PROLIFIC American television writer and director Ryan Murphy has been courting controversy since his career began. The unique style and transgressive nature of some of his most popular content have long made him a polarising and, arguably, problematic figure.
In fact, his latest project, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has been dubbed by reviewers as his most controversial show to date.
The true-crime drama series chronicles the case of real-life brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez who were convicted in 1996 for the murder of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez. It is currently the No 1 show on Netflix in both the UK and US.
However, it has faced significant backlash due to scenes which portray an incestuous relationship between the adult brothers, despite there being no evidence of this in real life.
This is nothing new when it comes to Murphy - most of his projects place more value on style, sex and shock than on substance. In response to the criticism, he claimed Monsters takes a “Rashomon kind of approach” in its story telling arguing he and the team had an obligation to present the story from multiple perspectives.
Although this might have been Murphy’s intention, he appears to have missed the mark as the focus on the crime gets lost amidst the violence, sadism and brooding good looks of the actors.
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, this was also the case with the previous season of the anthology which saw Mare of Easttown and X-Men star Evan Peters portray serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Instead of focusing on the horrific crimes Dahmer committed - murdering 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 - many audiences were instead preoccupied with Peters’s performance.
Shortly after its release Peters’s portrayal of Dahmer racked up a sizeable following on social media with hundreds of TikTok fan edits making him appear mysterious and alluring - much like the videos which have recently cropped up of Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch’s respective performances as Lyle and Erik Menendez.
This seems to be a recurring problem with the true crime genre. Research has shown that it is human nature to instinctively trust people we deem to be attractive – so it’s difficult to watch a show like Monsters and not be, perhaps subconsciously, rooting for Dahmer or the Menendez brother’s when men like Chaves, Koch and Peters are portraying them.
Making entertainment out of real criminal cases will never be ethical
It’s neither original nor groundbreaking to say that romanticising and glamorising serial killers is downright distasteful and completely disrespects the pain and suffering of the victims. Regardless of this, however, there is clearly an appetite for such true crime dramatisations.
This isn’t a trend unique to Gen Z or true crime fans and social media users either – in real life murderers such a Dahmer and Ted Bundy received swathes of fan mail from female admirers and both the Menendez brothers met and married their wives whilst incarcerated.
As a result, many true crime fans, particularly young women who want to get a better understanding of serial killers, are viewed as obtuse, sick, or both. And while fans of the genre should recognise when their curiosity verges into unhealthy obsession – out of respect for the victims more than anything else - perhaps we’d be better off directing our frustrations towards the likes of Murphy and the true crime industry itself.
Whichever way you slice it, making entertainment out of real criminal cases will never be ethical. It’s disingenuous to suggest that the genre has the power to ‘warn’ or ‘educate’ vulnerable people – the victims’ families are often the genre’s most vocal critics.
It would be moralistic (and unrealistic) to suggest that the millions of true crime fans simply stop watching overnight – akin to asking everyone to suddenly stop eating ice cream or buying fast fashion. But perhaps we should, at least, think critically about our consumption of true crime and resist the urge to romanticise dangerous and violent men who never displayed one ounce of mercy towards their victims.
