First of all, true crime shows real-life crime situations, with real victims and families who can be affected by it. The products of true crime involve much more than just the crime itself; they involve a detailed focus on police reports, courtroom transcripts, backgrounds, and the behaviour of both perpetrators and victims.
But lately, people seem to want to consume more and more true crime products, rather than being genuinely interested in what actually happened in a given case.
The number of consumers can be measured, in part, through TikTok. The hashtag “#TrueCrime” has over 3.5 million posts, “#TrueCrimeCommunity” has 430.5 thousand, and “#SerialKiller” has 372.2 thousand.
It’s pretty noticeable that the majority of consumers are women, with a median of 80 per cent. Mostly, though, women want to understand for protection. By studying how crimes happen, women look for behavioural patterns to feel more prepared against real-life threats in their daily routine.
When information arrives so quickly, some people tend to treat it like an advertisement, rather than as something alarming, as a crime. After all, depending on where you consume this media, you only have to scroll up, and the algorithm gives you something completely different.
But consumers must always remember that this is reality.
Information or Obsession?
In 2024, Netflix released the series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which tells the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted in 1996 for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills. The series dramatises their lives and trial. It explores both the brothers’ claims of lifelong physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and the prosecution’s theory that the motive was financial greed.
The series quickly reached the global top 10 and brought new fans to the case.
The term “fans” is used because, ever since the crime occurred, the real Lyle and Erik have received thousands of letters filled with love declarations, and after the series was released, the correspondence increased.
It’s crucial to wonder whether this only happened because of the way the director handled the story, which gave licence for videos sexualising the brothers during the trial to exist.
Above all, we must remember that there were crimes on both sides: the brothers were sexually abused, and the parents were murdered in their own home by their sons.
Where’s the fine line in it?
Behind every true crime product, there are real people: real victims and real killers. The fine line begins when we forget that and start to treat the victim or the killer as a character or a celebrity, forgetting the reality behind it.
Everyone is responsible: the producers, in how they choose to tell the story; the platforms, whose algorithms push this content to the public and which profit from true crime stories; and the consumers, in how they react to and absorb the story.
For consumers, it is very important not to lose sight of the intention. True crime can be entertainment, but we must consume it to understand how the human mind works and to recognise warning signs in our own reality
———————————-
The article above was edited by Maria Eduarda Sapia Moreno.
Liked this type of content? Check out Her Campus Cásper Líbero for more!