I’m lying in bed, scrolling on my TikTok FYP, when I come across a video of a woman I don’t recognize sitting down and talking. Not thinking too hard about it, I scroll to the next video until my ears catch the words…
“You might want to grab some tape and tape your mouth shut because the odds of your jaw being on the floor when you hear this story are high.”
I scroll back, this time, my ears a little more attentive. I continued watching for more context until I finally realized it was a video discussing the true-crime case of Alison Botha. As someone who once regularly followed true crime, I was already vaguely familiar with the name but proceeded to watch. While listening, I read some comments, most of which refer to the story or praise Botha’s strength, until I pause at one comment:
“MY SHOW IS ON.”
Comments like this always make me feel uneasy, but frankly, they do not surprise me.
I grew up in a household where at 9 p.m., my siblings and I were expected to be in bed, and my dad would dedicate time to watching Investigation Discovery or Forensic Files. Occasionally, I would creep down the stairs to get in some extra TV time, only to get frightened by the eerie music and images, running back upstairs.
I guess, thinking about it now, I was slightly cautious about true crime, mostly because I was sensitized to it at a young age.
Now, with media, this sensitization seems to have been tossed out the window as TV shows and movies based on true crime events are released weekly, podcasts present detailed stories, and YouTube and TikTok channels are dedicated to discussing new cases daily.
The true-crime community has expanded its walls beyond news and exclusive TV channels to now being accessible to anyone and everyone. With this in mind, comments like, “my show is on” are bound to appear, as the true crime community has gone from being educational and informative to mere entertainment or a “show” for its consumers.
The Tower article, Killing Curiosity: the growing obsession with true crime, breaks down just how big the true crime community has grown. From 2019 to 2022, true crime podcasts experienced a 66% growth in listeners, and YouTube analytics show that true crime content was viewed over 2 billion times. This was a 30% increase from the year prior, which I can almost guarantee will continue to grow.
LAck of implications In the True Crime Community
“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” was released to Netflix on September 21, 2022, and quickly gained popularity, rising to the number one spot within its first week of being released. With as much trajectory as the show garnered, there was quite a bit of criticism. Although the show thoroughly shows Dahmer’s side of the story, the victim’s side felt underdeveloped.
From the Los Angeles Times article, “Critics of Netflix’s controversial ‘Dahmer’ open up about lack of ‘respect’ they felt”, Eric Perry, a relative of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey, spoke out.
As he says, “I want people to understand this is not just a story or historical fact, these are real people’s lives. [Lindsey] was someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s father, someone’s friend that was ripped from [our] lives.”
I find Perry’s statement impactful and valid. If you are going to create a show detailing the events of a serial killer, you need to be courteous of the lives lost in the story, but unfortunately, victim advocacy is where the show falls short. Instead, you have a fanbase of people who romanticize and glorify Dahmer’s character.
“We’re all one traumatic event away from the worst day of your life being reduced to your neighbor’s favorite binge show.”
Eric Perry, Los Angeles Times
Positive Implications in the True Crime Community
This is not to say that the true crime community as a whole is “bad”. I genuinely think it goes back to who is creating the content.
Kendall Rae, a YouTube and podcast content creator, is someone I followed when I first got into true crime. She, like many true crime channels, dedicates her time to discussing cases, but her approach to her content centers around the victims and victims’ advocacy. Although she covers well-known cases, she often focuses on smaller cases, where she will include videos from the victims’ family members to give their stories a bigger platform and allocate more exposure.
In Rae’s video titled “The Tragic Death of Melissa Platt Feat. Interview With Her Sister,” Rae talks about Melissa Platt’s case while featuring Platt’s own sister, Michelle. In the video, Michelle is given the space to talk about her sister, thus giving her sister’s story a more personal touch. Even in the description box of the video, Rae links Platt’s petition, GoFundMe, TeeSpring, and Facebook page.
Rae’s genuineness radiates through the computer screen as she handles each case with respect and advocates for the victims.
Don’t get me wrong; I went through my own phase of infatuation with true crime, and this is not to say that watching true crime is harmful behavior on its own. My criticism lies in how true crime is being displayed today. For one, true crime is easily accessible to practically anyone, which inherently desensitizes the graphic nature of the topics. Secondly, the true crime community seems to have really blurred the lines between advocating for victims and spreading awareness to primarily entertaining consumers.
The simplest way I try to think about true crime is truth. These are true stories from real people. Real victims. The true crime community needs to be mindful that other people’s tragedies are not for our mere entertainment and, hence, should be handled in sensible ways.