Last week marked 30 years since the execution of the prolific serial killer, Ted Bundy, who is responsible for the gruesome murders of over 30 young women across multiple US states in the 70’s.
Let’s talk about Ted
Ted Bundy has been described by many as an articulate, smart, and charming young man. This was ultimately what made it so unconceivable to many that he would perform such heinous acts of crime. However, he proved to be a master manipulator of women even to the point where someone would marry him while he was on trial for multiple homicide. The murder of two Chi Omega sorority women at Florida State University is what ultimately led to his incarceration and execution after much of a televised crime drama.
Media’s Interpretation
Recently, Ted Bundy is back in the public eye as media appears to be recognizing the anniversary of his execution through the recent Netflix contribution “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,” a documentary which examines his crimes and later, his confession. Even more, the trailer of a new movie, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy himself, has also recently debuted. Both were directed by Joe Berlinger.
Zac Efron as Ted Bundy in “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”
The Controversy
There has been some controversy, as many viewers are romanticizing Bundy for his attractiveness, especially with his portrayal by Zac Efron in the forthcoming movie.
For Netflix, this is was not their intention – as the company tweeted – “I’ve seen a lot of talk about Ted Bundy’s alleged hotness and would like to gently remind everyone that there are literally THOUSANDS of hot men on the service — almost all of whom are not convicted serial murderers.”
Some think that the film shows how believable one’s character could be, because that was the effect that Ted Bundy had on those around him. In the documentary tapes, Ted Bundy mentioned “We want to be able to say we can identify these dangerous people. And the really scary thing is you can’t identify them. People don’t realize that there are potential killers among them. How could anyone live in a society where people they liked, loved, lived with and admired, could the next day turn out to be the most demonic people imaginable.”
Needless to say, one must acknowledge that this true criminal enjoyed the control, degradation and murder of unsuspecting women, and practiced necrophilia -that is not a light topic to be glamorized.