills for money stands in sharp contrast to the hot-blooded lover who commits a crime of passion.

Few will forget the haunting story of six-month-old Jordan-Leigh Norton, who was killed in a hit organised by her father's jealous girlfriend, Dina Rodrigues. It had all the elements to engross the public.

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"In this case, you had two things piling up: a tiny baby in a middle-class suburb is murdered, and when it becomes clear it has been a hit, you have a double element of uniqueness. It was so dastardly you couldn't help but stare," said Rijsdijk.

Another archetype in literature and film is the fallen hero, and when it came to Oscar Pistorius, Hollywood's top scriptwriters could not have done a better job.

For so long, with his "Blade Runner" prosthetics, the disabled sprinter had been a poster child for resilience. After Reeva Steenkamp's violent death, the collective gasp of horror was as much about the celebrity who had pulled the trigger as it was about the tragedy itself.

"Characters who were once deemed incapable of evil because of their celebrity status are always a huge drawcard," said Rijsdijk.

In the Shrien Dewani saga, which twisted and turned like a soap opera for four years after the murder of bride Anni Dewani in 2010, many South Africans were convinced of Dewani's guilt as he fought extradition from the UK.

When he finally went on trial in Cape Town, and the judge dismissed the state's case against him as being riddled with contradictions from the witnesses, the public cried foul.

But that's how it goes: in the drama of real life, you have no idea how it's going to end.