It’s time we discuss the grip that true crime media has on a mass amount of Millennial, Gen-Z and even Gen-X audiences. A lot of the time, when people talk about true crime, it’s backed by a strong defense in the name of morbid curiosity. It’s no doubt that morbid curiosity plays a role in the general human condition, but there has to be a boundary to obey, and I’m afraid most people diving into this form of so-called entertainment have crossed that line with no desire to look back.
If you’ve never heard about true crime before, it can be defined as a nonfiction genre in which the author (commonly of a podcast, film or even written work) inspects a real crime and details the story which involves the real people who were both associated with and affected by the crime itself. A majority of the crimes discussed within this genre and community are murders, and some consumers of the media gravitate greatly toward the serial killer narrative.
At surface level, true crime media doesn’t seem all that harmful. After all, these are real stories that occurred in the world we all live in and they can be interpreted as cautionary tales or aids to the way we walk through our daily lives. To this, I suggest self defense lessons would be greater aids to avoiding harm and danger in our day-to-day experiences, but what do I know?
The issue with true crime content has definitely risen and, subsequently, become more alarming in recent years with representation in the professional world of entertainment and the overwhelming amount of online content creators who have built their brands on the back of the genre itself. At this point, a large amount of true crime media is no longer that informative; it’s being manipulated into pure entertainment, and if you don’t already see the issue with that, allow me to break it down for you further.
Let’s start with how this content is being presented to its audiences in both traditional and non-traditional media (i.e. YouTube, TikTok, etc.). The presentation of this content does vary between the two forms of media, but they ultimately circle back to the same, central issue: insensitivity. Whether it’s a full-fledged, million-dollar-budget film/series, or a relatively low cost social media post, these creators have seemingly let go of their moral boundary to remain sensitive to the brutal narratives they are detailing.
The most recent case of this insensitivity that’s been showcased in the realm of traditional media would have to be Netflix’s latest true crime drama series “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story.” As if there isn’t already a plethora of documentaries and films that center around the horrific crimes Dahmer performed, another was certainly not needed, especially when Netflix was not given any permission by the families of the victims to produce a series detailing their gruesome deaths. Ryan Murphy, one of the two program creators, claims their team reached out to the families but did not receive any responses in regards to carrying out production.
As a competent creator in the traditional media space, one would assume that the lack of response would signal a lack of permission for the team to carry out production. Instead, they set forth to craft a storyline that aligns with their perception of how the story should be told, and thus shared, with their large audience looking for entertainment. No input, much less consent, was given by the families who were directly affected by the sick actions of the killer the series centers, yet the “Dahmer” team did not halt their actions. They actively chose to share the gruesome story for the millionth time and for what? Streaming revenue?
The lack of permission that the team received to produce this project is a huge issue, but it’s almost made worse by the casting of Dahmer himself. Much like they did with their Ted Bundy film “Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile,” Netflix chose to cast an already established male heartthrob in the lead role of the serial killer. In the Bundy film it was “High School Musical” alumni Zac Efron, and for Dahmer it was “American Horror Story’s” Evan Peters. There is a very apparent danger in these casting decisions that seem to be completely overlooked by the teams working on these projects. Casting conventionally attractive male leads who already have an adoring fanbase (primarily of young white women, I might add) draws audiences to these programs for the wrong reasons. Not that entertaining these insensitive projects isn’t already problematic in itself, but the heartthrob playing a serial killer trope inevitably leads to the glamorization of the vile men they are aiming to portray.
Before we dive into some of the deeply unfortunate results, we have to cover the true crime community in non-traditional media as well. The way the genre is typically shared in this type of media space is through long-form content such as podcasts or YouTube videos, but even has a place on more short-form content platforms like TikTok. The problem I find in this space is individuals quite literally building their brands on the backs of true crime victims. For example, the infamous podcast “My Favorite Murder.” Before we even get into any of the details, the name of this podcast could not be any more insensitive to the victims of the crimes being discussed. It’s a result of desensitization that the large following that supports this podcast can’t pick up on how unsettling it is. Beyond that, the podcast’s description, or slogan if you will, when searched on Google reads “My Favorite Murder, where amazing things happen.” I didn’t know that stories detailing the graphic murder and abuse of children were synonymous with “amazing things” and, quite frankly, I still don’t agree with that sentiment. The podcast itself is hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark (two white Gen-X women) and began in 2016. By posting weekly episodes, the podcast amassed a huge following and even peaked at #3 on the iTunes podcast charts back in 2018. Another fun fact about the podcast’s success is that its weekly episodes regularly make it to iTunes’ Top 10 Comedy Podcast chart. The Comedy Podcast chart. Do we see the disconnect here?
I understand the morbid curiosity fueling our interest to hear about these deeply unfortunate events, but since when have we become comfortable with making light of the real and horrific realities that real people have had to suffer? Especially in the realm of true crime being shared across social media, there’s a threshold of how successful your content can be without figuring out how to creatively share it. So, naturally, once the market became more saturated with true crime content, creators had to think about how to uniquely share these stories to engage their audiences. This is where the center of the non-traditional media true crime community issue resides. Overlooking how to be respectful and compassionate to victims and their families for the sake of grabbing more views online and boosting their own engagement. Many examples of this can be found on platforms like YouTube, where creators thought it’d be a genius idea to combine gruesomely detailed stories of murder and abuse with concepts like makeup tutorials or mukbangs.
Not only does this contribute to disrespecting the victims and families who were affected by this malice, but it also aids in desensitizing the audiences who are engaging with this type of media. While you hear about the brutal mutilation and murder of young children, you can also learn how to perfect your cut crease! We’re no longer consuming true crime content to know, we are consuming it for the entertainment purposes it’s being produced to cater to. You want to hear about the graphic cannibalism, assault, and death of a massive group of primarily black male victims? Well, how about you watch someone eat Cane’s fast food for 40 minutes while they detail it for you. It’s disheartening that this content is so popular, and that the creators behind it are probably more interested in their engagement and view count to take a step back and think about the way in which they’ve abandoned their compassion altogether to build their brands around cold-blooded tragedy.
One of the most unsettling aspects of the true crime community in non-traditional media, as if the makeup tutorials and mukbang/true crime story hybrids didn’t bother you enough, is the fact that these individuals are benefitting from monetary gain. Many of these YouTubers or podcasters make money off of sponsorships and AdSense tied to their content as well as Patreon platforms. It makes sense that content creators use these resources to earn money, especially if content creating is their full time job. However, does it not seem unethical to be earning money for yourself as a result of sharing alarmingly grotesque and personal details about an entirely separate individual you have no tie to whatsoever and whom you were not given explicit permission to share these details about? Monetizing someone else’s suffering seems to ignore a very reasonable boundary. This problem presents itself in traditional media as well. The majority of true crime content shared in either realm of media is not raising money for the families of the victims, nor is it being donated to any organizations with the goals of aiding trauma survivors or memorials for those who were victims of mass murders. For the most part, that money is going right back into the pockets of the creators who are already displaying a great lack of compassion, empathy and understanding for the tragedies they’re profiting from.
Of course, as a result of true crime morphing into pure entertainment and coinciding along concepts that only emphasize desensitization of the morbid and gruesome, in this day and age of being chronically online, trends and memes are inevitable. In the aftermath of Netflix’s “Dahmer” series being released, you almost couldn’t open a single platform without being exposed to one reference or another to the serial killer. Most were making light of the situation in the forms of media like a joke on Twitter or a roleplay clip on TikTok. And isn’t it truly unfortunate that the desensitization brought on by this type of media has let us view these types of posts as a regular part of the social media trend cycle? Something to hop on the bandwagon of now to get some views and some likes before its relevance dissipates. It’s a gross privilege to treat something so morbid as a fleeting trend or interest of the public, when the families who were victim to the real killer’s actions have to live with that trauma and those memories each and every day.
It’s unimaginable what the families of true crime victims endure. To look up your child, spouse, or extended relative’s name and be presented with a video tutorial of how to get the perfect smokey eye while the last moments of their lives are being explicitly detailed for the entertainment of an audience would have to be so ridiculously damaging on top of already having to cope with the trauma of it happening in reality. I don’t think the majority of these true crime content creators are considering that for even a split second while they’re scripting their content and coming up with entertaining concepts to boost engagement, or else they really wouldn’t be producing that content in the first place. Families are being re-traumatized by being force fed widely consumed media that focus on their own loved ones and they’re going through that without any compensation or acknowledgement from the creators. I’ve said it once before but I’ll reiterate it more clearly: these families and the respective victims are being disrespected beyond what most of us could ever imagine.
I urge every true crime fanatic to consider all of this when it comes to learning about true crime and consuming content under the genre. When you’re complaining about the fade-to-black scenes in shows like “Dahmer” because they’re only eluding to graphic violence instead of clearly depicting the gore, it might be time to re-evaluate how desensitized you’ve become to something you should have probably remained sensitive to and disturbed by. When you find yourself bored of accounts of crimes that aren’t accompanied by comedy, tutorials, or mukbang concepts, it might be time to put it into perspective that these stories are not for your entertainment. They are real tragedies that happened to real people in real life. Put yourself in the shoes of the families affected the best that you can, though it’s a pain and a form of trauma that is impossible to grasp if you haven’t endured it yourself. Try and understand how scarring and disturbing it would be for you to see your loved one’s death to be exploited for engagement online or for a streaming service’s next blockbuster project.
There is no awareness being raised by the true crime community as it is today, only gruesome details packaged up to be palatable and entertaining for a large audience. If you desperately crave that type of morbid entertainment I can offer you two suggestions to steer you away from seeking it out in real people’s real tribulations: fiction stories and therapy.