Sofia Al-Hussaini
The roadside accident that turned your morning commute into a rubbernecking expedition. The ghost stories passed around a playground in gleeful whispers. The papercut that would have already healed if you could just stop picking at it. There is something in the depths of our subconscious that transforms these outwardly repellent demonstrations of human mortality into objects of fascination.
THE POPULARITY OF TRUE CRIME
“As early as 1888 records show the eruption of a media circus around the murders of Jack the Ripper“
There is perhaps no place where this is more clearly demonstrated than in the continued popularity of true crime media. Lit by the lurid glow of macabre taboo; stories of the methods and motives behind murders, kidnaps, and violence have created frenzied and insatiable audiences throughout history. As early as 1888 records show the eruption of a media circus around the murders of Jack the Ripper. More contemporarily, the dramatization of the crimes of prolific conman Jordan Belfort in 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street led to great box office success, grossing $392 million USD worldwide.
NETFLIX SERIES SPARKS CONTROVERSY
“With this hefty catalogue of media, it is almost impossible for living victims to process their trauma“
Netflix’s latest attempt to cash in on their audience’s voracious appetite for true crime is a series called Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The series is a dramatization of the perverse murders committed by Jeffrey Dahmer and his subsequent trial. However, when Rita Isbell, sister of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey, shared a negative response to the series she ignited an online debate about the ethics of commercialising true crime stories.
Isbell shares how her personal tragedy was exploited to profit the streaming platform. “I was never contacted about the show,” she explains. “I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it…. It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”
When we focus on the real people at the heart of any true crime case, there is something deeply disturbing about the idea of large corporations airing the details of personal and familial tragedies to profit from their audience’s voyeuristic appetite for depravity. Through this lens true crime media feels carnivalesque and inappropriate, reminiscent of Victorian tours of Bedlam, and ultimately distasteful.
Isbell then went on to discuss how the constant media reiteration of her personal trauma prevents her from moving on. She stated that “it felt like reliving it all over again. It brought back all the emotions.”
The emotional devastation of losing a family member to needless crime does not need to be explained. Perhaps less obvious, however, is the emotional impact of the media on living victims. Individuals with direct involvement in criminal cases are continually revictimized as the media excavates their trauma for public entertainment, forcing them to “relive” the experience. In the Jeffrey Dahmer case, for example – which it must be noted is exceptionally highly publicised. Wikipedia lists that 2 theatre productions, 15 television portrayals, 7 books, and 5 films have been based on these murders. With this hefty catalogue of media, it is almost impossible for living victims to process their trauma.
CULT FOLLOWINGS
“Profit-hungry media outlets tend to cater to this demand…“
As much as audiences are fascinated by true crime, the focus of their morbid fascination is the perpetrator. Desperate to understand how someone can so callously violate our innate moral standards, we lust for the details of the psychology and circumstances behind the violence. Profit-hungry media outlets tend to cater to this demand, often sensationalising stories to the extent that they glamourize perpetrators, bestowing them with superhuman intelligence, a clinical detachment, and all the Hollywood charm of the actors who represent them. For example, 2019 saw Netflix release two series about prolific serial killer Ted Bundy; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, starring teen heartthrob Zac Efron, and Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, a docuseries which featured footage of the man himself. As a consequence of this Netflix received so many declarations of lusty desire for the convicted murderer that they released a statement to declare that “there are literally THOUSANDS of hot men on the service — almost all of whom are not convicted serial murderers.”
Despite this admonishment, the act of centring a series around an individual is itself a reification of their sex symbol status, bestowing upon the protagonist the significance and intrigue of a leading man. As such, regardless of how ostensibly disrespectful the glamorisation of killers and abductors is to their victims, it is almost impossible to dislocate this aspect from the television format.
BUT DO THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE MISTREATMENT OF VICTIMS?
“Some of them even have ghosts“
Disrespecting victims in this way seems a high price for public entertainment and corporate profit. However, psychologists have stated there is value to the consumption of true crime media as it makes audiences more aware of situations where they may be vulnerable to attack. Amanda Vicary, an associate professor of psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University, tells Huffington Post: “by learning about murders — who is more likely to be a murderer, how do these crimes happen, who are the victims, etc. — people are also learning about ways to prevent becoming a victim themselves.”
Furthermore, often true crime media highlights problems within the justice system. Podcast Red Handed, for example, repeatedly stresses the quantity of serial killers who are able to evade arrest through victim selection. By targeting victims who are less valued by society (for example, members of minority groups or those leading more transient lifestyles), they are sure to receive less police and media attention. Broadcasting this inequity is the only way to garner the public outcry necessary to ensure it is redressed.
However, the benefits of publicising the details of criminal cases can easily be extricated from the problematic sensationalism intrinsic to good television. One could avoid disrespecting and exploiting victims by confining true crime to fact-based articles and bulletins. There is no ethical justification for the spectacle of true crime TV, and as such one would be in best stead to satisfy morbid curiosities with the abundance of fictionalised crime dramas available online. Some of them even have ghosts.
Featured image courtesy of Phoebe T on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
