Jeffrey Dahmer- The Dark Side to True Crime Shows

On the 21st of September, 2022, the streaming platform and production company Netflix released the highly anticipated show Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Upon its launch the series was met with much enthusiasm and has remained in the top 5 shows of the streaming platform almost since its premiere and is standing, as of October 20th, in second place of Netflix’s Top 10 TV shows. It counts one season with, to date, no announcement of a second. The show follows the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, a notorious serial killer operating in America between the late ‘70s to the early ‘90s. Despite the large amounts of positive reactions to the show, it received quite a bit of backlash from social media, including Tiktok and Twitter, criticizing the show for handling a sensitive matter with poor taste.

The main cause for concern regarding the show is the fact that Netflix is profiting off real victims as well as their families’ trauma. One of such is Rita Isbell, sister to Errol Lindsey, one of Dahmer’s victims. Isbell wrote a personal essay which appeared in Insider, in which she stated “When I saw some of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself”. She goes on to comment that Netflix never contacted the victims’ families about the making of the show: “I feel like Netflix should've asked if we mind or how we felt about making it.” Rita’s cousin posted a tweet on the 22nd of September: “I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” These statements bring light to how a show such as Monster may appear to people affected by the case as having the details of events so traumatizing resurface years after the fact can bring back emotions felt at the time. Shirley Hughes, the mother of Anothony Hughes, another of Dahmer’s victims, revealed that she did not understand how the corporation could make a series such as that, before stating that speaking about the murder was too difficult, highlighting the severity of the impact left by the crimes committed by Jeffrey Dahmer.

Monster has additionally been a great source of backlash for profiting off of real victims, as well as transforming events that affected real people into entertainment. Rita Isbell, in her statement to Insider, included ‘I could even understand it if they gave some of the money to the victims' children. Not necessarily their families. I mean, I'm old. I'm very, very comfortable. But the victims have children and grandchildren. If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn't feel so harsh and careless. It's sad that they're just making money off of this tragedy. That's just greed.’ She rightly questions the ethical considerations of the show. Should the death and misery of some people be used as entertainment for others? Moreover, the morality of normalizing serial killers in society is brought to light. Shows such as the Jeffrey Dahmer series help accustom society to criminals. This can be seen by the rise of fan pages and edits on popular social media apps, notably Tiktok, not only concerning Jeffrey Dahmer but also Ted Bundy. This phenomenon can be seen at a wider scale with the alarming amounts of support that Cameron Herrin amassed during his trial in the year of 2021.

Netflix was also criticized for adding the ‘LGBT’ tag to the show, as seen in multiple Tiktoks stating that this is not the representation the community is looking for. One drag performer, B.J Daniels, stated: “I feel like it fetishizes this whole horrible moment in Milwaukee history. It shouldn’t be looked at that way, it just feels completely wrong”. In fact, the shows that appear under the ‘LGBTQ’ tag on Netflix are mostly light-hearted shows such as Heartstopper and ‘Sex Education’, which attempt to normalize the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the media. Seeing as how Monster tells the story of a gay serial killer, it is not difficult to understand why people may be upset with this occurrence, as is provides quite negative representation. Netflix has since removed this tag, leaving it with descriptors such as ‘ominous’ and ‘dark’.

While the series was a source of much criticism, it still had a positive traction, resulting in the series being second only to Stranger Things 4 regarding viewership of an English-language series in a single week. While many viewers simply do not consider the negative implications of this show, some defend it by claiming that the show is not merely intended as entertainment but also education, as it informs people about what happened, how Jeffrey Dahmer became that way, and how a racist and homophobic society at the time facilitated this as the murders were often disregarded since the victims were predominantly of colour and gay. The previous statement is, however, subjective, as some people will assert that the show did not touch much upon the contribution of a racist and homophobic mentality in the facilitation of the crimes.

It should also be noted that Netflix was not legally required to inform the families of the victims that the show was being made. According to the Mashable news website, who cites Jamie E. Wright of the Wright Law Firm, all public court records and footage is fair game for the entertainment industry to use without getting consent. Because of this, Netflix was not legally obligated to ask the consent of the victims’ families or even simply informing them that the show was in production. Many however believe that, ethically, it would have been the right thing to do.

While the show obtained some disapproval, it remains largely successful, thus ensuring the prolongation of Netflix’s true crime shows. While Netflix has not made any comment regarding the show, many hope that the reproval the show received will encourage the company to go about future shows in a more ethical way. This could mean at least informing the victims’ families, if not giving them support, financially or in any other way or by giving the plain, horrible truth of the atrocities committed, without glamourizing or sensationalizing them.