With the recent influx of true crime documentaries coming from streaming services like Netflix, audiences have become infatuated with serial killers and criminals. Casting popular actors who are often viewed as attractive while playing the criminals they are portraying makes for a confusing argument for watchers. Some viewers feel that by making content like this, we are idolizing these criminals.
A prime example of this comes from the recent release of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix. The 10-episode series has been a hit amongst viewers. “The limited series is now Netflix’s second most popular English-language series of all time in its initial release” It is evident that there is an incredible fascination with a show so sinister, so what is people’s fascination with serial killers? And at what point does people’s fascination become an obsession?
Throughout the series, we see the life of Dahmer through brief glimpses of his childhood, and then the show mostly focuses on the timeline of his killings. The television show tries to credit Dahmer’s mental state on the way he was brought up and the activities he was interested in, such as dissecting roadkill with his father and his parents’ toxic marriage. In an article coming from The Washington Post, it states, “To make them compelling characters, they must be three-dimensional characters. To be three-dimensional, we must understand them. To understand them, we have to see the world through their eyes.” As this might be true, there is no amount of character building that is going to help us understand the mind of a murderer; and to what extent can you compare a television character to a real-life person? Dahmer is not just fiction, as we know that he has slain people in real life. To imagine him as only a character is ignorant and ignores how this show is truly affecting its watchers.
I think that creating shows about serial killers in a fictional sense walks a fine line between idolization and curiosity. Jeffrey Dahmer, played by Evan Peters in the series, has caused an idolization of the serial killer. Now, Evan Peters does a phenomenal job from an acting standpoint, but because of his fanbase, many posts across Twitter describe Jeffery Dahmer as “Kinda Hot Ngl” from fans online. This kind of behavior is just simply disgusting as he was a murderer and cannibal. Evan Peters is not at fault for how his fanbase reacts to this type of content. However, reactions like these need to be avoided in the media. I don’t think this kind of behavior will stop as it is in human nature to be curious about violence. Now I will ask you the question, do you think streaming services should be allowed to make this kind of content?
References
Biswas, S. (2022, September 23). Fans react to Evan Peters playing Jeffrey Dahmer on Netflix, check out the reviews. Netflix Junkie. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://netflixjunkie.com/netflix-news-fans-react-to-evan-peters-playing-dahmer-on-netflix-check-out-the-reviews/
Hesse, M. (2022, October 18). Perspective | I am a former cannibalism scholar, and I finally watched ‘Dahmer’. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/10/18/why-is-dahmer-show-popular/
Spangler, T. (2022, October 11). Jeffrey Dahmer series ‘monster’ becomes Netflix’s second-biggest English TV show. Variety. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dahmer-netflix-second-biggest-tv-show-1235399634/