From the on-screen portrayals of Jeffrey Dahmer to Ted Bundy, the media is seemingly infatuated with the unsightly and grim. Some of the most well-known films and TV shows on streaming platforms, such as Netflix, are adaptations of true crime cases or gruesome murders.
Not only is this fascination with the dark and evil side of life notable, but the casting and public reaction to it made me think to myself: Why do we romanticize monsters in media?
The notion of glorifying monsters can be applied to countless depictions of true crime cases. In November 2022, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was released on Netflix, where popular American Horror Story actor Evan Peters was cast to play Dahmer. Peters is notorious not only for his acting but also for being a heartthrob for young girls who have seen his previous work.
Not only is Peters a male archetype of the “homme fatale,” but so are Ross Lynch and Zac Efron, also cast as Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer and Bundy in the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, respectively.
Since it can be morally ambiguous to even depict true crime in film due to the families of victims and others who were impacted, doing that carefully and respectfully is tricky. Many people on social media, regardless of whether or not it’s the intention of the filmmaker or actors, romanticize these serial killers like Bundy or Dahmer just because of who’s depicting them.
Not to say that true crime films are necessarily bad, or that they’re inherently romantic due to the actors portraying them, but the public reaction to them is what matters. People like Bundy and Dahmer are notoriously evil and sadistic, impacting the lives of countless people.
Therefore, the fact that there are people out there who seem to be attracted to those people since their favorite hot actor plays them in a film can be a bit confusing for some people.
In my opinion, thirst edits of a depiction of Dahmer simply shouldn’t exist, and the fact that they do, with thousands of likes, should be a wake-up call to what we deem acceptable to glorify in films.
In Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, both brothers were cast as conventionally attractive and handsome, sexualized throughout the entire show.
For example, in one scene, the brothers are dancing together and seem to have an odd tension between each other that’s noticed and pointed out by different characters in the show. Even the brothers themselves have spoken out in protest of the show and its portrayals.
Although the case of the Menendez brothers is controversial for many valid reasons, the fact is that they’re both alleged victims of abuse and convicted murderers. Due to this show, this somber fact seems to be overlooked by the media, and the entire unfortunate story of the Menendez brothers is disrespected, in my opinion.
When it first aired in September 2024, the seriousness of the actual subject matter wasn’t widely discussed, but instead, social media was flooded with thirst edits of Nicholas Chavez, who portrayed Lyle.
The internet seemed to forget that the “viral hot guy” they couldn’t stop talking about is a depiction of a real person who’s still currently serving a life sentence and has been through immense trauma and pain, missing the true point of why true crime media is important.
After looking at the facts and pointing out a pattern of glorification, there can be multiple reasons as to why this happens in the media. In my opinion, the most prominent one is that the actors themselves are popular, gaining more traction for the show itself. Obviously, Murphy and other filmmakers care about the success of the work, and one surefire way to get that success is to use social media as free promotion.
By casting major Hollywood names that just so happen to be conventionally attractive, more people may be drawn to it and enter the fray on social media to talk about it. Particularly, younger people are the main demographic on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Overall, the most important thing to remember is to be respectful and sympathetic when consuming true crime content. More people on the internet need to realize that although the actors may be romanticized outside of the grim films they’re cast in, they’re depicting real people who have impacted real lives.
The website for the National Center for Victims of Crime offers resources to help real people who have been impacted by violent crime.
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