Monsters: Review of the controversy of depicted scenes in the series

“Monsters”, a series created by Ryan Murphey and Ian Brennan, has been one of the most popular suspenseful crime dramas on the Netflix scene, since its release in 2022. However, this popularity doesn’t necessarily stem from the most awarding reasons. The series has gained a reputation for allegedly handling sensitive topics with little care or courtesy to victims. But is it fair to argue that this genre often dramatizes such topics anyway? Or is it that this series perhaps takes things a bit too far?

With the release of the latest season titled; “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”, the series has gained mass attention. Similar to the release of the season about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers’ season also accumulated a huge amount of public debate and controversy.

One user on Twitter even shared;  “Two episodes in. #MonstersNetflix will likely be the definitive adaption of this story (thanks to Netflix’s global reach) and it is riddled with inaccuracies. I feel like an idiot for being hopeful about this show?” @editedbylaura 19/09/2024

Although some people did enjoy the series, this is an example of the predominant media circulating at the moment regarding the show. Many people feel that the portrayal was cheap, despite the incredible music and cinematography. They felt it was cheap in terms of the portrayal of the emotional volume that was involved with a story of this magnitude. For example, the strong themes such as sexual abuse, often blended in with scenes that involved what was deemed to be an inappropriate and inaccurate depiction of what went on between the two Menendez brothers. Viewers shared how they felt disturbed and personally, so did I, while watching these scenes. There was an essence of disrespect that lingered around the portrayal of some of the scenes, and easily could be perceived as something far more sinister. 

This series especially, is one which was always going to be quite difficult to watch. It was always going to be a sensitive story. Perhaps it is fair to say that there will always be an array of opinions around it. However, in such scenes prevalent throughout this season, it can be felt that there is an inappropriate glamorization of crime throughout. Scenes that in some way, sensationalize the tragedy. Although crime is a thrilling and somewhat attractive genre to an audience, it is undeniably overdone.  Many lines and boundaries can be crossed when depicting a true crime story, and it is easy to steer from what lies within the moral soil and instead, strive for audience impact and reaction. The progression of this series, I feel is a prime case study of that.